Wordy Wednesday 509: Touchword 27 & Wordy Wednesday 510: Pent Words 102

WORDY WEDNESDAY #507
CODEWORDS 20 (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:
Cathy Bowen **
Michael Lebowitz **
Tyler Hinman **
Damon French **
Ezra Brauner **
Kevin Orfield **
Patrick Jordan *
Ryan Faley **
Sam Levitin **

WORDY WEDNESDAY #508
CRYPTICROSTIC 18 (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!

LAST WEDNESDAY OF THE MONTH = DOUBLE WORDY WEDNESDAYS!
WORDY WEDNESDAY #509
TOUCHWORD 27
(click here for a PDF version)

In a crossword, words cross each other; in this puzzle, they merely touch. More specifically, all answers read across, and every letter shares an edge with at least one identical letter either immediately above or immediately below. The top and bottom rows are considered adjacent.

Arrange the letters in the shaded spaces to form the final answer, an 8-letter word.

1 Felt hat / Endures / Traveled via horse
2 Rage / Nautical interjection that’s the name of an antivirus software / Breathe loudly during sleep
3 Read a forum without posting / Event with glow sticks, often / Theater set designer’s concern
4 2022 animated film with a black cat named Bob / Discourage / Green relative of the carrot
5 Establishment for playing video games / ____ Days Grace (rock band) / Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile star Collins
6 Length times width, for a rectangle / Family Guy creator MacFarlane / Rodents often kept as pets
7 Musical set at Rydell High School / Cereal mascot Tony, for one / Slant
8 Stand-up comic also known as Fluffy: 2 wds.
9 Convertible coupe / Ulcer, for example
10 Certain keyboard instrument / Benedict Arnold’s crime
11 Cultivar named after a musical instrument: 2 wds. / It may be acquired
12 Rocksteady’s cohort / Knowledgeable person / Feed the kitty
13 I, ____ (Isaac Asimov novel) / Wheel’s shaft / Posture
14 Judge’s garment / Having the most height / The Amazing ____ (reality series)
15 ____ Trade Commission / Inspector portrayed by Rupert Graves on Sherlock

WORDY WEDNESDAY #510
PENT WORDS 102
(click here for a PDF version)

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.

ACROSS (two answers per row):
1 Russian chess grandmaster Anatoly / ____ Season (2006 animated film)
2 It may have the word “welcome” printed on it / It may be poetic or artistic
3 Off-color, as a joke / One who pays undue attention to minutiae
4 Next of ____ / Oil rig sighting
5 Crafty person / Having the most slack
6 Lager with a strong hoppy flavor / Miner’s find
7 Fail to have / Egyptian amulet based on a beetle
8 Try / “My dog ____ my homework”
9 “Goddess in the ____” (Mick Jagger song) / Chest muscle, briefly
10 Sequel to the computer game Myst whose title means “torn asunder” / “You are the salt of the ____. . .”
PENTOMINOES:
* HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER
* THE OTHER HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER
* One Halloween choice. . .
* . . . and the other
* Fall ____ at the seams
* Buddhist concept sometimes summarized as “what goes around comes around”
* Word before “card” or “finger”
* ____ and field
* One who prefers solitude
* Some fencing swords
* Hardwood tree with nuts
* A tubular pasta
* Thorny flowers
* Mushroom-shaped growth in the body
* Well-groomed
* Three-box automobile
* Grouchy Sesame Street resident
* The Republic author
* Maneuver a car
* Ice hockey great Gretzky

COMING NEXT WEEK. . .

*Who is Popeye’s cohort who would gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today?

Submit your answers to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com. Until next time, happy solving!

Fox & Badger Magazine #6 is coming soon!

As my gift to all of my Patreon supporters at all dollar levels, the sixth edition of my sporadically published digital magazine Fox & Badger Magazine will be sent out on December 8, two weeks from today! This edition features a 12-puzzle meta titled "The Puzzle of the Month Club", plus a bevy of miscellaneous puzzles in the Odds & Ends section. If you currently support me on Patreon, I hope you enjoy! If you don't currently support me on Patreon, you could change that right now! Or not, it's your choice.

Wordy Wednesday 508: Crypticrostic 18

WORDY WEDNESDAY #506
SECTION SIX 50 (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 **
Cathy Bowen **
Cindy Heisler **
Joe Bernard **
Michael Lebowitz **
Tyler Hinman **
Ezra Brauner **
Kevin Orfield **
Ryan Faley **
Sam Levitin **

WORDY WEDNESDAY #507
CODEWORDS 20 (hint)

As of this writing, 7 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 #508
CRYPTICROSTIC 18
(click here for a PDF version)
(click here for rules)

This puzzle contains a word suggested by patron M. Sean Molley. Support me on Patreon at the Super Fan level ($5/month) and solve the monthly Patron Puzzle for a chance to suggest a seed word for a future puzzle, or at the Ultra Fan level ($20/month) to suggest one seed word every month!

The answer is 8 letters.

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
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

Adaptable and flexible relatives __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
                                 21 31 13 41 03 15 17 45 25
Ask for ID from a mother with an Indian herb __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
                                             39 28 23 07 08 04 12 30
Follow leaderless men and novelist Grafton __ __ __ __ __
                                           40 06 35 44 22
Poker game with idiotic, oafish beginners in apartment __ __ __ __ __ __
                                                       42 33 09 26 14 05
Raw quality of untidy rubbish __ __ __ __ __ __
                              32 37 01 34 24 16
Songbird and flamingo initially move slowly __ __ __ __ __
                                            43 19 18 38 11
Wrestler Steve Borden receives rare rope __ __ __ __ __ __
                                         36 10 29 02 20 27

COMING NEXT WEEK. . .

* What's a 15-letter, 2-word answer for "Stand-up comic also known as Fluffy"?

* What's a 5-letter word for "Buddhist concept sometimes summarized as 'what goes around comes around'"?

Submit your answers to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com. Until next time, happy solving!

Wordy Wednesday 507: Codewords 20

WORDY WEDNESDAY #505
PENT WORDS 101 (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 **
Cathy Bowen **
Cindy Heisler **
James Haddad **
Joe Bernard **
Michael Lebowitz **
Nan **
Stephen Potter **
Tyler Hinman **
Damon French **
Ezra Brauner **
Jason Boomer **
John Bulten **
Kevin Orfield **
Patrick Jordan *
Ryan Faley **
Sam Levitin **

WORDY WEDNESDAY #506
SECTION SIX 50 (hint)

As of this writing, 10 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 #507
CODEWORDS 20
(click here for a PDF version)

This puzzle contains a word suggested by patron Daren Bischel. Support me on Patreon at the Super Fan level ($5/month) and solve the monthly Patron Puzzle for a chance to suggest a seed word for a future puzzle, or at the Ultra Fan level ($20/month) to suggest one seed word every month!

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.

COMING NEXT WEEK. . .

* A Crypticrostic!

Submit your answers to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com. Until next time, happy solving!

Kevin's Puzzles at Home Season 2: FINAL RESULTS!

FINAL SCORES

Here is a table of all of the participants and their scores (click to enlarge):

Participants are sorted by score (high to low), and then alphabetically (A to Z). The total number of points scored was 8325. Thus, the final money pool for the Food Bank for Larimer County is $83.25. Three anonymous benefactors have agreed to match this donation, meaning that the Food Bank for Larimer County will actually receive $333.00.

Head below the break for the actual solutions! If you're looking for more easy-ish puzzles in this style, remember to visit the actual Kevin's website every single Monday, or come back to this site in 2023 when I hope to have Season 3 of this tribute series ready!

Wordy Wednesday 506: Section Six 50

WORDY WEDNESDAY #503
DIAGRAMLESS CROSSWORD 9 (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 **
Cathy Bowen **
James Haddad **
Joe Bernard **
Michael Lebowitz **
Stephen Potter **
Tyler Hinman **
Kevin Orfield **
Patrick Jordan **
Ryan Faley **
Sam Levitin **

WORDY WEDNESDAY #504
ANACROSSWORD 26 (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 **
Cathy Bowen **
Cindy Heisler **
Michael Lebowitz **
Tyler Hinman **
Ezra Brauner *
Kevin Orfield **
Ryan Faley **
Sam Levitin **

WORDY WEDNESDAY #505
PENT WORDS 101 (hint)

As of this writing, 16 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 #506
SECTION SIX 50
(click here for a PDF version)

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 Structure that provides protection
2 Nathaniel Rothschild’s father
3 Bane of certain dieters
4 Beverage brewed from beans
5 Science fiction franchise created by Gene Roddenberry: 2 wds.
6 Sleipnir’s rider in Norse mythology

Ring 2
* Make a big bet on a bad hand, say
* Observed differences between two things
* Aligns toward a particular direction
* Idol
* Bird’s enclosure, often

Ring 3
* Pistol inventor and namesake Georg
* Be in pain
* Sideways ____ from Wayside School (1978 Louis Sachar book)
* Big name in prepaid wireless plans

Ring 4
* Shoreline extending from Texas to Florida: 2 wds.
* Engage in public acts of violence
* Unit of stock

Ring 5
* Brigham Young University’s Cosmo is one
* “Obey your ____” (Sprite slogan)

Ring 6
* 50 Cent album whose title is also 50 Cent’s real first name

COMING NEXT WEEK. . .

* A Codewords!

Submit your answers to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com. Until next time, happy solving!

Kevin's Puzzles at Home Season 2: Final hint and final week!

PREVIOUS EPISODES

Introduction (what these puzzles are and why they're called "Kevin's Puzzles at Home Season 2"): click here

Episode 1 (Photographic Mammal-ry): puzzle PDF, hint PDF

* 18 people solved this within the first week for 50 points apiece; 3 people solved it later for 25 points.

Episode 2 (Spot the Difference): puzzle PDF, hint PDF

* 18 people solved this within the first week for 50 points apiece; 3 people solved it later for 25 points.

Episode 3 (Perplexing Pairs): puzzle PDF, hint PDF

* 17 people solved this within the first week for 50 points apiece; 4 people solved it later for 25 points.

Episode 4 (Sports Stats Stumpers): puzzle PDF, hint PDF

* 17 people solved this within the first week for 50 points apiece; 4 people solved it later for 25 points.

Episode 5 (Kevin Watches Movies): puzzle PDF, hint PDF

* 14 people solved this within the first week for 50 points apiece; 5 people solved it later for 25 points.

Episode 6 (Special Arrangements): puzzle PDF, hint PDF

* 17 people solved this within the first week for 50 points apiece; 3 people solved it later for 25 points.

Episode 7 (Connect the Peri-Dots): puzzle PDF, hint PDF

* 10 people solved this within the first week for 50 points apiece; 5 people solved it later for 25 points.

Episode 8 (The Art of the Matter): puzzle PDF, hint PDF

* 12 people solved this within the first week for 50 points apiece; 3 people solved it later for 25 points.

Episode 9 (Meta) (A Meta-Puzzle Whose Answer is "NEEDLE"): puzzle PDF, hint PDF (new!)

* 13 people solved this within the first week for 100 points apiece.

The total number of points scored is 8200. Thus, the current money pool for the Food Bank for Larimer County is $82.00. Three anonymous benefactors have agreed to match this donation, meaning that the Food Bank for Larimer County will actually receive $328.00. If you haven't already, you may solve the above puzzles for 25 points each, or the meta for 50 points, possibly with the aid of the hints. This week is your final chance to score points and earn money for the food bank!

 

Stay tuned next week for all of the solutions and the final results. Good luck!

Wordy Wednesday 505: Pent Words 101

WORDY WEDNESDAY #502
SNAKE CRISSCROSS 21 (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 **
Cathy Bowen **
Cindy Heisler **
Joe Bernard **
Karen Spencer **
Michael Lebowitz **
Stephen Potter **
Tyler Hinman **
Ezra Brauner **
John Bulten **
Kevin Orfield **
Mary Maynard **
Ryan Faley **
Sam Levitin **

WORDY WEDNESDAY #503
DIAGRAMLESS CROSSWORD 9 (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 #504
ANACROSSWORD 26 (hint)

As of this writing, 8 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 #505
PENT WORDS 101
(click here for a PDF version)

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.

ACROSS (two answers per row):
1 Challenged / Block of gold
2 Anxiety / Late-night legend Jay
3 Skin design, briefly / Palpatine of the Star Wars movies, for one
4 Having a hardened exterior / “____ Me Your Comb”
5 Clock parts / An intermediate state
6 Change direction / Caravan creatures
7 Make accustomed to / Flower for which there was a “mania” in 17th-century Holland
8 Rely (on) / Feed the kitty
9 Venomous Egyptian snake / Exalt
10 Thrust of a pointed weapon / Bed Bath & ____
PENTOMINOES:
* HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER
* THE OTHER HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER
* Overturn
* “Gangnam ____” (hit song by South Korean rapper Psy)
* Bird in a Poe poem
* Animated title character voiced by Ming-Na Wen
* Sports stadium
* Concepts
* It may be cut up into rings and fried
* “____ the Sea” (song from The Little Mermaid)
* Bowler’s bane
* Painter’s stand
* Proofreading symbol
* ____ Bump (comic strip)
* A classical music form
* Downton ____ (British drama series)
* Australian canine
* Barbershop quartet member, perhaps
* ____ Rancher (2017 Monomi Park video game)
* Arizona city where Sun Devil Stadium is located

COMING NEXT WEEK. . .

* What's a 6-letter word for "50 Cent album whose title is also 50 Cent’s real first name"?
* Patron Puzzle #102, which will be delivered on November 8, 2022, exclusively to Patreon supporters at the Super Fan level and up ($5 or more per month), is a Vocabulary Fun Pack.

Submit your answers to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com. Until next time, happy solving!