Games World of Puzzles May 2022

The American naturalist Edwin Way Teale once wrote, “The world’s favorite season is the spring. All things seem possible in May.” And we here at GAMES WORLD OF PUZZLES agree. So grab this May issue and tackle a new challenge—whether it be a puzzle you haven’t attempted before or a game you’re inspired to try. As always, there’s plenty in these pages to help you accomplish that goal. If cryptic crosswords are your challenge of choice, turn to page 33 for the seventh installment of Andrew Parr’s “Cryptic Classroom.” This month, Parr covers deletions, reversals, and the “& lit.” clue. The going gets a little tough here, but we’re confident that you will persevere in your quest to conquer the cryptic crosswords that regularly appear in this magazine. If you get…

This puzzle is solved like a standard Mixed Doubles in that each answer word 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 or two Down clues that seem to have the same answer, add up their clue numbers to determine the place in the grid at which 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 18-Across (1 + 17). Tags such as “Hyph.” and “2 wds.” have been omitted. ACROSS 1 Sculptor’s medium 2 Fox talent show, familiarly 3 L.A. soccer team that signed David Beckham 4 Washington portrait site 5…

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. 52-SKIDDOO…

ACROSS 1 Coconut tree 5 Daddies 10 Trojan War hero 14 Parkay product 15 Caribbean resort isle 16 Equipment 17 Piggy bank feature 18 San Francisco footballer, for short 19 Other, in Oaxaca 20 Decelerate on the runway: 4 wds. 23 Operative 24 Tremble with cold 25 Bull’s sound 27 Midterms and finals 30 Blinding light 32 BBQ finger food 35 Principal 37 Talk show host Gibbons 39 University’s URL suffix 40 Great job!…or another title for this puzzle: 3 wds. 42 Noah’s boat 43 Cabaret choreographer 45 Just okay: Hyph. 46 Former car financing org.: Abbr. 47 Tour of duty 49 “When pigs fly!” 51 Cravat’s cousin 53 Backspaces over 57 Police alert, briefly 59 Cocktail sauce ingredient 62 Somersault 64 Giant 65 “Do ___ others…” 66 Pinocchio goldfish 67 Take off 68 1958 Pulitzer winner James 69 Throw a party 70 Bordered 71 Minus DOWN 1 Diplomats’ stations 2 God, in Islam 3 Successor of Clement VIII: 2 wds. 4 Reasons 5 Sweeping view 6 Diva’s solo 7 Plays on words 8 Helps in a heist 9…

POPPING THE QUESTION Number the words in the balloons according to the directions. Not all the balloons will be used. Then place the numbered words on the blanks below to discover a joke and its answer. 1. Put a 4 by the word whose last three letters spell the name of an insect. 2. Put an 11 by the only word that contains an “m.” 3. Put a 14 by the only six-letter word. 4. Put a 13 by the shortest word that contains an “s.” 5. Put a 2 by the word that would turn into your father if its “i” became an “a.” 6. Put a 6 by the word that rhymes with “weigh.” 7. Put a 15 by the word that starts with a “t” and ends with an “n.” 8. Put a 1 by the…

This is a good puzzle to do with your family or friends. The shaded states on this map, as well as the state capitals marked with a star, all have something in common. Each of their names contains a familiar first name. For example, the name ANN can be found in ANNAPOLIS (the capital of Maryland), and ART can be found in HARTFORD (the capital of Connecticut). Can you figure out which states or state capitals contain the other first names below? Write each place’s name on the blank space, then locate it on the map and write the number of that name in the correct circle. (We’ve done this for the first two to get you started.) Three of the names can be found in more than one place, and…