Games World of Puzzles December 2018

With the holiday season well-nigh upon us, we’ve compiled a festive collection of brainteasers, crossword variations, and other assorted amusements for your puzzling pleasure. A highlight of this issue is “Wanna Play?” (page 34), Jonathan Schmalzbach’s report on his visit to The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York. Regular readers know how much this columnist loves vintage games; imagine his excitement when surrounded by what is arguably one of the world’s most amazing collection of toys, games, and pastimes. For those of you unfamiliar with The Strong, it’s an important site for the scholarly study of games; more important, it’s a family-friendly place that regularly puts on eye-popping, interactive exhibits. If you love games, it’s well worth a visit! Longtime game reviewer Thomas L. McDonald continues that thread…

Each answer word in this crossword variation has two clues leading to it, using different meanings of the word. The clues are separated into Across and Down, but are otherwise ordered randomly. When you find two Across clues or two Down clues that seem to have the same answer, add up their clue numbers to determine the place in the grid where the answer should be entered. For example, if the clue for 1-Across were “Metallic element“ and the clue for 17-Across read “Starring role,“ the answer would be “lead,“ which would go in the box labeled 18 (1 + 17). Note: Tags such as “Hyph.“ and “2 wds.“ have been omitted. ACROSS 1 Consequence of accidentally flipping a card, maybe 2 CBers’ nicknames 3 Dens 4 Onetime SNL cast member Sanz 5 Successfully attracts, as a…

There is one place for each letter of the alphabet in the 26 empty squares of each blank column in the diagram below. Fill in each letter so that a word of at least five letters is formed reading across only. Not all of the letters to the left and right of the empty box are used; it’s up to you to determine which ones are needed to complete familiar words. Some letters may fit in more than one of the empty squares to complete words, but we only came up with one arrangement that would complete a word in each row. Maybe you’ll find a better solution. Proper names are not allowed. ANSWERS…

The lines in the six puzzles below may look like random letter jumbles, but there’s actually some method to this madness. Each line contains a five-letter word and a four-letter word whose letters have been woven together, but the left-to-right order of the letters has not been disturbed. For instance, the letter sequence D A R I U N V E T = DRIVE + AUNT. Unweave the two words on each line and write them in the spaces provided. When you’re done, the answer to each puzzle’s clue will appear in the two shaded columns. PUZZLE 1: THE 40 PERCENT SOLUTION PUZZLE 2: VIVA NEW YORK! PUZZLE 3: LET’S SPLIT PUZZLE 4: TICKLE ME PUZZLE 5: CATSUP PLUS PUZZLE 6: THIS JUS IN ANSWERS PUZZLE 1 Haiku, talc elate, heir alert, floe viola, tuba yield, prom HEAVY CREAM PUZZLE 2 orbit, icon carom, shoe ozone, beat tinge, here maxim,…

Let’s have a hoedown! Clues 1 to 7 in the list below have answers that start with the letters DO-; clues 8 to 14 have an answers ending with the letters-DO. For example, “Flipper was one” is DOLPHIN, while “Swimsuit brand” yields SPEEDO. If you get all 14 correct, you’re no dodo. 1. Stock index mentioned often on CNBC 2. Tile game that involves pip-matching 3. The Drifters’ style of singing 4. Arcade game that first introduced Mario 5. Scary-looking German guard-dog breed 6. One of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 7. Homer Simpson’s favorite food 8. Lucy, Ricky, and Little Ricky’s surname 9. Sinfully rich, creamy pasta dish 10. Florida destination of Disney devotees 11. Actor who said “I coulda been a contenda” 12. Green fruit used in guacamole dip 13. “Monkey suit” rented by a promgoer 14. City of gold sought by…

ACROSS 1 Comfort 5 What a padlock locks to 9 King’s dominion 14 Earnest entreaty 15 Off in the distance 16 Pond scum stuff 17 Misfortunes 18 Star Wars princess 19 Mirror material 20 Lose the euphoria and face facts: 4 wds. 23 Far from fresh 24 Letterman list number 25 Lose traction 28 Stock-dumping panic: Hyph. 34 TV promos 37 Sergeant, for one: Abbr. 39 U.S. Navy engineer 40 Scarlett’s saga: 4 wds. 44 Draw out 45 “O Sole ___” 46 Bradley and Begley 47 Safe-___ box 49 Night sight 52 Noah’s handiwork 54 Piece of door hardware 58 Perilous place to be, at a shootout: 5 wds. 65 Apple tool 66 Made like Humpty Dumpty 67 Third Rock ___ the Sun 68 Lend ___ (listen): 2 wds. 69 Heavy metal 70 Grammy winner Horne 71 Have-not’s many 72 Building extensions 73 First garden DOWN 1 Movies like Ben-Hur 2 Parcel out 3 Night Court actress Diamond 4 Painting holder-uppers 5 Heavenly headwear 6 ___ Good Men: 2 wds. 7 She’s been…