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!