Universal Crossword

February 19, 2026

John Holmes

 

The answers to the clues below have something in common. Can you determine what it is?

 

1. How a paddle is used at an auction house

 

2. Where you may find music stands

 

3. Where you may hear praises

 

Answers:

 

1. For bidding

2. Under scores

3. At tributes 

 

The two words in the two-word answers could be combined to form a longer, unrelated word:

 

1. Forbidding

2. Underscores

3. Attributes

 

Note from JA: In crossword parlance, a DOOK is a term meaning to interpret a two- word answer as a single word  - as in DO OK. 

DROP A LETTER - GET A NEW WORD CXXXI 

GAMES/World of Puzzles

December, 2025

FAMILY REUNIONS

Bob Stigger 

Drop one letter from each word and re-arrange the remaining letters to get six related names. 

1. RELAX

2. AMIGO

3. JAILER

4. MOROSE 

5. THERMAL

6. ARCADES

 

Answers:

 

1. LEAR

2. IAGO

3. ARIEL

4. ROMEO

5. HAMLET

6. CAESAR - - - Shakespearean characters 

 

  

SPELLING BEE V

NY Times Puzzle Mania

Sam Ezersky

 

        D

L R M O I A  

 

Can you use all the letters to spell a 9-letter word?

 

HINT:

The word is the name of an animal.

 

Answer:

 

ARMADILLO   

MISSING LINKS CCLXXIII

Each group below contains a Missing Link - that is, its members have something in common, obvious or not. For example, RIVERS, NOSES, & VIOLINS can all have BRIDGES.

1. Ear..........Book..........Silk 

2. Fall..........Press..........Fall 

3. Code..........Egg..........Joke  

4. Hour..........Rule..........Globe 

5. Tag..........Beam..........Printer 

6. Fire..........Pharaoh..........Army  

7. Hotels..........Music..........Prisons 

8. Babies..........Boxers..........Options 

9. Onion..........Napkin..........Diamond 

10. Lap pool.....Bowling alley.....Daily Planet 

 

Answers:

 

1. Kinds of worms

2. Free

3. Things you can crack

4. Golden

5. Laser

6. Kinds of ants

7. Things that have bars

8. Things that are weighed

9. Kinds of rings

10. Things that have lanes*

 

*Lois Lane is a reporter for the Daily Planet in the Superman series.  

 

Credits:

6: Ken Jennings

9: Wyna Liu

10: Ken Jennings  

 

  

 

COMMON COMBOS LXIII

Dell PennyPress Variety Puzzles (1-2)

April, 2025 

Dell PennyPress Variety Puzzles

March, 2025 (3-6) 

 

Each group below contains four unrelated words. Find a word that can either precede or follow each of the words in each of the groups. 

 

1. WAY, LEATHER, LOOP, LAP

2. WIRE, SPRING, FEED, PRAIRIE

3. FALL, PRINT, UNDER, BIG

4. BULL, BOSS, ARM, SNAKE

5. WILD, SIDE, BRAND, BRUSH

6. SOFT, STRING, BRAKE, HORN 

7. SHEET, POP, BOX, DRAWER 

 

Answers:

 

1. BELT

2. CHICKEN

3. FOOT

4. PIT

5. FIRE

6. SHOE  

7. TOP 

 

POINTS TO PONDER CXXIV

No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true.

Author Unknown

 

***************************

 

The basic characteristics of any good investigator are a plodding nature and infinite patience. Society has inadvertently been grooming women to this end for years.

Sue Grafton  

QUOTES CCLX

Write what should not be forgotten.   

Isabel Allende

 

The chief barrier to happiness is envy.

Frank Tyger 

 

They also serve who only stand and wait. 

John Milton 

 

We love because it's the only true adventure.

Nikki Giovanni 

 

A sense of shame is not a bad moral compass. 

Ralph Hodgson 

 

What the imagination sees as beauty must be truth.

Author Unknown 

 

Every science begins as philosophy and ends as art.

Will Durant

 

Lie to someone and you will always be a liar to that person.

Author Unknown

 

History repeats itself because people have the same motivations.

Author Unknown

 

Rules make the learner's path long and fretful; examples make it short and successful. 

Author Unknown

 

Laughter is like changing a baby's diaper: it doesn't permanently solve any problems, but it makes things more acceptable for a while.

Author Unknown