I received 4 entries to Part I and 2 entries to Part II of The Joy Of Puzzling: Codewords. Those are low numbers. Maybe people didn't want to win a book of Penny Press Codewords puzzles? Remind me to offer better prizes next time. Here are the results!
Showing posts with label The Joy of Puzzling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Joy of Puzzling. Show all posts
The Joy of Puzzling: Codewords
In this two-part contest, you'll get to solve a puzzle, learn how it was made, and try your hand at making your own puzzle!
Arrange the letters in the shaded spaces to spell the final answer, an eight-letter word.
After solving, go to tinyurl.com/tjop-[answer], replacing [answer] with the answer, to learn how this puzzle was constructed and get tips on constructing your own!
Send your answer to the above puzzle to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com to enter Part I of the contest. After the deadline (11:59 PM on November 15, 2019), one random entrant with the correct answer will win a book of Penny Press Codewords puzzles!
* The puzzle must obey Codewords rules.
* All 26 letters of the English alphabet must be present.
* All words must be Scrabble-legal in America. (Use http://scrabble.merriam.com/ if unsure. Note that Penny Press Codewords puzzles do sometimes use hyphenated words and even multi-word phrases, but I choose to restrict myself a little bit more.)
* The puzzle must use the same grid as the puzzle above. (I hate to constrain the creativity of those who want to use words of 10 letters or longer in their puzzles, but Codewords puzzles are a dime a dozen in magazines, and this is the absolute dead simplest anti-plagiarism measure I could come up with.)
* No entry may be repeated.
* Unlike the puzzle above, there is no need to select 8 cells to anagram to a final answer.
Since test-solving is one of the most important parts of the puzzle-construction process, you are allowed to seek the assistance of one test-solver.
Send your completed puzzle, its answer, three letters you want to give as hints, and the e-mail address of your test-solver (if you had one) to devjoe@gmail.com [NOT TO ME!!!], before 11:59 PM Central time on November 15, 2019. The puzzle and its answer should be in plaintext. After the deadline, /dev/joe will then send the puzzles to me in random order and with no bylines, and without the hint letters. I will judge which puzzle I like best and give the rest of the puzzles (with the hint letters) to a couple of longtime friends who aren't as experienced with Codewords puzzles as I am (a retired math professor and his wife), and they will judge which of those puzzles they like best; the constructors of the two selected puzzles and their test-solvers (if any) will both win a book of Penny Press Codewords puzzles! The winning entries (and honorable mentions, at my discretion) will also be reproduced on my blog for my readers' enjoyment. The following things are likely to win us over:
* Fresh entries.
* PG-ratedness.
* Strategically chosen hint letters that will allow relative laypeople to get a foothold and solve it. (For the puzzle above, I'd select numbers 15, 17, and 18, because they give over half of the 9-letter word in row 3, and if they can solve that word, they get four more letters instantly.) Remember that I won't know where the hint letters are when judging my winning entry, so this judging criterion is solely for my third-party solvers (they'll almost certainly enjoy solving a puzzle more than not solving it)!
The following things will not win us over:
* Too many obscurities. (It's okay to teach me a few new words, but too many obscure words may interfere with the fun of solving it. The third-party solvers who will judge the final winner will also be senior citizens who will have trouble breaking into a puzzle which is jam-packed with newfangled words like CAZH, which is slang for "casual".)
* R-rated things (I want to reproduce the winning entries on this highly PG-rated blog, so none of George Carlin's seven dirty words, for instance, should be in the grid).
* Etymological relatives, especially obvious ones like two compound words that share a root word in common, are frowned upon by me. Keep your words varied.
* Plagiarizing my puzzle is also frowned upon! Be creative and use different words than I did!
* Submitting the puzzle to me instead of to /dev/joe is an absolute no-no! No matter how good your puzzle is, if I know who wrote it, I cannot trust myself to judge the entries impartially. Seeing the entries without knowing who wrote them ensures that the prize goes to the puzzle I like the best, and not the person I like the best. So again, DO NOT SUBMIT YOUR PUZZLES TO ME!!!
You may only submit one puzzle, but you can change it at any time before the deadline. You may be the test-solver for any number of other entrants.
Good luck, and happy constructing!
Part I. Solve a Puzzle!
THE JOY OF PUZZLING: CODEWORDS
In the crossword puzzle below, 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.
After solving, go to tinyurl.com/tjop-[answer], replacing [answer] with the answer, to learn how this puzzle was constructed and get tips on constructing your own!
Part II. Make a Puzzle!
Now you get to write your own Codewords puzzle! To learn how I made the above puzzle, go to tinyurl.com/tjop-[answer], replacing "[answer]" in the URL with the puzzle's final answer in lowercase letters. It is not, however, necessary to watch this video or even solve the above puzzle to enter this part of the contest. Your puzzle must obey all of these rules:* The puzzle must obey Codewords rules.
* All 26 letters of the English alphabet must be present.
* All words must be Scrabble-legal in America. (Use http://scrabble.merriam.com/ if unsure. Note that Penny Press Codewords puzzles do sometimes use hyphenated words and even multi-word phrases, but I choose to restrict myself a little bit more.)
* The puzzle must use the same grid as the puzzle above. (I hate to constrain the creativity of those who want to use words of 10 letters or longer in their puzzles, but Codewords puzzles are a dime a dozen in magazines, and this is the absolute dead simplest anti-plagiarism measure I could come up with.)
* No entry may be repeated.
* Unlike the puzzle above, there is no need to select 8 cells to anagram to a final answer.
Since test-solving is one of the most important parts of the puzzle-construction process, you are allowed to seek the assistance of one test-solver.
Send your completed puzzle, its answer, three letters you want to give as hints, and the e-mail address of your test-solver (if you had one) to devjoe@gmail.com [NOT TO ME!!!], before 11:59 PM Central time on November 15, 2019. The puzzle and its answer should be in plaintext. After the deadline, /dev/joe will then send the puzzles to me in random order and with no bylines, and without the hint letters. I will judge which puzzle I like best and give the rest of the puzzles (with the hint letters) to a couple of longtime friends who aren't as experienced with Codewords puzzles as I am (a retired math professor and his wife), and they will judge which of those puzzles they like best; the constructors of the two selected puzzles and their test-solvers (if any) will both win a book of Penny Press Codewords puzzles! The winning entries (and honorable mentions, at my discretion) will also be reproduced on my blog for my readers' enjoyment. The following things are likely to win us over:
* Fresh entries.
* PG-ratedness.
* Strategically chosen hint letters that will allow relative laypeople to get a foothold and solve it. (For the puzzle above, I'd select numbers 15, 17, and 18, because they give over half of the 9-letter word in row 3, and if they can solve that word, they get four more letters instantly.) Remember that I won't know where the hint letters are when judging my winning entry, so this judging criterion is solely for my third-party solvers (they'll almost certainly enjoy solving a puzzle more than not solving it)!
The following things will not win us over:
* Too many obscurities. (It's okay to teach me a few new words, but too many obscure words may interfere with the fun of solving it. The third-party solvers who will judge the final winner will also be senior citizens who will have trouble breaking into a puzzle which is jam-packed with newfangled words like CAZH, which is slang for "casual".)
* R-rated things (I want to reproduce the winning entries on this highly PG-rated blog, so none of George Carlin's seven dirty words, for instance, should be in the grid).
* Etymological relatives, especially obvious ones like two compound words that share a root word in common, are frowned upon by me. Keep your words varied.
* Plagiarizing my puzzle is also frowned upon! Be creative and use different words than I did!
* Submitting the puzzle to me instead of to /dev/joe is an absolute no-no! No matter how good your puzzle is, if I know who wrote it, I cannot trust myself to judge the entries impartially. Seeing the entries without knowing who wrote them ensures that the prize goes to the puzzle I like the best, and not the person I like the best. So again, DO NOT SUBMIT YOUR PUZZLES TO ME!!!
You may only submit one puzzle, but you can change it at any time before the deadline. You may be the test-solver for any number of other entrants.
Good luck, and happy constructing!
The Joy of Puzzling: Word Sandwiches (RESULTS!)
I received 9 entries to Part I and 7 entries to Part II of The Joy Of Puzzling: Word Sandwiches. Here are the results!
The Joy of Puzzling: Word Sandwiches (CONTEST!)
In this two-part contest, you'll get to solve a puzzle, learn how it was made, and try your hand at making your own puzzle!
The final answer is the two-word phrase spelled out in the end spaces. After solving, go to tinyurl.com/tjop-[answer], replacing [answer] with the answer (leaving out the space), to learn how this puzzle was constructed and get tips on constructing your own!
CENTERS
1. ____ Pray Love (2010 film)
2. Stanza
3. Spasm
4. A unit of weight measurement
5. Uppermost room in a house
6. Mature
WHOLES
* Grid
* New York city in which Superintendent Chalmers never heard anyone use the phrase "steamed hams"
* Passing
* Stoked
* Supervise
* Was like a bad check
Send your answer to the above puzzle to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com before 11:59 PM Central time on June 24, 2019 to enter Part I of the contest. After the deadline, one random entrant with the correct answer will win a copy of my new board game TAILITS!
IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO CONSTRUCT A PUZZLE TO ENTER THIS PART OF THE CONTEST.
* The final answer must be two words of equal length, between 3 and 10 letters long, spelled by the letters added to the fronts and backs of the CENTERS words to make the WHOLES.
* All entries must be at least 3 letters long.
* The clues for the CENTERS must be in the correct order to spell the final answer phrase; the WHOLES clues must be alphabetized.
* No entry may be repeated. (Come the heck on now.)
You are allowed to seek the assistance of one test-solver to make sure the puzzle you send me doesn't have any typos, inaccurate clues, or other bad things Ryan won't like, and to ensure the puzzle is fun to solve. To increase my chances that I receive high-quality puzzles without typos, the test-solver is eligible for the same prize as the constructor! Teamwork makes the dream work, as they say.
Send your completed puzzle, its answer, and the e-mail address of your test-solver (if you had one) to glmathgrant@gmail.com, before 11:59 PM Central time on June 24, 2019. After the deadline, I will then send the puzzles to Ryan Faley in random order and with no bylines. He will judge which puzzle he likes best; its constructor and its test-solver (if any) will both win copies of my new board game TAILITS! The winning entry (and honorable mentions, at our discretion) will also be reproduced on my blog for my readers' enjoyment. The following things are likely to win Ryan over:
* Fresh entries.
* Interesting overlaps.
* Interesting clues.
* PG-ratedness.
The following things will not win him over:
* Too many obscurities. (Don't use the Portuguese word for "tablecloth"!)
* R-rated things (I want to reproduce the winning entry on this highly PG-rated blog, so none of George Carlin's seven dirty words, for instance, should be in the clues or the answers).
* Etymological relatives, especially obvious ones like two compound words that share a root word in common, are frowned upon. (HEREABOUT and THEREABOUTS is not an interesting overlap.)
* Submitting the puzzle to Ryan instead of to me is an absolute no-no! No matter how good your puzzle is, if he knows who wrote it, he cannot trust his judgment to be completely impartial. Seeing the entries without knowing who wrote them ensures that the prize goes to the puzzle he likes the best, and not the person he likes the best. So again, DO NOT SUBMIT YOUR PUZZLES TO RYAN!!!
You may only submit one puzzle, but you can change it at any time before the deadline. You may be the test-solver for any number of other entrants.
Good luck, and happy constructing!
Part I. Solve a Puzzle!
THE JOY OF PUZZLING: WORD SANDWICHES
Write the answers to the CENTERS clues in the correspondingly-numbered white spaces, then add one letter to each end in the highlighted spaces to form the answers to the WHOLES clues (which are in no particular order). The letters you have added, reading down the left and right sides, will spell a two-word phrase. In the example, the words EVER, PIN, RANG, and OWE become REVERB, OPINE, ORANGE, and TOWER; the letters on the sides spell ROOT BEER.The final answer is the two-word phrase spelled out in the end spaces. After solving, go to tinyurl.com/tjop-[answer], replacing [answer] with the answer (leaving out the space), to learn how this puzzle was constructed and get tips on constructing your own!
1. ____ Pray Love (2010 film)
2. Stanza
3. Spasm
4. A unit of weight measurement
5. Uppermost room in a house
6. Mature
WHOLES
* Grid
* New York city in which Superintendent Chalmers never heard anyone use the phrase "steamed hams"
* Passing
* Stoked
* Supervise
* Was like a bad check
Send your answer to the above puzzle to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com before 11:59 PM Central time on June 24, 2019 to enter Part I of the contest. After the deadline, one random entrant with the correct answer will win a copy of my new board game TAILITS!
IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO CONSTRUCT A PUZZLE TO ENTER THIS PART OF THE CONTEST.
Part II. Make a Puzzle!
Now you get to write your own Word Sandwiches puzzle! To learn how I made the above puzzle, go to tinyurl.com/tjop-[answer], replacing "[answer]" in the URL with the puzzle's final answer in lowercase letters (omitting the space). It is not necessary, however, to visit this URL or even solve the above puzzle to enter this part of the contest. Your puzzle must obey all of these rules:* The final answer must be two words of equal length, between 3 and 10 letters long, spelled by the letters added to the fronts and backs of the CENTERS words to make the WHOLES.
* All entries must be at least 3 letters long.
* The clues for the CENTERS must be in the correct order to spell the final answer phrase; the WHOLES clues must be alphabetized.
* No entry may be repeated. (Come the heck on now.)
You are allowed to seek the assistance of one test-solver to make sure the puzzle you send me doesn't have any typos, inaccurate clues, or other bad things Ryan won't like, and to ensure the puzzle is fun to solve. To increase my chances that I receive high-quality puzzles without typos, the test-solver is eligible for the same prize as the constructor! Teamwork makes the dream work, as they say.
Send your completed puzzle, its answer, and the e-mail address of your test-solver (if you had one) to glmathgrant@gmail.com, before 11:59 PM Central time on June 24, 2019. After the deadline, I will then send the puzzles to Ryan Faley in random order and with no bylines. He will judge which puzzle he likes best; its constructor and its test-solver (if any) will both win copies of my new board game TAILITS! The winning entry (and honorable mentions, at our discretion) will also be reproduced on my blog for my readers' enjoyment. The following things are likely to win Ryan over:
* Fresh entries.
* Interesting overlaps.
* Interesting clues.
* PG-ratedness.
The following things will not win him over:
* Too many obscurities. (Don't use the Portuguese word for "tablecloth"!)
* R-rated things (I want to reproduce the winning entry on this highly PG-rated blog, so none of George Carlin's seven dirty words, for instance, should be in the clues or the answers).
* Etymological relatives, especially obvious ones like two compound words that share a root word in common, are frowned upon. (HEREABOUT and THEREABOUTS is not an interesting overlap.)
* Submitting the puzzle to Ryan instead of to me is an absolute no-no! No matter how good your puzzle is, if he knows who wrote it, he cannot trust his judgment to be completely impartial. Seeing the entries without knowing who wrote them ensures that the prize goes to the puzzle he likes the best, and not the person he likes the best. So again, DO NOT SUBMIT YOUR PUZZLES TO RYAN!!!
You may only submit one puzzle, but you can change it at any time before the deadline. You may be the test-solver for any number of other entrants.
Good luck, and happy constructing!
The Joy of Puzzling: Pent Words (RESULTS!)
I received 6 entries to Part I and 6 entries to Part II of The Joy Of Puzzling: Pent Words. Here are the results!
The Joy of Puzzling: Pent Words (CONTEST!)
In this two-part contest, you'll get to solve a puzzle, learn how it was made, and try your hand at making your own puzzle!
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 below, 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.
After solving, go to tinyurl.com/tjop-[answer], replacing [answer] with the answer (no space), to learn how this puzzle was constructed and get tips on constructing your own!
ACROSS (two answers per row):
1 A ____ Family Funeral (2019 film) / Say hello to
2 Foreign / Cut hair from
3 Reheat in a microwave / Spoon, for one
4 Number of people on a soccer team / Oolong and such
5 Word after "grand" or "little" in the card game bridge / Chicory relative
6 Terminate / Embraced
7 Wrestler Sammartino / Pulsate
8 Determine the value of something / Hellmann's offering, for short
9 Urge on / Shoe and clothing brand with a large cat as its mascot
10 Wanted poster detail / Microwave ____
PENTOMINOES:
* HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER
* THE OTHER HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER
* Charlie of Two and a Half Men
* Mexican film actor Infante
* Put right
* Online game where players control gods
* Advice
* The Adventures of ____ Billy (1989 video game)
* Concur
* Certain foot bones
* Contract between a landlord and a tenant, for example
* Lady Gaga and Madonna, for two
* Labyrinthine puzzles
* Expert
* Permian ____
* A Wheel of Fortune category
* Former Jeopardy! announcer Don
* Characters in certain ancient alphabets
* "Set Fire to the Rain" singer
* Out of whole ____
Send your answer to the above puzzle to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com to enter Part I of the contest. After the deadline (May 25, 2019 at 11:59 PM), one random entrant with the correct answer will win a signed copy of the May 2019 issue of Games World of Puzzles, which includes a Snake Crisscross by me, and a copy of my board game TAILITS!
* The puzzle must obey Pent Words rules.
* The puzzle must be 10x10.
* All entries must be from 3 through 7 letters long.
* No entry may be repeated.
* There must be a final answer, a phrase consisting of two 5-letter words which appear as unclued pentominoes.
* The subdivision of the grid into pentominoes must be unique, even if you don't know the final answer.
Since test-solving is one of the most important parts of the puzzle-construction process, you are allowed to seek the assistance of one test-solver to make sure the puzzle you send me doesn't have any inaccurate clues or other bad things I won't like.
Send your completed puzzle, its answer, and the e-mail address of your test-solver (if you had one) to devjoe@gmail.com [NOT TO ME!!!]. The puzzle and its answer should be in plaintext. After the deadline (May 25, 2019 at 11:59 PM), /dev/joe will then send the puzzles to me in random order and with no bylines. I will judge which puzzle I like best; its constructor and its test-solver (if any) will both win a signed copy of the May 2019 issue of Games World of Puzzles, which includes a Snake Crisscross by me, and a copy of my board game TAILITS! The winning entry (and honorable mentions, at my discretion) will also be reproduced on my blog for my readers' enjoyment. The following things are likely to win me over:
* Fresh entries.
* Interesting overlaps.
* Interesting clues.
* PG-ratedness.
The following things will not win me over:
* Too many obscurities. (Don't use the Portugese word for "tablecloth" or the names of about half a dozen characters from manga comics that only about 100 people read.)
* R-rated things (I want to reproduce the winning entry on this highly PG-rated blog, so none of George Carlin's seven dirty words, for instance, should be in the clues or the answers).
* Etymological relatives, especially obvious ones like two compound words that share a root word in common, are frowned upon.
* Submitting the puzzle to me instead of to /dev/joe is an absolute no-no! No matter how good your puzzle is, if I know who wrote it, I cannot trust myself to judge the entries impartially. Seeing the entries without knowing who wrote them ensures that the prize goes to the puzzle I like the best, and not the person I like the best. So again, DO NOT SUBMIT YOUR PUZZLES TO ME!!!
You may only submit one puzzle, but you can change it at any time before the deadline. You may be the test-solver for any number of other entrants.
Good luck, and happy constructing!
Part I. Solve a Puzzle!
THE JOY OF PUZZLING: PENT WORDS
After solving, go to tinyurl.com/tjop-[answer], replacing [answer] with the answer (no space), to learn how this puzzle was constructed and get tips on constructing your own!
1 A ____ Family Funeral (2019 film) / Say hello to
2 Foreign / Cut hair from
3 Reheat in a microwave / Spoon, for one
4 Number of people on a soccer team / Oolong and such
5 Word after "grand" or "little" in the card game bridge / Chicory relative
6 Terminate / Embraced
7 Wrestler Sammartino / Pulsate
8 Determine the value of something / Hellmann's offering, for short
9 Urge on / Shoe and clothing brand with a large cat as its mascot
10 Wanted poster detail / Microwave ____
PENTOMINOES:
* HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER
* THE OTHER HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER
* Charlie of Two and a Half Men
* Mexican film actor Infante
* Put right
* Online game where players control gods
* Advice
* The Adventures of ____ Billy (1989 video game)
* Concur
* Certain foot bones
* Contract between a landlord and a tenant, for example
* Lady Gaga and Madonna, for two
* Labyrinthine puzzles
* Expert
* Permian ____
* A Wheel of Fortune category
* Former Jeopardy! announcer Don
* Characters in certain ancient alphabets
* "Set Fire to the Rain" singer
* Out of whole ____
Send your answer to the above puzzle to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com to enter Part I of the contest. After the deadline (May 25, 2019 at 11:59 PM), one random entrant with the correct answer will win a signed copy of the May 2019 issue of Games World of Puzzles, which includes a Snake Crisscross by me, and a copy of my board game TAILITS!
Part II. Make a Puzzle!
Now you get to write your own Pent Words puzzle! To learn how I made the above puzzle, go to tinyurl.com/tjop-[answer], replacing "[answer]" in the URL with the puzzle's final answer in lowercase letters and with no space. It is not, however, necessary to watch this video or even solve the above puzzle to enter this part of the contest. Your puzzle must obey all of these rules:* The puzzle must obey Pent Words rules.
* The puzzle must be 10x10.
* All entries must be from 3 through 7 letters long.
* No entry may be repeated.
* There must be a final answer, a phrase consisting of two 5-letter words which appear as unclued pentominoes.
* The subdivision of the grid into pentominoes must be unique, even if you don't know the final answer.
Since test-solving is one of the most important parts of the puzzle-construction process, you are allowed to seek the assistance of one test-solver to make sure the puzzle you send me doesn't have any inaccurate clues or other bad things I won't like.
Send your completed puzzle, its answer, and the e-mail address of your test-solver (if you had one) to devjoe@gmail.com [NOT TO ME!!!]. The puzzle and its answer should be in plaintext. After the deadline (May 25, 2019 at 11:59 PM), /dev/joe will then send the puzzles to me in random order and with no bylines. I will judge which puzzle I like best; its constructor and its test-solver (if any) will both win a signed copy of the May 2019 issue of Games World of Puzzles, which includes a Snake Crisscross by me, and a copy of my board game TAILITS! The winning entry (and honorable mentions, at my discretion) will also be reproduced on my blog for my readers' enjoyment. The following things are likely to win me over:
* Fresh entries.
* Interesting overlaps.
* Interesting clues.
* PG-ratedness.
The following things will not win me over:
* Too many obscurities. (Don't use the Portugese word for "tablecloth" or the names of about half a dozen characters from manga comics that only about 100 people read.)
* R-rated things (I want to reproduce the winning entry on this highly PG-rated blog, so none of George Carlin's seven dirty words, for instance, should be in the clues or the answers).
* Etymological relatives, especially obvious ones like two compound words that share a root word in common, are frowned upon.
* Submitting the puzzle to me instead of to /dev/joe is an absolute no-no! No matter how good your puzzle is, if I know who wrote it, I cannot trust myself to judge the entries impartially. Seeing the entries without knowing who wrote them ensures that the prize goes to the puzzle I like the best, and not the person I like the best. So again, DO NOT SUBMIT YOUR PUZZLES TO ME!!!
You may only submit one puzzle, but you can change it at any time before the deadline. You may be the test-solver for any number of other entrants.
Good luck, and happy constructing!
The Joy of Puzzling: Touchword (RESULTS!)
I received 4 entries to Part I and 6 entries to Part II of The Joy Of Puzzling: Touchword. Here are the results!
The Joy of Puzzling: Touchword (CONTEST!)
In this two-part contest, you'll get to solve a puzzle, learn how it was made, and try your hand at making your own puzzle!
Arrange the letters in the shaded spaces to form the final answer, an 8-letter word. After solving, go to tinyurl.com/tjop-[answer], replacing [answer] with the answer, to learn how this puzzle was constructed and get tips on constructing your own!
1 Certain / With !, animated series about patriarch Stan Smith: 2 wds.
2 Some party decorations / Like unposed photography
3 Opposite of weakness / Substitute: hyph.
4 The Rite of ____ (Stravinsky work) / θ / Supreme Norse god
5 Orange-colored peach relative / Systematized
6 "Chattahoochee" singer Jackson / Perpetrate, as a crime / Chaos
7 A type of custard / Speeds of musical works / One of 31 at Baskin-Robbins
8 ____ of foot / Trade fair / Develop
9 Puffs rival / Neither fish nor ____ / Alabama lead singer Randy
10 One thousand grams / Foam dart gun brand / Bloated
11 Baloo's occupation in TaleSpin / Large vessels like Noah's / Blob of sour cream, for example
12 Former monetary unit of Spain / ____ out a living (barely squeaked by) / Pry
13 Button next to Power on the NES / Key beliefs / 12 hours after midnight
14 Grint who played Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter flicks / Novelist Shreve / The ____, the Witch and the Wardrobe
15 Title role for Christopher Reeve / Salad dressing variety with garlic and oregano
Send your answer to the above puzzle to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com before 11:59 PM Central time on May 25, 2018 to enter Part I of the contest. After the deadline, one random entrant with the correct answer will win a signed copy of the April 2018 issue of Games World of Puzzles, which includes a Touchword by me!
IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO CONSTRUCT A PUZZLE TO ENTER THIS PART OF THE CONTEST.
* The puzzle must obey Touchword rules.
* The puzzle must be 15x15.
* All entries must be at least 4 letters long.
* No entry may be repeated. (Having the same 15-letter entry in all 15 rows technically satisfies the above rules, but is such a lame puzzle that I will refuse to acknowledge its existence.)
* Unlike the puzzle above, there is no need to select 8 cells to anagram to a final answer.
You are allowed to seek the assistance of one test-solver to make sure the puzzle you send me doesn't have any typos, inaccurate clues, or other bad things I won't like, and to ensure the puzzle is fun to solve. To increase my chances that I receive high-quality puzzles without typos, the test-solver is eligible for the same prize as the constructor! Teamwork makes the dream work, as they say.
Send your completed puzzle, its answer, and the e-mail address of your test-solver (if you had one) to devjoe@gmail.com [NOT TO ME!!!], before 11:59 PM Central time on May 25, 2018. The puzzle and its answer should be in plaintext, with the clues for each row separated by slashes or line breaks. After the deadline, /dev/joe will then send the puzzles to me in random order and with no bylines. I will judge which puzzle I like best; its constructor and its test-solver (if any) will both win signed copies of the Spring 2015 issue of Will Shortz's Wordplay and the August 2017 and April 2018 issues of Games World of Puzzles, which include puzzles by me! The winning entry (and honorable mentions, at my discretion) will also be reproduced on my blog for my readers' enjoyment. The following things are likely to win me over:
* Fresh entries.
* Interesting overlaps.
* Interesting clues.
* PG-ratedness.
The following things will not win me over:
* Too many obscurities. (Don't use the Portuguese word for "tablecloth" or the names of about half a dozen characters from manga comics that only about 100 people read. Even obscurities that I happen to know will be frowned upon if I don't expect my blog audience to know them. I believe the best puzzles give the solver a fair shot at solving the puzzle with their own wits!)
* R-rated things (I want to reproduce the winning entry on this highly PG-rated blog, so none of George Carlin's seven dirty words, for instance, should be in the clues or the answers).
* Etymological relatives, especially obvious ones like two compound words that share a root word in common, are frowned upon. (BLACKBOARD and BACKBOARD is not an interesting overlap.)
* Submitting the puzzle to me instead of to /dev/joe is an absolute no-no! No matter how good your puzzle is, if I know who wrote it, I cannot trust my judgment to be completely impartial. Seeing the entries without knowing who wrote them ensures that the prize goes to the puzzle I like the best, and not the person I like the best. So again, DO NOT SUBMIT YOUR PUZZLES TO ME!!!
You may only submit one puzzle, but you can change it at any time before the deadline. You may be the test-solver for any number of other entrants.
Good luck, and happy constructing!
Part I. Solve a Puzzle!
THE JOY OF PUZZLING: TOUCHWORD
In a crossword, words cross each other; in this puzzle, they merely touch. More specifically, 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. (You can think of it as a diagramless, cylindrical Share-A-Letter puzzle.)Arrange the letters in the shaded spaces to form the final answer, an 8-letter word. After solving, go to tinyurl.com/tjop-[answer], replacing [answer] with the answer, to learn how this puzzle was constructed and get tips on constructing your own!
2 Some party decorations / Like unposed photography
3 Opposite of weakness / Substitute: hyph.
4 The Rite of ____ (Stravinsky work) / θ / Supreme Norse god
5 Orange-colored peach relative / Systematized
6 "Chattahoochee" singer Jackson / Perpetrate, as a crime / Chaos
7 A type of custard / Speeds of musical works / One of 31 at Baskin-Robbins
8 ____ of foot / Trade fair / Develop
9 Puffs rival / Neither fish nor ____ / Alabama lead singer Randy
10 One thousand grams / Foam dart gun brand / Bloated
11 Baloo's occupation in TaleSpin / Large vessels like Noah's / Blob of sour cream, for example
12 Former monetary unit of Spain / ____ out a living (barely squeaked by) / Pry
13 Button next to Power on the NES / Key beliefs / 12 hours after midnight
14 Grint who played Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter flicks / Novelist Shreve / The ____, the Witch and the Wardrobe
15 Title role for Christopher Reeve / Salad dressing variety with garlic and oregano
Send your answer to the above puzzle to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com before 11:59 PM Central time on May 25, 2018 to enter Part I of the contest. After the deadline, one random entrant with the correct answer will win a signed copy of the April 2018 issue of Games World of Puzzles, which includes a Touchword by me!
IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO CONSTRUCT A PUZZLE TO ENTER THIS PART OF THE CONTEST.
Part II. Make a Puzzle!
Now you get to write your own Touchword puzzle! To learn how I made the above puzzle, go to tinyurl.com/tjop-[answer], replacing "[answer]" in the URL with the puzzle's final answer in lowercase letters. It is not necessary, however, to watch this video or even solve the above puzzle to enter this part of the contest. Your puzzle must obey all of these rules:* The puzzle must obey Touchword rules.
* The puzzle must be 15x15.
* All entries must be at least 4 letters long.
* No entry may be repeated. (Having the same 15-letter entry in all 15 rows technically satisfies the above rules, but is such a lame puzzle that I will refuse to acknowledge its existence.)
* Unlike the puzzle above, there is no need to select 8 cells to anagram to a final answer.
You are allowed to seek the assistance of one test-solver to make sure the puzzle you send me doesn't have any typos, inaccurate clues, or other bad things I won't like, and to ensure the puzzle is fun to solve. To increase my chances that I receive high-quality puzzles without typos, the test-solver is eligible for the same prize as the constructor! Teamwork makes the dream work, as they say.
Send your completed puzzle, its answer, and the e-mail address of your test-solver (if you had one) to devjoe@gmail.com [NOT TO ME!!!], before 11:59 PM Central time on May 25, 2018. The puzzle and its answer should be in plaintext, with the clues for each row separated by slashes or line breaks. After the deadline, /dev/joe will then send the puzzles to me in random order and with no bylines. I will judge which puzzle I like best; its constructor and its test-solver (if any) will both win signed copies of the Spring 2015 issue of Will Shortz's Wordplay and the August 2017 and April 2018 issues of Games World of Puzzles, which include puzzles by me! The winning entry (and honorable mentions, at my discretion) will also be reproduced on my blog for my readers' enjoyment. The following things are likely to win me over:
* Fresh entries.
* Interesting overlaps.
* Interesting clues.
* PG-ratedness.
The following things will not win me over:
* Too many obscurities. (Don't use the Portuguese word for "tablecloth" or the names of about half a dozen characters from manga comics that only about 100 people read. Even obscurities that I happen to know will be frowned upon if I don't expect my blog audience to know them. I believe the best puzzles give the solver a fair shot at solving the puzzle with their own wits!)
* R-rated things (I want to reproduce the winning entry on this highly PG-rated blog, so none of George Carlin's seven dirty words, for instance, should be in the clues or the answers).
* Etymological relatives, especially obvious ones like two compound words that share a root word in common, are frowned upon. (BLACKBOARD and BACKBOARD is not an interesting overlap.)
* Submitting the puzzle to me instead of to /dev/joe is an absolute no-no! No matter how good your puzzle is, if I know who wrote it, I cannot trust my judgment to be completely impartial. Seeing the entries without knowing who wrote them ensures that the prize goes to the puzzle I like the best, and not the person I like the best. So again, DO NOT SUBMIT YOUR PUZZLES TO ME!!!
You may only submit one puzzle, but you can change it at any time before the deadline. You may be the test-solver for any number of other entrants.
Good luck, and happy constructing!
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