It’s Follow-Up Friday: Word Mastery Answers edition!

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’ve got the answers to last week’s edition of Word Mastery: Famous Expressions!

We posted twelve famous sayings or expressions that were reworded in a verbose and ridiculous fashion, and we challenged you to unravel them and figure out the original expressions. Let’s see how you did!


1.) A mobile section of petrified matter agglomerates no bryophytes.

A rolling stone gathers no moss.

2.) Desist from enumerating your fowl prior to their emergence from the shell.

Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.

3.) Scintillation is not always identification for an auric substance.

All that glitters is not gold.

4.) A plethora of culinary specialists has a deleterious effect upon the quality of purees, consummes, and other soluble pabula.

Too many cooks spoil the broth,

5.) A chronic disposition to inquiry deprived the domestic feline carnivorous quadruped of its vital quality.

Curiosity killed the cat.

6.) It is in the realm of possibility to entice an equine member of the animal kingdom to a source of oxidized hydrogen; however, it is not possible to force him to imbibe.

You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.

7.) Persons deficient in the faculty of determining values move with impetuosity into places that purely spiritual beings view with trepidation.

Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

8.) If John persists without respite in a constant prolonged exertion of physical or intellectual effort he will develop into a youth slow and blunted in perception and sensibility.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

9.) Immediately upon the absence of the domesticated carnivorous feline, the common house rodent proceeds to engage in sportive capers.

When the cat’s away, the mouse will play.

10.) A round vessel made of staves bound with hoops that is destitute of contents is productive of the most deafening din.

It is the empty barrel that rattles the loudest.

11.) Products of ingenuity are the offspring of exigency.

Necessity is the mother of invention.

12.) Residents of structures composed of silicate substances should refrain from casting hardened mineral objects.

Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones.


How did you do? Let us know in the comments section below!

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!

Scrabble-Rousers Change the Game with Shorter Words!

Whether we’re talking Scrabble, Words With Friends, or another word-forming game where points are king, there’s one abiding rule: bigger words are where it’s at.

They reach the bonus squares easier, they offer more slots for new letters in your rack, and there’s always the chance of scoring bonus points for using all your letters.

But as it turns out, bigger words are not the end-all be-all of Scrabble. Between computer analysis of scoring possibilities and the dedicated playtesting of champion-level Scrabblers from across the world, a sea change in gameplay is now underway.

Apparently, studying up on your 5-letter words is far more beneficial than shooting for 6- and 7-letter plays, since most of the bonus squares are four or five letters apart.

And slowly but surely, the formerly dominant North American and European players are losing ground to players from countries like Nigeria, culminating in a win last year for Nigerian Wellington Jighere at the World Scrabble Championship in Australia.

From The Wall Street Journal:

It was the crowning achievement for a nation that boasts more top-200 Scrabble players than any other country, including the U.K., Nigeria’s former colonizer and one of the board game’s legacy powers.

“In other countries they see it as a game,” said Mr. Jighere, now a borderline celebrity and talent scout for one of the world’s few government-backed national programs. “Nigeria is one of the countries where Scrabble is seen as a sport.”

[Image courtesy of The Wall Street Journal and Getty Images.]

And those sportsmen have exploited the West’s reliance on long words by strategically employing smaller words and being more judicious in their use of the letters in their racks.

Whereas Western players would often go for the maximum score every round (using every tile they can), they leave themselves open to bad draws of replacement tiles, which can hamper their efforts in following rounds.

This is considered poor rack management by players like the champion-level Nigerians:

Now, his [Jighere’s] method is changing the game. Champions have studied his defensive style, including his decision to put REPAIR on an S during the final, for 30 points. He could have earned 86, including a 50-point bingo, spelling PEREIRAS. Instead, Mr. Jighere kept an “e” for the next round.

“It’s this sort of strategic thinking that the Nigerians are embracing,” said American Chris Lipe, runner up in the 2014 world championship, who called Mr. Jighere’s performance a Scrabble master class.

It just goes to show you, bigger isn’t always better. (Though vocabulary still wins the day.)


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: Cartoons and Crosswords edition!

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 #PennyDellPuzzleCartoons 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’ve been collaborating on puzzle-themed hashtag games with our pals at Penny Dell Puzzles, and this month’s hook was #PennyDellPuzzleCartoons, mashing up Penny Dell puzzles and anything and everything having to do with stand-up comics, film and television comedians, funny movies, funny shows, funny plays…even one-liners or jokes!

Examples include Letter Powerpuff Girls, SpongeBob Four SquarePants, and Betty Blips.

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


Slide-o-Futurama (and therefore Around the Bender)

Aaahh!!! Real Mon-Star Words

The Anagram Magic Square Bus

Who Fiddler’s Framed Roger Rabbit? / Who Frameworked Roger Rabbit?

He-Man and the Masterwords of the Universe

“By the power of GraySkill-O-Grams! I have the power!”

“That’s All Fours, folks!”

“Wonder Twins Flower Power, activate!”

“There’s no need to fear, Underdog is Here & There!”

“I hate meeces to Bits and Pieces!”

“Ups and Downs and at ‘em, Atom Ant!”

“Exit! Stage Right of Way!”

“Zip It Dee-Doo-Dah!”

“Heroes in a Halftime, Turtle Power!”

Teenage Multiplier Ninja Turnabouts

Beavis and Butt-Headings / Beavis and Buttheads and Tails

Crypto-Family Guy

Porky Piggybacks

The Jungle Bookworms

Dr. Joshua Sweet Stuff

Flower (from Bambi) Power

Lotsa Buck Cluck

Looney Rooney Tunes

Dancing Bo-Peep Feet

Top to Bottom Cat

Quick Draw the Line McGraw

Courage the Coming and Going Dog

DartBoard Duck / Bartboard

Dartwing Duck

(Home R)uns Simpson

101 Dial-a-Grams

Blackout-man and Robin

Successorgram-man

Johnny Word Quest

Dudley Do-Right of Way

Scooby Two by Two, Where are you?

Mystery Word Machine

Alvin and the Chips-munks

Patchwork Patrol

“Friendly Neighborhood Spider’s Web”

Wonder Twin Crosswords

“Lolly, Lolly, Lolly Get Your Add Ones Here” / “Lolly, Lolly, Lolly Get Your Codewords Here”

“Three From Nine Is the Anagram Magic Number”

“In A Word Planet Janet”

“Syllability, Syll-a-bility”

“I’m Just a Blips, Yes I’m Only a Blips”

“Connections Junction, What’s Your Function”

AnagraManiacs Magic Squares, with Yakk-odewords, Wakk-o Words and Dot Matrix.

Stepping Flintstones

Miss Piggybacks


A fellow puzzler even cooked up a version of the Steven Universe theme song all about Crypto puzzles!

We are the Crypto-Gems
We’ll always save the day
And if you don’t believe us
We’ll always find a way
That’s why the people of this earth
Believe in
Geo, Zoo, and Verse…
And Steven!


Have you come up with any Penny Dell Puzzle Cartoons 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!

What are you trying to say here?

[Image courtesy of Aaron Walker, Alex Talamo, and the DIG Collective]

A while back, I posted a holiday-themed game where famous Christmas songs were reworded, and I challenged the PuzzleNation readership to unravel them all.

Well, this weekend I was going through a box of old assignments and such from my school days, and I stumbled upon another instance of this kind of rewording puzzle, this time centered around famous sayings and expressions.

Can you figure out the original expressions from these overly verbose rewordings?


1.) A mobile section of petrified matter agglomerates no bryophytes.

2.) Desist from enumerating your fowl prior to their emergence from the shell.

3.) Scintillation is not always identification for an auric substance.

4.) A plethora of culinary specialists has a deleterious effect upon the quality of purees, consummes, and other soluble pabula.

5.) A chronic disposition to inquiry deprived the domestic feline carnivorous quadruped of its vital quality.

6.) It is in the realm of possibility to entice an equine member of the animal kingdom to a source of oxidized hydrogen; however, it is not possible to force him to imbibe.

7.) Persons deficient in the faculty of determining values move with impetuosity into places that purely spiritual beings view with trepidation.

8.) If John persists without respite in a constant prolonged exertion of physical or intellectual effort he will develop into a youth slow and blunted in perception and sensibility.

9.) Immediately upon the absence of the domesticated carnivorous feline, the common house rodent proceeds to engage in sportive capers.

10.) A round vessel made of staves bound with hoops that is destitute of contents is productive of the most deafening din.

11.) Products of ingenuity are the offspring of exigency.

12.) Residents of structures composed of silicate substances should refrain from casting hardened mineral objects.

How did you do? Let us know in the comments section below!


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!

New Puzzle Sets and Bundles for the Penny Dell Crosswords App!

Hello puzzlers and PuzzleNationers!

That’s right, it’s a bonus blog post today because we’ve got some exciting news!

We’ve got new puzzle sets available for both the Android AND iOS versions of the Penny Dell Crossword App!

For Android users, Collection Eight is loaded with 150 puzzles (easy, medium, and hard varieties) to test your puzzly mettle and provide some terrifically satisfying solving!

And for iOS users, Collection Fourteen is ready to go with 155 puzzles of all difficulties to keep your solving skills sharp and your fingertips flying across the grid!


But that’s not all!

We’ve also got two jumbo puzzle bundles for our iOS users!

The Jumbo Bundle combines Jumbo Apps 1 and 2 into a 300 puzzle collection worthy of any crossword fan’s time! Complete with easy, medium, and hard puzzles, as well as our alternate clue feature, you can’t go wrong with the Jumbo Bundle!

But if that’s not enough to satisfy your puzzly cravings, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered!

That’s right, the Jumbo Value Bundle combines Jumbo Apps 1 and 2 with content from our recently released Jumbo App 3! That’s 450 puzzles awaiting you!

Talk about a puzzle extravaganza!


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: Subway Time Travel edition!

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 events!

I’m a huge fan of events where puzzly-minded people get together and create something new. Whether it’s a festival of indie games or a Rube Goldberg machine about Passover, a prom-themed puzzle tournament or a crossword contest about a crossword contest, anything is possible when folks with a mind for puzzle fun collaborate.

The team at Improv Everywhere know this better than most, as they’ve put together some terrific live experiences to entertain unsuspecting strangers.

In the past, they’ve staged a repeating time loop at a coffee shop, recreated the opening of Star Wars on a subway, and (my personal favorite) made a cabbie the hero of a reunion right out of a romantic comedy.

This time around, they faked time travel with four sets of twins. Check it out!

You can explore the full details of the prank/performance here, as well as many other “missions” from their past, but sufficed to say, it took a fair amount of puzzly skills and improvisational style to pull this off!

I wonder what delightful trickery they’ll attempt next.


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!