By the way, Patron Puzzle #82, which will be delivered exclusively to <a href="http://www.patreon.com/mathgrant">Patreon</a> supporters ($5 or more per month), is a Diagramless Crossword.
Wordy Wednesday snow update
Last week's Wordy Wednesday post contained both that week's and the next week's puzzles in a single post because Texas was covered in such a tremendous amount of snow (to the point that the power grid was affected) that I wasn't sure how things would look next week. I had no electricity, and had to go to a relative's house who had electricity and use a laptop, with my smartphone as the wi-fi router, to prepare the post. Frustratingly, this ate into my high-speed cellular Internet data for the billing period, and now literally any image that exists on the Internet takes several minutes to load, making my Internet connection on said phone worse than the dial-up I had when I used AOL and capitalized my screen name "MathGrant". Things seem to be normal now, the temperatures having warmed up and the snow having disappeared without a trace, and my electricity returned on Tuesday when I came home from preparing that blog post, and hasn't shut off since. If all goes well, normal Wordy Wednesday updates will return as scheduled next week!
Contest: Let's Guess Three Words II! (Week 6 update)
For full rules, see here.
Week 0:
Week 1:
Week 0:
The set of all words with 3 or more consecutive consonants (consonants being defined as all letters except A, E, I, O, U, and Y): NONE
The set of all words containing a double vowel (AA, EE, II, OO, UU, YY): ONE
The set of all words that appear as distinct words in William Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra (as opposed to as substrings of words), according to www.rhymezone.com/shakespeare (example: BRANCHLESS, counterexample: RANCH): TWO
The set of all words in which the fifth letter exists and appears in the string FAMILY REUNIONS: ALL
The set of all words containing a double vowel (AA, EE, II, OO, UU, YY): ONE
The set of all words that appear as distinct words in William Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra (as opposed to as substrings of words), according to www.rhymezone.com/shakespeare (example: BRANCHLESS, counterexample: RANCH): TWO
The set of all words in which the fifth letter exists and appears in the string FAMILY REUNIONS: ALL
Week 1:
[Daniel Levitin] The set of all words of length strictly less than 8 (that is, 7 or below): ALL
[Kenneth Wilson] The set of all words with a length of 9 or more letters that do NOT contain a double vowel: NONE
[Leo Termin] The set of all words with a length matching a number in the Fibonacci sequence (2, 3, 5, 8, or 13): ONE
[Sam Levitin] The set of all words whose length is greater than or equal to 12: NONE
Week 2:
[Daniel Levitin] The set of all words that begin with a vowel (A, E, I, O, U, or Y): ONE
[Kenneth Wilson] The set of all words beginning with I, J, Q, U, X, Y, or Z: NONE
[Kevin Orfield] The set of all words containing exactly two instances of vowels (A, E, I, O, U, and Y): ONE
[Kyle Nils] The set of all words which begin with a vowel (A, E, I , O, U and Y): ONE
[Leo Termin] The set of all words containing at most two instances of vowels (A, E, I, O, U, and Y): ONE
[Sam Levitin] The set of all words in which the first two letters are both consonants (anything besides A, E, I, O, U, or Y): ONE
Week 3:
[Daniel Levitin] The set of all words whose length is a perfect number (that is, 6 letters, as no other number between 2 and 15 inclusive is perfect): TWO
[John Bulten] The set of all words ending with a letter from BENDY TRACK: TWO
[Kenneth Wilson] The set of all words whose first and second letters are both vowels (A, E, I, O, U, or Y): NONE
[Kevin Orfield] The set of all words where the first letter comes earlier in the alphabet than the last letter: ONE
[Kyle Nils] The set of all words that begin with a letter that appears in the word SHADOW: ONE
[Leo Termin] The set of all words in which at least half of the letters are vowels (A, E, I, O, U, or Y): TWO
[Sam Levitin] The set of all words in which the 3rd and 5th letters both exist and are a vowel (A, E, I, O, U, or Y) and a consonant (any letter besides A, E, I, O, U, or Y) in some order: ALL
Week 4:
[Daniel Levitin] The set of all words containing a doubled consonant (BB, CC, DD, FF, . . . XX, ZZ): ONE
[Kenneth Wilson] The set of all words containing a doubled vowel (AA, EE, II, OO, UU, or YY) and whose second letter is a consonant (any letter other than A, E, I, O, U, or Y, doubled or otherwise): NONE
[Kevin Orfield] The set of words in which strictly more than half of the letters are vowels (A, E, I, O, U, or Y): ONE
[Kyle Nils] The set of all words that begin with a letter found in the words SUPERB OWL: ONE
[Leo Termin] The set of all words ending with a vowel (A, E, I, O, U, and Y): TWO
[Sam Levitin] The set of all words whose letters have a combined point value of 11 or lower in English-language Scrabble: TWO
Week 5:
[Daniel Levitin] The set of all words where the fourth letter is a vowel (A, E, I, O, U, or Y): TWO
[Kenneth Wilson] The set of all 5-letter words containing three or more vowels (A, E, I, O, U, or Y): ONE
[Kyle Nils] The set of all words that begin with and end with a consonant (anything besides A, E, I, O, U, or Y): ONE
[Leo Termin] The set of all words that start and end with the same letter: NONE
[Sam Levitin] The set of words appearing in the Oxford 3000 (https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/external/pdf/wordlists/oxford-3000-5000/The%20Oxford%203000.pdf): ONE
Week 6:
[Daniel Levitin] The set of all words beginning with C, K, P, or W: ONE
[Kenneth Wilson] The set of all 5-letter words that begin with a vowel (A, E, I, O, U, or Y): ONE
[Kyle Nils] The set of all 6-letter words that contain at least 4 consonants (any letter but A, E, I, O, U, or Y): ONE
[Leo Termin] The set of all words that contain the letter E exactly once: TWO
[Sam Levitin] The set of all words ending in a letter from NORMAL: ONE
The Grandmaster Puzzles gift card value is now $38.
The money pool for the Food Bank of West Central Texas is now $38.
Submit more guesses!
Wordy Wednesday AVALANCHE! (386-391)
WORDY WEDNESDAY #382
GROUPS OF NINE (answer)
Here is the answer to this puzzle. If you still wish to solve it yourself, please go here for the normal version of the puzzle, or here for a hint. Here's a list of people who solved it:
Cindy Heisler **
Leo Termin **
Mark Ballinger **
Stephen Potter **
Tyler Hinman **
Adam Weaver **
Bo & Becky Green *
Jason Boomer **
Kevin Orfield **
Ryan Faley **
Sam Levitin **
WORDY WEDNESDAY #383
HEX PATHFINDER 23 (answer)
Here is the answer to this puzzle. If you still wish to solve it yourself, please go here for the normal version of the puzzle, or here for the easier version of the puzzle. Here's a list of people who solved it:
Cindy Heisler **
Cole Kendall **
James Haddad **
Joe Bernard **
Karen Spencer **
Leo Termin **
M. Sean Molley **
Mark Ballinger **
Stephen Potter **
Adam Weaver **
Kevin Orfield **
Ryan Faley **
Sam Levitin **
WORDY WEDNESDAY #384
HEX PATHFINDER 24 (hint)
As of this writing, 11 people have solved this puzzle. Haven't solved it yet? Here's an easier version. Send your answers to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com within the next week to appear on the solvers list and be recognized for your puzzle prowess. Good luck, solvers!
WORDY WEDNESDAY #385
PENT WORDS 77 (hint)
As of this writing, 13 people have solved this puzzle. Haven't solved it yet? Here's an easier version. Send your answers to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com within the next week to appear on the solvers list and be recognized for your puzzle prowess. Good luck, solvers!
WORDY WEDNESDAY AVALANCHE TO KEEP Y'ALL BUSY WHILE TEXAS FIGURES OUT HOW ELECTRICITY WORKS!
WORDY WEDNESDAY #386
SECTION SIX 38
This puzzle's grid has six rings and six sections. Each ring contains a series of words placed end to end, reading either clockwise or counterclockwise; all the words in a given ring will read in the same direction. Ring 1 (the outer ring) contains six answers that read clockwise; the starting spaces are numbered in the grid. Clues for the answers in the remaining rings are given in order, but their starting points and direction are for you to determine. The sections (separated by the heavy lines radiating from the center) will help you place the inner rings: in a given section, each ring segment contains all but one of the letters in the next segment outward. In other words, a section's outermost segment contains six letters; the next segment inward contains five of those six letters in some order; and so on, until only one of the original six letters remains.Arrange the letters in the six starred spaces to form the final answer, a 6-letter word.
Ring 1
1 Palindromic tool
2 Fist of the ____ Star (manga)
3 Dr. Quinn, ____ Woman (1993-1998 TV series)
4 A deep cut in one's flesh
5 Active during dark hours
6 William of ____ (14th century English philosopher)
Ring 2
* Swine's nose, for example
* Fish variety with light spots
* The act of hiding
* Flower that's often purple
* "The Gift of the ____"
Ring 3
* "This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)" singer Natalie
* Milk container, perhaps
* The Wolverine State
* Froot Loops mascot Sam, for one
Ring 4
* Socialize casually: 2 wds.
* Terminate, as a subscription
* C in a C major scale, for example
Ring 5
* Apparel
* StarKist offering
Ring 6
* "____ Up in You" (hit song for 38 Special)
In the crossword puzzle above, every letter is represented by an integer from 1 through 26. You must decipher the code to reveal the words.
Arrange the letters in the shaded spaces to spell the final answer, an eight-letter word.
WORDY WEDNESDAY #388
SPICY GERMAN SAUSAGE
In a German Sausage, a type of puzzle originating from the National Puzzlers League, when you take the indicated pairs of answers to the clues from the first list, combine their letters, and anagram them, you get the answers to the clues from the second list. (For example, ANAGRAM and SEGUES can be combined and anagrammed to make GERMAN SAUSAGE.) However, in this variation, you must add an extra letter to each pair of answers to make the longer answer (for example, you might make GERMAN SAUSAGE from ANAGRAM and GUESS plus an extra E). Rearrange the added letters to get the final answer, a 12-letter word.
Note: Unscrambling 12-letter words is hard, so you may go to https://sites.google.com/view/ww388-abcdefghijkl, replacing abcdefghijkl with the 12 added letters in order, for a free hint to unscramble the word without having to use an anagram solver.
1. Pieces of advice
2. Nothing more than
3. Big name in polo shirts
4. Small particle
5. Diplomatic behavior
6. Grammy-winning rapper Elliott
7. Be a braggart
8. Place to ice-skate
9. Bedding that might become a couch
10. Like some training
11. Hip hop partner of Ryan Lewis
12. Solo portrayed by Harrison Ford
1+2+__. Canine ____ (viral disease)
2+3+__. Update with a more contemporary look, say
3+4+__. Reptilian term for a ladies’ man (2 wds.)
4+5+__. Tell someone else, “Nice win!”, say
5+6+__. Happening in accordance with an orderly procedure
6+7+__. Members of plural marriages
7+8+__. Place to leave your car (2 wds.)
8+9+__. What musician John Shore invented in 1711 (2 wds.)
9+10+__. Making more difficult to understand, as computer code
10+11+__. Periods during television programming when ads are shown (2 wds.)
11+12+__. 1983 Culture Club hit (2 wds.)
12+1+__. Actor
WORDY WEDNESDAY #389
ANACROSSWORD 23
__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
In this puzzle, you must divide the grid into pentominoes (regions containing five cells each), and write a letter in each cell. The rows, reading from left to right, will contain the words hinted at by the ACROSS clues. The letters in the pentominoes, in reading order (left to right starting with the top row), will form the words hinted at by the PENTOMINOES clues; these clues are presented in no particular order. (In the example, the rows spell PLANT, SHARE, and BITES, and the pentominoes spell the words PLANS, TREES, and HABIT.) Use the ACROSS answers to determine where the pentominoes are.
Submit your answers to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com. Until next time, keep on living, and yappy solving!
01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35
__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70
__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94
With “The”, “16 Candles” band
Skillful
Medicine administration concern
What not to do to trolls
“Peaceful, Easy ____” (hit song for The Eagles)
Cold blended drink
Stand-up comic Jim
Like clothes given to you by an older sibling who previously wore them: hyph.
McConaughey of Dallas Buyers Club (2013)
Wintertime glove
Word before “ring” or “swing”
“All You ____ Is Love”
Removed from power
“____ Your Booty” (KC and the Sunshine Band song)
Line-shortening knot
Forest associated with Robin Hood
Family surname in the sitcom Dinosaurs
____ your own horn (talk about yourself with excessive pride)
“Happy ____” (theme song of The Roy Rogers Show)
WORDY WEDNESDAY #390
PENT WORDS 78
ACROSS (two answers per row):
1 "____ Harris's Cackle To Be Played Over Hell's Loudspeakers For All Eternity" (headline from Christian satirical news site The Babylon Bee) / Didn't win
2 Astronomers Jocelyn Bell Burnell and Antony Hewish discovered the first one in 1967 / 5,280 feet
3 Endeavor / Sexual deviant, briefly
4 Milkshake / Hiss, as a steak being cooked
5 Collection of songs released as a unit / Allows
6 Taint / Effect created by rapidly moving a violin bow back and forth
7 Junction between neurons / Used a throne
8 Back talk / Stickler for unadulterated tradition
9 ____ the fat / Mexican food item wrapped in a corn husk
10 Less circumlocutory / "Report: There Will Be ____ In Hell But Only IPAs" (The Babylon Bee headline)
PENTOMINOES:
* HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER
* THE OTHER HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER
* "Hell Confirmed To Be Eternal Ride On 'It's A ____ World'" (The Babylon Bee headline)
* "Hell Introduces 13 New Varieties Of Pineapple ____" (The Babylon Bee headline)
* "Satan Confirms Hell Is Just House Full Of ____ Detectors But You Can Never Figure Out Which One Is Beeping" (The Babylon Bee headline)
* Underground conduit for waste water
* Playful swimming mammal
* Collect
* Doomed
* Three-time Pulitzer Prize winner Edward
* Common clock feature
* Relatives of buttes and plateaus
* Ensnares
* Disinfectant brand
* Metal fastener
* Stun gun trademark
* Jewish holiday on the 14th of Adar
* ____ Club Games (Shovel Knight developer)
* Shopping complexes
* Member of an Edmonton team
WORDY WEDNESDAY #391
DIAGRAMLESS CROSSWORD 5
This crossword has 58 entries in a 15x15 grid, obeys American crossword rules, and has standard rotational symmetry.
ACROSS
1 Restaurant item
5 Anglo-____
6 Legendary voice actor Blanc
9 Overly finicky female
10 Bills depicting Washington
12 First half of a clue to the final answer: ? wds.
16 Nothing
17 Length times width, for a rectangle
18 Neither’s partner
19 Some batteries
20 Texas, in every Presidential election from 1980 through 2020: 2 wds.
22 Record in advance, as a TV show
26 ____ Mix-a-Lot
27 Group of cattle
28 Sell
29 Kanga’s son
30 The northernmost of the three Baltic states
34 More fashionable at the moment
38 Venomous Egyptian snake
39 Actress Cash of You're the Worst
40 Website with lots of film info
41 Pile
42 Second half of a clue to the final answer: ? wds.
46 Second or third word in the title of a Doris Day hit
47 Princess in The Princess and the Frog
48 16-Across, slangily
49 Omit
50 Brooklyn NBA team
DOWN
1 Video game character named after a landlord
2 Word on a sign above a door, possibly
3 Have a snack
4 Exclusive
5 Not plentiful
6 Slow as ____
7 Rank below LTJG
8 Cohort of Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael
11 Mucus, informally
12 ____ Factor (game show that aired 2001-2006, 2011-2012, and 2017-2018)
13 Anger
14 Was ahead
15 It's administered by Educational Testing Service: abbr.
16 Cook in the microwave
21 Color
23 Menace
24 Long period of time, to a Brit
25 Like a son in a New Testament parable
28 Prohibited
31 Repetitively-named dance popularized by rapper Silentó: 2 wds.
32 Swedish musician Danielson
33 Program installed on a smartphone
34 Chess great Mikhail
35 Some whiskeys
36 “As I see it”, online
37 What New York clocks are set to in June: abbr.
41 Places to wear gloves
43 ____ Lanka
44 Stuff secreted by the liver
45 Café au ____
COMING NEXT WEEK. . .
* Nothing, because I don't know whether Texas will have electricity or not by then! Enjoy having at least two weeks to solve this avalanche of puzzles! I will announce the next post a week in advance.Submit your answers to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com. Until next time, keep on living, and yappy solving!
Contest: Let's Guess Three Words II! (Texas blackout update)
Since February 15, 2021, the weather has been unnaturally cold and snowy and icy (at least by Texas standards), resulting in drastic statewide blackouts which have impacted my residence. Luckily, I am in possession of a laptop and currently in the residence of a family member who has electricity, so I can still fullfill my obligations regarding Wordy Wednesday and this contest to a certain extent, but without reliable 24/7 Internet access and electricity, things will need to change. I can guarantee this much:
* Every "week" will last at least 168 hours.
* Every guess sent within the first 168 hours of a "week" will be included in the next update.
* All guessers for a "week" will be notified when the results are up.
Without 24/7 Internet access, I can no longer schedule a future post and be guaranteed that I'll be able to edit it in a timely manner to include guesses made within the last hours of the week.
I will work on making a massive Wordy Wednesday post for tomorrow that will include not only the two puzzles scheduled for that week, but the four scheduled for the week after, so that my loyal fans will actually gain from my lack of consistent electricity and Internet access. There will be no Wordy Wednesday update on February 24, regardless of whether I get my power back or not, so as to give y'all more time to solve the puzzles. I appreciate your patience, and apologize that email replies will be sparse!
* Every "week" will last at least 168 hours.
* Every guess sent within the first 168 hours of a "week" will be included in the next update.
* All guessers for a "week" will be notified when the results are up.
Without 24/7 Internet access, I can no longer schedule a future post and be guaranteed that I'll be able to edit it in a timely manner to include guesses made within the last hours of the week.
I will work on making a massive Wordy Wednesday post for tomorrow that will include not only the two puzzles scheduled for that week, but the four scheduled for the week after, so that my loyal fans will actually gain from my lack of consistent electricity and Internet access. There will be no Wordy Wednesday update on February 24, regardless of whether I get my power back or not, so as to give y'all more time to solve the puzzles. I appreciate your patience, and apologize that email replies will be sparse!
Contest: Let's Guess Three Words II! (Week 5 update)
For full rules, see here.
Week 0:
Week 1:
Week 0:
The set of all words with 3 or more consecutive consonants (consonants being defined as all letters except A, E, I, O, U, and Y): NONE
The set of all words containing a double vowel (AA, EE, II, OO, UU, YY): ONE
The set of all words that appear as distinct words in William Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra (as opposed to as substrings of words), according to www.rhymezone.com/shakespeare (example: BRANCHLESS, counterexample: RANCH): TWO
The set of all words in which the fifth letter exists and appears in the string FAMILY REUNIONS: ALL
The set of all words containing a double vowel (AA, EE, II, OO, UU, YY): ONE
The set of all words that appear as distinct words in William Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra (as opposed to as substrings of words), according to www.rhymezone.com/shakespeare (example: BRANCHLESS, counterexample: RANCH): TWO
The set of all words in which the fifth letter exists and appears in the string FAMILY REUNIONS: ALL
Week 1:
[Daniel Levitin] The set of all words of length strictly less than 8 (that is, 7 or below): ALL
[Kenneth Wilson] The set of all words with a length of 9 or more letters that do NOT contain a double vowel: NONE
[Leo Termin] The set of all words with a length matching a number in the Fibonacci sequence (2, 3, 5, 8, or 13): ONE
[Sam Levitin] The set of all words whose length is greater than or equal to 12: NONE
Week 2:
[Daniel Levitin] The set of all words that begin with a vowel (A, E, I, O, U, or Y): ONE
[Kenneth Wilson] The set of all words beginning with I, J, Q, U, X, Y, or Z: NONE
[Kevin Orfield] The set of all words containing exactly two instances of vowels (A, E, I, O, U, and Y): ONE
[Kyle Nils] The set of all words which begin with a vowel (A, E, I , O, U and Y): ONE
[Leo Termin] The set of all words containing at most two instances of vowels (A, E, I, O, U, and Y): ONE
[Sam Levitin] The set of all words in which the first two letters are both consonants (anything besides A, E, I, O, U, or Y): ONE
Week 3:
[Daniel Levitin] The set of all words whose length is a perfect number (that is, 6 letters, as no other number between 2 and 15 inclusive is perfect): TWO
[John Bulten] The set of all words ending with a letter from BENDY TRACK: TWO
[Kenneth Wilson] The set of all words whose first and second letters are both vowels (A, E, I, O, U, or Y): NONE
[Kevin Orfield] The set of all words where the first letter comes earlier in the alphabet than the last letter: ONE
[Kyle Nils] The set of all words that begin with a letter that appears in the word SHADOW: ONE
[Leo Termin] The set of all words in which at least half of the letters are vowels (A, E, I, O, U, or Y): TWO
[Sam Levitin] The set of all words in which the 3rd and 5th letters both exist and are a vowel (A, E, I, O, U, or Y) and a consonant (any letter besides A, E, I, O, U, or Y) in some order: ALL
Week 4:
[Daniel Levitin] The set of all words containing a doubled consonant (BB, CC, DD, FF, . . . XX, ZZ): ONE
[Kenneth Wilson] The set of all words containing a doubled vowel (AA, EE, II, OO, UU, or YY) and whose second letter is a consonant (any letter other than A, E, I, O, U, or Y, doubled or otherwise): NONE
[Kevin Orfield] The set of words in which strictly more than half of the letters are vowels (A, E, I, O, U, or Y): ONE
[Kyle Nils] The set of all words that begin with a letter found in the words SUPERB OWL: ONE
[Leo Termin] The set of all words ending with a vowel (A, E, I, O, U, and Y): TWO
[Sam Levitin] The set of all words whose letters have a combined point value of 11 or lower in English-language Scrabble: TWO
Week 5:
[Daniel Levitin] The set of all words where the fourth letter is a vowel (A, E, I, O, U, or Y): TWO
[Kenneth Wilson] The set of all 5-letter words containing three or more vowels (A, E, I, O, U, or Y): ONE
[Kyle Nils] The set of all words that begin with and end with a consonant (anything besides A, E, I, O, U, or Y): ONE
[Leo Termin] The set of all words that start and end with the same letter: NONE
[Sam Levitin] The set of words appearing in the Oxford 3000 (https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/external/pdf/wordlists/oxford-3000-5000/The%20Oxford%203000.pdf): ONE
The Grandmaster Puzzles gift card value is now $40.
The money pool for the Food Bank of West Central Texas is now $40.
Submit more guesses!
Wordy Wednesday 384: Hex Pathfinder 24 & Wordy Wednesday 385: Pent Words 77
WORDY WEDNESDAY #380
PENT WORDS 76 (answer)
Here is the answer to this puzzle. If you still wish to solve it yourself, please go here for the normal version of the puzzle, or here for the easier version of the puzzle. Here's a list of people who solved it:
Cindy Heisler **
Cole Kendall **
Joe Bernard **
Karen Spencer **
Leo Termin **
Mark Ballinger **
Stephen Potter **
Adam Weaver **
Bo & Becky Green **
Kevin Orfield **
Ryan Faley **
Sam Levitin **
William Dunbar *
WORDY WEDNESDAY #381
SNAKE CRISSCROSS 14 (answer)
Here is the answer to this puzzle. If you still wish to solve it yourself, please go here for the normal version of the puzzle, or here for the easier version of the puzzle. Here's a list of people who solved it:
Bonnie Veenschoten **
Cindy Heisler **
Cole Kendall **
James Haddad **
Joe Bernard **
Karen Spencer **
Leo Termin **
Mark Ballinger **
Stephen Potter **
Adam Weaver **
Kevin Orfield **
Ryan Faley **
Sam Levitin **
William Dunbar *
WORDY WEDNESDAY #382
GROUPS OF NINE (hint)
As of this writing, 10 people have solved this puzzle. Haven't solved it yet? Here's a hint. Send your answers to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com within the next week to appear on the solvers list and be recognized for your puzzle prowess. Good luck, solvers!
WORDY WEDNESDAY #383
HEX PATHFINDER 23 (hint)
As of this writing, 13 people have solved this puzzle. Haven't solved it yet? Here's an easier version. Send your answers to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com within the next week to appear on the solvers list and be recognized for your puzzle prowess. Good luck, solvers!
DOUBLE WORDY WEDNESDAYS ENTIRE FIRST QUARTER OF 2021!
WORDY WEDNESDAY #384
HEX PATHFINDER 24
This puzzle contains words suggested by furry artist SwizzleDrizzle and by patron M. Sean Molley. Support me on Patreon at the $5 per month level and solve the monthly Patron Puzzle for a chance to suggest a seed word for a future puzzle, or at the $20 per month level to suggest one seed word every month!
In this puzzle, each answer starts in the correspondingly numbered hexagon and winds through the grid, starting in the indicated direction. When you have finished, every letter will be used in exactly two entries.
Rearrange the letters in the shaded spaces to get the final answer, a 7-letter word.
1W Give back (7)
2E Scholarly (8)
3NW Magician’s interjection, perhaps (6)
3E Neighbor of Chile and Colombia (4)
4SW The official state cuisine of Louisiana (5)
5NE False appearances (7)
6E Budding (7)
7W The first half of an if-then proposition, in logic (10)
8SE Persist in doing something difficult (9, 2 wds.)
9E Feudal laborer (4)
10E Title given to Jesus by John the Baptist (9, 3 wds.)
11W Fettuccine ____ (popular Italian dish) (7)
12SW Zeal (5)
13SE The Adventures of ____ and Otis (4)
14SW ____ and the Lost City of Gold (2019 film) (4)
15SW Toilet alternative for many a hospital patient (6)
16SE Sweet-sounding surname of not-at-all-sweet antagonist Calvin from Django Unchained (6)
17W Bass-heavy genre of electronic dance music (7)
18E Messing of Will & Grace (5)
19NW Be rueful (6)
20W Cornmeal mush (7)
21SW Hairless breed of cat that sounds like a riddle-giver in Egyptian mythology (6)
22NW National ____ Heritage Month (annual September 15-October 15 celebration of Latin-American culture) (8)
23E 2015 Expedia acquisition (11)
24NE Germany-based manufacturer of jigsaw puzzles, including the escape-room-inspired “Escape Puzzle” series (12)
25SW Many-headed Greek monster (5)
26NE LaBeouf of Even Stevens (4)
26SE Trojan War herald whose name can refer to any loud-voiced person (7)
27SW “Curse it!” (4)
28SE Item at many award shows (9, 2 wds.)
29SW Nary a soul (5, 2 wds.)
30SE Rainfall associated with a seasonal wind (7)
31NW Scope (6)
32NW What you do when you’re adding numbers and the sum of the digits in one column is greater than 9 (5)
33NE Angels & ____ (2000 Dan Brown bestseller) (6)
WORDY WEDNESDAY #385
PENT WORDS 77
This puzzle contains words suggested by patron M. Sean Molley. Support me on Patreon at the $5 per month level and solve the monthly Patron Puzzle for a chance to suggest a seed word for a future puzzle, or at the $20 per month level to suggest one seed word every month!1 Odin's Huginn and Muninn in Norse mythology, for two / Smart
2 Gloom's partner / Kansas city that changed its name to Google for one month
3 Tennis great Agassi / Beethoven's "Rage Over a Lost Penny", for one
4 Washington city with Amazon's headquarters / Pre-meal course, informally
5 "The ____ We Do for Love" (10cc song) / Plant or animal on which a parasite lives
6 "The Girl from ____" (bossa nova standard) / Pimple, slangily
7 "____ in Your Tears" (Nicki Minaj song) / An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of this
8 Mascot for Progressive / Australian mammal similar to a kangaroo
9 Harvey Birdman, Attorney at ____ (2000-2007 Adult Swim series) / Elsa from Born Free, for one
10 Iterate again / Odin's Geri and Freki in Norse mythology, for two
PENTOMINOES:
* HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER
* THE OTHER HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER
* Its atomic number is 86
* Duplicate
* Malevolence
* Suggest, as an explanation
* Tongue-in-____
* Frame of a comic strip
* It "gazes also into you", as per Nietzsche
* Touch
* Assume the parenting of
* Complete a sudoku, for example
* "Hardware ____" (Weird Al song)
* Black ____ (spider)
* Microsoft cloud computing service
* Out of bed
* Emergency signal, perhaps
* Emit a low angry rumble
* Chef's protective garment
* Rover's restraint
COMING NEXT WEEK. . .
* What's a 5-letter word for "Fist of the ____ Star (manga)"?
* A Codewords!
Submit your answers to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com. Until next time, keep on living, and yappy solving!
Contest: Let's Guess Three Words II! (Week 4 update)
For full rules, see here.
Week 0:
Week 1:
Week 0:
The set of all words with 3 or more consecutive consonants (consonants being defined as all letters except A, E, I, O, U, and Y): NONE
The set of all words containing a double vowel (AA, EE, II, OO, UU, YY): ONE
The set of all words that appear as distinct words in William Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra (as opposed to as substrings of words), according to www.rhymezone.com/shakespeare (example: BRANCHLESS, counterexample: RANCH): TWO
The set of all words in which the fifth letter exists and appears in the string FAMILY REUNIONS: ALL
The set of all words containing a double vowel (AA, EE, II, OO, UU, YY): ONE
The set of all words that appear as distinct words in William Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra (as opposed to as substrings of words), according to www.rhymezone.com/shakespeare (example: BRANCHLESS, counterexample: RANCH): TWO
The set of all words in which the fifth letter exists and appears in the string FAMILY REUNIONS: ALL
Week 1:
[Daniel Levitin] The set of all words of length strictly less than 8 (that is, 7 or below): ALL
[Kenneth Wilson] The set of all words with a length of 9 or more letters that do NOT contain a double vowel: NONE
[Leo Termin] The set of all words with a length matching a number in the Fibonacci sequence (2, 3, 5, 8, or 13): ONE
[Sam Levitin] The set of all words whose length is greater than or equal to 12: NONE
Week 2:
[Daniel Levitin] The set of all words that begin with a vowel (A, E, I, O, U, or Y): ONE
[Kenneth Wilson] The set of all words beginning with I, J, Q, U, X, Y, or Z: NONE
[Kevin Orfield] The set of all words containing exactly two instances of vowels (A, E, I, O, U, and Y): ONE
[Kyle Nils] The set of all words which begin with a vowel (A, E, I , O, U and Y): ONE
[Leo Termin] The set of all words containing at most two instances of vowels (A, E, I, O, U, and Y): ONE
[Sam Levitin] The set of all words in which the first two letters are both consonants (anything besides A, E, I, O, U, or Y): ONE
Week 3:
[Daniel Levitin] The set of all words whose length is a perfect number (that is, 6 letters, as no other number between 2 and 15 inclusive is perfect): TWO
[John Bulten] The set of all words ending with a letter from BENDY TRACK: TWO
[Kenneth Wilson] The set of all words whose first and second letters are both vowels (A, E, I, O, U, or Y): NONE
[Kevin Orfield] The set of all words where the first letter comes earlier in the alphabet than the last letter: ONE
[Kyle Nils] The set of all words that begin with a letter that appears in the word SHADOW: ONE
[Leo Termin] The set of all words in which at least half of the letters are vowels (A, E, I, O, U, or Y): TWO
[Sam Levitin] The set of all words in which the 3rd and 5th letters both exist and are a vowel (A, E, I, O, U, or Y) and a consonant (any letter besides A, E, I, O, U, or Y) in some order: ALL
Week 4:
[Daniel Levitin] The set of all words containing a doubled consonant (BB, CC, DD, FF, . . . XX, ZZ): ONE
[Kenneth Wilson] The set of all words containing a doubled vowel (AA, EE, II, OO, UU, or YY) and whose second letter is a consonant (any letter other than A, E, I, O, U, or Y, doubled or otherwise): NONE
[Kevin Orfield] The set of words in which strictly more than half of the letters are vowels (A, E, I, O, U, or Y): ONE
[Kyle Nils] The set of all words that begin with a letter found in the words SUPERB OWL: ONE
[Leo Termin] The set of all words ending with a vowel (A, E, I, O, U, and Y): TWO
[Sam Levitin] The set of all words whose letters have a combined point value of 11 or lower in English-language Scrabble: TWO
The Grandmaster Puzzles gift card value is now $42.
The money pool for the Food Bank of West Central Texas is now $42.
Submit more guesses!
Wordy Wednesday 382: Groups of Nine & Wordy Wednesday 383: Hex Pathfinder 23
WORDY WEDNESDAY #378
THE 64 PUZZLE SQUARE (answer)
Here is the answer to this puzzle. If you still wish to solve it yourself, please go here for the normal version of the puzzle, or here for the easier version of the puzzle. Here's a list of people who solved it:
Leo Termin **
Pavel Curtis **
Tyler Hinman **
Adam Weaver **
John Bulten *
Kevin Orfield **
Ryan Faley **
Sam Levitin **
WORDY WEDNESDAY #379
CRYPTICROSTIC 11 (answer)
Here is the answer to this puzzle. If you still wish to solve it yourself, please go here for the normal version of the puzzle, or here for the easier version of the puzzle. Here's a list of people who solved it:
Leo Termin **
Adam Weaver **
Jason Boomer **
Kevin Orfield **
Ryan Faley **
Sam Levitin *
WORDY WEDNESDAY #380
PENT WORDS 76 (hint)
As of this writing, 12 people have solved this puzzle. Haven't solved it yet? Here's an easier version. Send your answers to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com within the next week to appear on the solvers list and be recognized for your puzzle prowess. Good luck, solvers!
WORDY WEDNESDAY #381
SNAKE CRISSCROSS 14 (hint)
As of this writing, 13 people have solved this puzzle. Haven't solved it yet? Here's an easier version. Send your answers to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com within the next week to appear on the solvers list and be recognized for your puzzle prowess. Good luck, solvers!
I'VE HIT $125/MONTH ON PATREON!
As promised, as long as I'm making this amount of money on Patreon, I will post two Wordy Wednesday puzzles on the last Wednesday of every month (and not just on months with five Wednesdays). As this overlaps with my current promotion to burn through my backlog by posting double Wordy Wednesdays every week for the first quarter of 2021, that means that on February 24 and March 31, I will post four Wordy Wednesdays!!! Remember, Patreon supporters at the $3 level and up get early access to puzzles, giving you more time to solve them!
DOUBLE WORDY WEDNESDAYS ENTIRE FIRST QUARTER OF 2021!
WORDY WEDNESDAY #382
GROUPS OF NINE
These groups of nine just keep producing hit after hit.
Above, Central:
1. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ▢ _; 2. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ▢ _ _ _; 3. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ▢ _ _ _ _ _;
4. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ▢ _ _; 5. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ▢ _ _ _ _ _
Above, West:
6. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ▢ _ _ _ _ _; 7. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ▢ _ _ _ _ _; 8. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ▢ _ _ _ _;
9. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ▢ _ _ _ _ _ _ _; 10. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ▢ _
Above, East:
11. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ▢ _ _ _; 12. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ▢ _ _ _ _ _; 13. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ▢ _ _;
14. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ▢ _ _ _; 15. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ▢ _ _ _ _
Neath, West:
16. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ▢ _ _ _ _ _ _; 17. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ▢ _ _ _ _;
18. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ▢ _; 19. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ▢ _ _ _ _ _ _;
20. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ▢ _ _ _ _
Neath, East:
21. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ▢ _ _ _ _; 22. _ _ _ _ _ _ ▢ _ _ _ _ _; 23. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ▢ _ _ _ _;
24. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ▢ _; 25. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ▢ _
Neath, Central:
26. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ▢ _ _ _ _; 27. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ▢ _ _ _ _; 28. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ▢ _;
29. _ _ . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ▢ _ _ _; 30. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ▢ _ _
WORDY WEDNESDAY #383
HEX PATHFINDER 23
This puzzle contains a word suggested by patron Cindy Heisler. Support me on Patreon at the $5 per month level and solve the monthly Patron Puzzle for a chance to suggest a seed word for a future puzzle, or at the $20 per month level to suggest one seed word every month! In this puzzle, each answer starts in the correspondingly numbered hexagon and winds through the grid, starting in the indicated direction. When you have finished, every letter will be used in exactly two entries.
Rearrange the letters in the shaded spaces to get the final answer, a 7-letter word.
1SW Essayist ____ Waldo Emerson (5)
2NE Theory according to which financial benefits given to large businesses are also passed along to the rest of society (20, 2 wds., hyph.)
3NE Aardwolf relative (5)
4E Bane of many a teenager (4)
5SE Seafood soup or stew (7)
6E Unit of measure for a large soda bottle, perhaps (5)
7NE Vermont’s only Democratic United States Senator
so far (Bernie Sanders is an independent) (12, 2 wds.)
8SE Item from a ponderosa (8, 2 wds.)
9SE Not doing anything (4)
10E Spark (6)
11NW Archie Bunker’s nickname for Edith (7)
12W City with Sky Tower and Waitemata Harbour (8)
13W Unit for measuring an angle, perhaps (6)
14NE Young mallard (8)
14W 1982 film with Daniel Stern as Laurence “Shrevie” Schreiber (5)
15W ____ Poets Society (1989 film) (4)
16SE It's an 8 on the Mohs hardness scale (5)
17NW “I’m My Own ____” (hit song for Lonzo and Oscar) (7)
18SW He often prank calls Moe Szyslak (11, 2 wds.)
19NW ____ Simulator (computer game that simulates board games) (8)
20SE Candy bar created by the D. L. Clark Company, now made by The Hershey Company (6)
21W Famous Verdi opera (4)
22SW Type of restaurant whose name might contain a form of the word “pearl”, if the owner is feeling particularly punny (9, 2 wds.)
23NW Curved Arabian saber (8)
24W Speak pompously (5)
25SE Pricked painfully, as a bee might do (5)
26NW Category of literature, for example (5)
27E Not late, as a payment (6)
28SW Surreptitiously releasing private information (7)
29NE Function of a container (7)
29W One in a court, for short (5)
30E Spick’s partner (4)
31NW Free (6)
32E Luke Skywalker’s father (6)
COMING NEXT WEEK. . .
* What's a 12-letter word for "Germany-based manufacturer of jigsaw puzzles, including the escape-room-inspired 'Escape Puzzle' series"? * What's a 5-letter word for "'Hardware ____' (Weird Al song)"?
Submit your answers to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com. Until next time, keep on living, and yappy solving!
Contest: Let's Guess Three Words II! (Week 3 update)
For full rules, see here.
Week 0:
Week 1:
Week 0:
The set of all words with 3 or more consecutive consonants (consonants being defined as all letters except A, E, I, O, U, and Y): NONE
The set of all words containing a double vowel (AA, EE, II, OO, UU, YY): ONE
The set of all words that appear as distinct words in William Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra (as opposed to as substrings of words), according to www.rhymezone.com/shakespeare (example: BRANCHLESS, counterexample: RANCH): TWO
The set of all words in which the fifth letter exists and appears in the string FAMILY REUNIONS: ALL
The set of all words containing a double vowel (AA, EE, II, OO, UU, YY): ONE
The set of all words that appear as distinct words in William Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra (as opposed to as substrings of words), according to www.rhymezone.com/shakespeare (example: BRANCHLESS, counterexample: RANCH): TWO
The set of all words in which the fifth letter exists and appears in the string FAMILY REUNIONS: ALL
Week 1:
[Daniel Levitin] The set of all words of length strictly less than 8 (that is, 7 or below): ALL
[Kenneth Wilson] The set of all words with a length of 9 or more letters that do NOT contain a double vowel: NONE
[Leo Termin] The set of all words with a length matching a number in the Fibonacci sequence (2, 3, 5, 8, or 13): ONE
[Sam Levitin] The set of all words whose length is greater than or equal to 12: NONE
Week 2:
[Daniel Levitin] The set of all words that begin with a vowel (A, E, I, O, U, or Y): ONE
[Kenneth Wilson] The set of all words beginning with I, J, Q, U, X, Y, or Z: NONE
[Kevin Orfield] The set of all words containing exactly two instances of vowels (A, E, I, O, U, and Y): ONE
[Kyle Nils] The set of all words which begin with a vowel (A, E, I , O, U and Y): ONE
[Leo Termin] The set of all words containing at most two instances of vowels (A, E, I, O, U, and Y): ONE
[Sam Levitin] The set of all words in which the first two letters are both consonants (anything besides A, E, I, O, U, or Y): ONE
Week 3:
[Daniel Levitin] The set of all words whose length is a perfect number (that is, 6 letters, as no other number between 2 and 15 inclusive is perfect): TWO
[John Bulten] The set of all words ending with a letter from BENDY TRACK: TWO
[Kenneth Wilson] The set of all words whose first and second letters are both vowels (A, E, I, O, U, or Y): NONE
[Kevin Orfield] The set of all words where the first letter comes earlier in the alphabet than the last letter: ONE
[Kyle Nils] The set of all words that begin with a letter that appears in the word SHADOW: ONE
[Leo Termin] The set of all words in which at least half of the letters are vowels (A, E, I, O, U, or Y): TWO
[Sam Levitin] The set of all words in which the 3rd and 5th letters both exist and are a vowel (A, E, I, O, U, or Y) and a consonant (any letter besides A, E, I, O, U, or Y) in some order: ALL
The Grandmaster Puzzles gift card value is now $44.
The money pool for the Food Bank of West Central Texas is now $44.
Submit more guesses!
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