Tag Archives: Follow-Up Friday

It’s Follow-Up Friday: Puzzle Celebs 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 #PennyDellPuzzleCelebs hashtag game!

View post on imgur.com

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

For over a year now, we’ve been collaborating on puzzle-themed hashtag games with our pals at Penny Dell Puzzles, and this month’s hook was #PennyDellPuzzleCelebs, mashing up Penny Dell puzzles and musicians, athletes, actors, artists, and celebrities galore!

Examples include Sigourney Weaver Words, Bob Rossing and Turning, and Joe Na-Word-Math.

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

Kate All Mixed Upton / Kate Match-Upton

Art Missing Linkletter Score

Evander “The Square Deal” Holyfield

How Many Pacquiao

Willie Word Maze

Andrew Lucky Score

Crackerjack Nicklaus

CrackerJacques Cousteau

Crackerjack Benny

Crackerjack Kerouac

Paul Simon Says

Logic Art Garfunkel

Dr. Fill-In McGraw

Senator Fill-In Gramm

Phil-In Collins

Regis Phil-In

Hulk Hoganagrams

Stanley Sudokubrick / Stanley Kubricks and Mortar

David Boweaver Words

Charlie Chaplinsert-a-Word

Kakurosanne Barr

Marilyn Monroll of the Dice

Word Spiralph Lauren

Missing Fats Dominoes / Fats Domino Theory

Molly Ringerswald

Zigzag Zigler

Alphabet Soupy Sales

Barbie and KenKen

Bingo Crosby

Neil Diamond Mine

Hexagram-ma Moses / Cryptogram-ma Moses

Miss Piggybacks

Keenan Ivory Right of Wayans

Molly Ringmaster

Sher-y-Letter Crow

Simon Cowell Says

Minnie-Crosswords Driver

Two by Two-Pac Shakur

Rich Little Puzzler

Mick-master Jagger

Mary Kay Place Cards / Mary Kay Place Your Number / Mary Kay Places, Please

Kim Kar-“Dash-It”-ian

Caitlyn Jenner-ics

Alicia Keywords

Rows-ie Garden Perez

Kathleen Battleships

Placido Domino

How-ie Many Triangles Mandel / How-ie Man-del Triangles?

Anagram Magic Johnson / Anagram Magic Johnson Squares

William H. Maze-y

Tommy Hil-figgerits

Debra Messing Vowels

Emma Stepping Stones

Sean Penn-cil Pusher

Harrison Ford Square

Guest Ringo Starr / Ringo Starr Sums / Ringo Starr Words

Grand Tori Spelling

KakuRosie O’Donnell

Brick By Bricky Martin

AlphaBetty White Soup

KenKen Jennings

KenKen Watanabe

KenKen Kesey

KenKen Griffey

CarrieFisherOvers

Christo Geography

MaxineWatersPoint

Slide-O-Graham Greene

Plus Forest Whitaker

Bull’s-Eye SpiRalph Nader

Andrew Dice Clay Game

Right of Waylon Jennings / Point the Waylon Jennings

Word-A-Matt Lauer

Ernest Borgnine of Diamonds

Lou Diamond Phillips Rings / Lou Diamond Rings Phillips / Lou Diamond Mine Phillips

AccorDionne Warwick Words

AlphanumeRick Astley

Crypto-LimeRick Springfield

Bette Build-a-PyraMidler

StarspElle Macpherson

Top to BotTom Selleck

ComMonica Seles Bond

DilEmma Watson

Flower Tyrone Power

Quote CalculaTori Amos

KakuRoald Dahl

Group VaLucy Liu

Trevor No-ahcross and Down

Gerard Which Way Words

Wilson Pick-and-Choose It

Star Words Jones

Jack Black-Out

Dash-It Miihok

Tom Mix-Masterwords / Tom Mix-Master

Mixmaster Mike

Eric Clapboard-ton

DJ Logic Problem

Jim Abackus

Diagramnashless

Stevie Ray Vaughn and Diagramless Double Trouble

Lucky Clover Luciano

Grandmasterwords Flash, and his brothers Ringmaster Flash and Scoremaster Flash

Maxi-Headroom-Point

Mirror Imogene Coco

Charlize Take It From Theron

Dave Word Matthews

Mickey Rooney Tunes

John F KenHandy Things

On Your Groucho Marks

Stefanie Flower Powers

There was a submission that deserves its own introduction. One of our intrepid puzzlers went above and beyond with the following pitch:

I nominate Evan Rachel Word Seek.

I hear she’s done great work on the Home Boxes Office show Westwords, in which her character tries to find the Framelinks along her journey to self-discovery, without getting in Double Trouble. She hears a voice in her head, but Who’s Calling? It’s a real Mind Tickler!

She has quite the Dilemma because she needs the Missing Links to use Logic and Deduction while working out the Bits and Pieces Around the Bend towards the Maze until she reaches the End of the Line. What Is It? It’s a Revelation!

Oh god stop me.

And members of the PuzzleNation readership also got in on the fun!

On Facebook, Sandra Halbrook submitted the delightful entries Sela Word Arithmetic, Jude Lawgic Problems, and Marcia Cross Sums, and Brenda L. Reddy brought us the equally fun Ring Around-Rosie-O’Donnell and Bing-Cherry-Crosby.

Have you come up with any Penny Dell Puzzle Celebs entries of your own? Let us know! We’d love to see them!

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date on everything PuzzleNation!

You can also share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and explore the always-expanding library of PuzzleNation apps and games on our website!

It’s Follow-Up Friday: Blind Spot edition!

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[No, not THAT Blindspot. Though friend of the blog David Kwong works on that show…]

Welcome to Follow-Up Friday!

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 optical illusions.

View post on imgur.com

[Image courtesy of Geekologie.]

We’ve discussed optical illusions many times in the past, covering everything from the Necker Cube to the Dress, but today’s illusion is a little bit different.

The 12-dot optical illusion pictured above, also known as a Hermann grid, has been making the rounds lately, and although many puzzlers have accused people of using a video or an animated gif instead of a simple picture, that’s simply not true.

This is a static picture, but our eyes are not designed to capture 12 dots in view at once, so the others vanish when you focus on one dot in particular.

And the folks at ASAP Science have an explanation for this phenomenon! As it turns out, this illusion and others involve both how your brain processes visual information and how the natural structure of your eye creates a blind spot that some optical illusions exploit.

Check out the full explanation here:

So next time someone shares one of these optical illusions, you’ll be ready to explain how they work and show off your puzzly knowledge.

And thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date on everything PuzzleNation!

You can also share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and explore the always-expanding library of PuzzleNation apps and games on our website!

It’s Follow-Up Friday: Sneaker Solving edition!

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Welcome to Follow-Up Friday!

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 3-D puzzles.

View post on imgur.com

[Image courtesy of Amazon.com.]

We’ve mentioned 3-D puzzles several times on the blog in the past — in discussions of 3-D printed puzzles, puzzles made of wood, and the Pict project at National Museums Scotland — and a new 3-D puzzle has been generating some buzz recently.

Friend of the blog, creator of Baffledazzle, and shoe aficionado Rachel Happen passed along this story about a promotional puzzle designed to mimic the qualities of the Air Flight Jordan 45 hightop basketball sneaker. Check it out:

View post on imgur.com

Only 30 of these puzzles are being made, and they’re selling for 195 pounds in the UK, which is a staggering $245.85 in the US! Seems like quite a price to pay for a 19-piece puzzle. (Especially one, as this video shows, that can be solved fairly quickly.)

The creation of graphic artist Yoni Alter, this puzzle appears to be a new venture, diverting from his previous works in silkscreen and prints, including this similarly-styled lamborghini:

View post on imgur.com

Too pricey for most puzzlers and not wearable enough for most sneaker enthusiasts, I’m not sure who this puzzle was designed for, but I’m curious to see how it sells.

As for me, I think I’ll save my 195 pounds for another day and another puzzle.

And thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date on everything PuzzleNation!

You can also share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and explore the always-expanding library of PuzzleNation apps and games on our website!

It’s Follow-Up Friday: Hall of Fame edition!

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Welcome to Follow-Up Friday!

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 Dungeons & Dragons!

I’ve written about Dungeons & Dragons and other roleplaying games in the past, because I think they are a wonderful, underappreciated part of the world of puzzles and games. Some of the best and most satisfying riddles and puzzles I’ve ever solved were an integral part of a game of D&D.

So I’m excited to announce that Dungeons & Dragons has been inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame!

Housed at The Strong National Museum of Play, the National Toy Hall of Fame recognizes those products and improvised toys that have played a crucial role in the development of children and teens.

Whether they assist in hand-eye coordination, storytelling, deduction, athletics, or creativity, they are all classic examples of toys tied to fond memories of childhood. Previous inductees include the Rubik’s Cube (2014), Hot Wheels (2011), the Radio Flyer Wagon (1999), Jacks (2000), and Play-Doh (1998).

And I for one think Dungeons & Dragons is a very worthy addition to this club.

From the induction notice:

Dungeons & Dragons and its imitators actually changed the nature of play.

In Dungeons & Dragons players assume the roles of characters who inhabit a world moderated and narrated by a Dungeon Master, a player who explains the action to others and solicits their reactions to the unfolding story. The Dungeon Master’s storytelling skills and the players’ abilities to imagine add enjoyment to the game. Some aspects of the play are familiar, such as dice. But the special dice for Dungeons & Dragons hold up to 20 sides. Rolling them determines each character’s individual strengths, plots their complex interactions, and decides the outcome of their encounters.

More than any other game, Dungeons & Dragons paved the way for older children and adults to experience imaginative play. It was groundbreaking. And it opened the door for other kinds of table games that borrow many of its unique mechanics.

For over forty years, Dungeons & Dragons has been synonymous with roleplaying, collaborative storytelling, and good old-fashioned sword-swinging derring-do. And I think it’s fantastic that it’s getting some long-overdue recognition for the positive role it has played in so many people’s lives.

Congratulations to you, Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax. Thank you for hours and hours of brilliant, engaging fun.

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date on everything PuzzleNation!

You can also share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and explore the always-expanding library of PuzzleNation apps and games on our website!

It’s Follow-Up Friday: Playing With Our Food 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 #PennyDellPuzzlyFoods hashtag game!

View post on imgur.com

[Image courtesy of Dreamstime.com.]

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

For over a year now, we’ve been collaborating on puzzle-themed hashtag games with our pals at Penny Dell Puzzles, and this month’s hook was #PennyDellPuzzlyFoods, mashing up Penny Dell puzzles and anything and everything having to do with breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, snacks, drinks, candy, and more!

Examples include Lucky Eggs Clover Easy, Cheese Three, and Tiramisudoku.

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

Abacustard

Petit Four Square

Chex Mixed Bag

Sausage Link-words

At 7 and 7

Pear Off

Pears in Rhyme

Picture Pears

Little Twizzler

Tidbits and Pieces

A-Maize-ing Quote

Batterships

Brick by Brickle

Brick by Brick Oven Pizza

Double Turkish Delight

Double Trouble Bubble Gum

Almond Four One

All Flours

Flour Power / Sour Power Patch Kids / Flower Powerbars

Quotagraham Crackers / Cryptograham crackers / Diagraham Crackers / S’more Cryptograham Crackers, Please?

Scrambled Eggs Up

SpinachWheel

Make the Baconnection

Piggyback bacon

Syrups and Downs / Ketchups and Downs

Stew at a Time / Roux at a Time

Stew-Step / Roux-Step

Stewdoku / Beef stewdoku

Cake-kuro

Roll of the Spice

Trail Mix and Match / Word Trails Mix / Trail Mixed Bag of Trix

Bits & Reese’s Pieces

Berried Treasure

Circles in the Lemon Square

Cheese & Crackerjacks

Gumdrop-Outs

Half-and-Halftime

Pizza by Piece

Eye of Rounders

Truffle Shuffle

Banana Split Personalities

Starburst Words

Cookieword / Kiwiword / Whiskeyword / Sukiyakiword

Cake a Letter

Sunraisin

ShadowLox

Beet the Clock

Right of Whey

Roulettuce

Wonton and Only

Build-A-Burger Quote

Anagram Magic Square bars

Tossed and Turnip Salad

Topsy-Turvy “Fill-in the Blank” Alcoholic Drinks!

Spinwheel Spaghetti and Meatballs

Analog Nog

Rhyme Thyme

Rye-Angles / Trifle-Angles

Lemon Drop-Outs / Lemon Drop-Ins

Flan Words

Grand Torte

Pickle and Choose

Ghee’s Company

InCiders

Colabyrinth

Hot Crossed bun Pairs / Hot Cross Sum Buns / Hot Crostics Buns

Pixie Cros-Stix

AnaCheese Sticks

7 Match-Up

Match-Up-Side-Down Cake

Pine Scone

Stepping Scones

Dim Sum Triangles / Dim Sum Totals

Onion Ringmaster / Onion Ringers

Macaroni & Places, Please

Beer & There

Missing Domino’s Pizza

Alphabreadics

Gravy-Words Word Seek

Grocery Missing Word List

Mystery Meat Person

Gizzard Words

Wheel of Fortune Cookies

Cookie Sha-dough

Campbell’s Chunky Alphabet Soup

TV Appe-Teaser

Penny’s Finest Chinese Takeouts

Pass the Scrambled Eggs Across the Table

Balancing (the diet) Act

Tossing and Turning the pancakes

A Perfect Ten-course meal

Three’s Company, but four’s coming to dinner

Countdown to Thanksgiving

What’s Leftovers?

There was a submission that deserves its own introduction. One of our intrepid puzzlers tackled the classic Tootsie Pop conundrum in proper puzzly fashion:

How many Lick By Licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll of the Dice

That’s a Square Deal. Take it Piece by Piece then Crack’er open.

Have you come up with any Penny Dell Puzzly Foods entries of your own? Let us know! We’d love to see them!

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date on everything PuzzleNation!

You can also share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and explore the always-expanding library of PuzzleNation apps and games on our website!

It’s Follow-Up Friday: Math Puzzle Madness 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 revisit the world of viral puzzles and discuss two that have been making the rounds on Facebook recently.

If you’ve been on social media recently, you’ve no doubt seen one or both of these puzzles:

math

14962617_1223950097651735_5609824945112529117_n

Each was probably accompanied by some hyperbolic phrasing like “95% of people and most dogs can’t solve this puzzle! Heck, they can’t even agree on an answer! CAN YOU?!?!?!?!”

Well, duh. Of course they can’t agree on an answer. There’s plenty of room to make different assumptions.

Let’s look at the first puzzle again.

math

Now, if you take the puzzle at face value, the chain would appear to be this:

1 + 4 = 5

2 + 5 (+5) = 12 (We’ve added the previous answer, which is where the +5 comes from.

3 + 6 (+12) = 21

8 + 11 (+21) = 40

So the answer is 40.

But wait. if you assume that the pattern continues for the digits between 3 and 8, you end up with this:

1 + 4 = 5

2 + 5 (+5) = 12

3 + 6 (+12) = 21

4 + 7 (+21) = 32

5 + 8 (+32) = 45

6 + 9 (+45) = 60

7 + 10 (+60) = 77

8 + 11 (+77) = 96

And, in truth, it could be either. You’re not given enough information to know for sure how to proceed. It’s a coin toss whether the last line immediately follows the third line, or whether there’s a whole bunch of lines in between and you need to “get the pattern” to extrapolate the 8th line.

Now let’s look at that second puzzle again.

14962617_1223950097651735_5609824945112529117_n

This one also has the potential for alternate answers, but instead of inferences, it depends on whether you follow the traditional order of operations (parentheses, exponents, multiplication/division, addition/subtraction) or you simply read left to right.

If you use traditional order of operations, you end up with:

Horse + Horse + Horse = 30, so Horse = 10.

Horse + Horseshoes + Horseshoes = 18, so Horseshoes = 4 and Horseshoe = 2.

Horseshoes – Boots = 2, so Boots = 2 and Boot = 1.

Boot + Horse x Horseshoe = Boot + (Horse x Horseshoe) = 1 + (10 x 2) = 21.

But if you simply read the last equation from left to right, you end up with:

Boot + Horse x Horseshoe = 1 + 10 x 2 = 11 x 2 = 22.

So, in fairness, there is no right answer to either puzzle, given the information we have.

Which, to me, doesn’t seem like a great puzzle, but it probably makes for great clickbait.

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date on everything PuzzleNation!

You can also share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and explore the always-expanding library of PuzzleNation apps and games on our website!