Tag Archives: Follow-Up Friday

It’s Follow-Up Friday: Welsh Landmarks edition!

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Welcome to Follow-Up Friday!

By this time, you know the drill. Follow-Up Friday is a chance for us to revisit the subjects of previous posts and bring the PuzzleNation audience up to speed on all things puzzly.

And today, let’s return to the subject of vocabulary and pronunciation!

[Image courtesy of Savethewords.org]

One of the best things about doing puzzles is that you get to learn new words.

Whether they’re obscure or antiquated, hip new slang, borrowings from foreign languages, or simply neat words you’ve never encountered before, these words can be a delight to encounter while solving. (Even if you’re baffled while solving and have to look them up afterward.)

But the problem with some of these words is that if you only see them in print, you might not know how to pronounce them. For instance, it took me quite a long time to connect the written word “quinoa” with the spoken word that sounded like “keen-wah.” I know I’m not alone on that one.

So, imagine, if you will, you’re on vacation in the United Kingdom, and you stumble upon this small town:

Welcome to Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, a town in Anglesey in the UK.

This 58-character place name is actually only 51 letters long, as certain character groups in Welsh are considered as one letter (LL, NG, and CH among them).

Would you be able to pronounce it? I don’t think I would!

But check out this TV weatherman, who doesn’t blink twice at tackling this mind-boggling word:

Now that’s a puzzler who won’t be daunted by some uncommon vocabulary.

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! You can share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and be sure to check out the growing library of PuzzleNation apps and games!

TV Trivia for Tipplers!

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[Geeks Who Drink, hosted by Zachary Levi from Disney’s Tangled and NBC’s Chuck.]

Back in July, I discussed The Chase, 500 Questions, and BOOM!, three game shows that represent a resurgence in TV trivia over the last year or so.

Naturally, a week or so after I posted, another trivia-based game show debuted, this time on SyFy: Geeks Who Drink.

Now, bar trivia fans may recognize that name, as Geeks Who Drink is a trivia company that licenses trivia questions for bars all over America to use on Trivia Nights to bring in customers. (My first Geeks Who Drink experience was in Alaska while visiting my sister, and I was pretty impressed by the wide variety of clever questions and themes.)

Like its namesake, punny team names are encouraged on the show. A few of my favorite team names include “Hot Pub Time Machine” and “Beer Me Up, Scotty.”

Unlike its namesake, the TV show version focuses pretty heavily on science fiction and fantasy movies, TV shows, and books. (Understandable, given its host network.)

Whether you’re putting horror movies in order based on the year they debuted, naming as many Stephen King novels as possible, or solving a math problem by adding the number of horcruxes in Harry Potter to the number of wheels on the DeLorean from Back to the Future, you’ll definitely find your knowledge of pop culture put to the test.

[Eric Christian Olsen from NCIS: Los Angeles leads the team “Han Solo Cups.”]

The show also incorporates celebrity guests as team captains and bar-game-style physical challenges — imagine a boozy version of Double Dare — to spice up the show. Now, we have to be a little liberal with the definition of “celebrity guest” here, in the same vein as the “Stars” on Dancing with the Stars, but they do add a lot of humor to each show.

Although it may be a bit too niche for most viewers, I think genre fans in the puzzle community will find plenty to enjoy here. And with each episode only running 30 minutes, it’s an easy time investment.

Geeks Who Drink airs on SyFy at 11 PM Eastern on Thursdays.

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! You can share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and be sure to check out the growing library of PuzzleNation apps and games!

It’s Follow-Up Friday: Labor Day Puzzles edition!

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Welcome to Follow-Up Friday!

By this time, you know the drill. Follow-Up Friday is a chance for us to revisit the subjects of previous posts and bring the PuzzleNation audience up to speed on all things puzzly.

So let’s return to one of my favorite subjects: the Penny Dell Crosswords app!

In addition to offering a free daily puzzle, we’re constantly pushing to provide you with fresh puzzle content and the best crosswords on the mobile market today.

And just in time for your long weekend, we’ve got a brand-new puzzle set for you! It’s our September Deluxe Set!

That’s right, Labor Day weekend is upon us, and our September Deluxe set offers 35 terrific puzzles.

Not only do you get 30 easy, medium, and hard puzzles, but there are 5 themed bonus puzzles you can unlock as you solve! And it’s available for in-app purchase right now!

It’s the perfect puzzly treat for a three-day weekend!

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! You can share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and be sure to check out the growing library of PuzzleNation apps and games!

It’s Follow-Up Friday: Rubik’s Under Pressure edition!

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Welcome to Follow-Up Friday!

By this time, you know the drill. Follow-Up Friday is a chance for us to revisit the subjects of previous posts and bring the PuzzleNation audience up to speed on all things puzzly.

And today, I’d like to return to the subject of twisty puzzles and the Rubik’s Cube!

You know, every time I think I’ve seen it all when it comes to Rubik’s Cube, some enterprising solver proves me wrong yet again. I mean, in writing three blog posts a week here for years, I’ve seen a LOT of cool things done with Rubik’s Cubes.

I’ve seen the world’s largest Rubik’s-style cube being solved, a building turned into a solvable Rubik’s Cube, a new speed-solving world record of 5.25 seconds, and a Rubik’s Cube solved one move at a time by strangers across the globe.

But I didn’t expect this one. Please join me in awe as this breath-defying solver tackles 2×2-style, 3×3-style, AND 4×4-style Rubik’s cubes in a little over a minute:

I’ll give $20 to the first person to solve a crossword in the same fashion.

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! You can share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and be sure to check out the growing library of PuzzleNation apps and games!

It’s Follow-Up Friday: Tile-r Swift edition!

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Welcome to Follow-Up Friday!

By this time, you know the drill. Follow-Up Friday is a chance for us to revisit the subjects of previous posts and bring the PuzzleNation audience up to speed on all things puzzly.

And today I’d like to return to the subject of puzzly tributes.

We’ve featured several puzzle-fueled tributes over the years, from the Star Trek brain teaser we posted in honor of Leonard Nimoy to artistic renderings of famous film monsters in the medium of Rubik’s Cubes.

And, given the three awards she won at this week’s Teen Choice Awards, it’s appropriate that I stumbled across a tribute to Taylor Swift in one of the puzzliest forms imaginable:

A train of thousands of domino tiles.

Beyond the meticulous, creative, and mind-boggling delight:

You know you’ve made it when you find your hard work immortalized in domino form. =)

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! You can share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and be sure to check out the growing library of PuzzleNation apps and games!

It’s Follow-Up Friday: The Puzzle’s The Thing! edition

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Welcome to Follow-Up Friday!

By this time, you know the drill. Follow-Up Friday is a chance for us to revisit the subjects of previous posts and bring the PuzzleNation audience up to speed on all things puzzly.

And today, I’m posting the results of our #PennyDellShakespearePuzzles hashtag game!

You may be familiar with the board game Schmovie, hashtag games on Twitter, or @midnight’s Hashtag Wars segment on Comedy Central.

For the last few months, we’re been collaborating on puzzle-themed hashtag games with our pals at Penny/Dell Puzzles, and this month’s hook was Penny/Dell Shakespeare Puzzles!

Examples for plays might be “Hamlet-terboxes” and examples for quotes might be “The Stars and Arrows of outrageous fortune.” Anything Shakespearean is up for grabs here!

So, without further ado, check out what the puzzlers at PuzzleNation and Penny/Dell Puzzles came up with!

Puzzly Plays

The Merry Wives of Wizard Words

The Two at a Time Noble Kinsmen / Two by Two Noble Kinsmen

Cymbeline ’Em Up

Timed Framework of Athens

As You Like It Figures

Romeo and Julietterboxes

The Taming of the Shrudoku

Love’s Labour’s Missing List

The Tempest of Sudoku

Romeo and Juliet’s Double Trouble Love Affair

Quotes that Fall into a Winter’s Tale

Puzzly Quotes

“Suit the action to the crossword, the crossword to the action.” (Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 2)

From sonnet 130: “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the Sunrays.”

“The very substance of the ambitious is merely THE SHADOW of a dream.” (Hamlet)

“Off with their Heads and Tails!” (Richard III)

“To Beat, or not to Beat, the Clock: that is the question.” (Hamlet)

“All Four One, he kissed me. I loved my Blips the better A Perfect Ten days after.”

“But, soft! What light through yonder Window Boxes? It is the east and Juliet is the Sunrays.”

“Frailty, thy name is Word Games.”

“Crosswords do shake the darling buds of May.”

“Alas poor Brick by Brick, I knew him Horatio.”

“Word Play’s the thing to catch the conscience of the king.”

Exit What’s Left, pursued by a bear.

“What a piece of Framework is a man.”

“Bull’s-Eye Spiral of newt.”

“To be or not to be, that is the Big Question.”

“Crosswords pay no debts.”

“A pair of star-Crossword lovers take their life.” (Romeo & Juliet)

From Sonnet 18: “Shall I compare thee to a Right of Way?”

“Double, Double, Toil & Double Trouble.” (Macbeth)

“Where Plus Fours art thou, Romeo?” (Romeo & Juliet)

“To be or not to be…that is the Quotefall.”

Someone even offered up a puzzly version of one of Shakespeare’s most popular characters, Quotefallstaff.

Plus our fellow puzzlers on Twitter offered up some terrific entries themselves! @CheriPalmisano submitted a quote — “My cherry lips have often kissed your bricks…(by brick) which are stuck together with cement” — and hashtag warriors @HereLetty and @aLICIaR802 joined in the fun with “In my mind’s Bull’s Eye Spiral” and “The Comedy of Errors: Me when I do a logic problem” respectively!

Have you come up with any Penny/Dell Shakespeare Puzzles of your own? Let us know! We’d love to see them!

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! You can share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and be sure to check out the growing library of PuzzleNation apps and games!