ANAGRAMS LVIII

Dell PennyPress Variety Puzzles

April, 2025

 

FIND-A-WORD

 

What is the longest possible word that you can anagram from the letters of the words below? You may not use any letter more times than it appears in the listed word, and you may not be able to use all the letters of the listed word in your new word. As a hint, the number of letters in the anagrammed word is given in ( ).

 

1. MEDIAN (6)

2. RUMBLE (6)

3. JOURNAL (5)

4. ETHANOL (6)

5. HESITATE (7)

6. VENATION (8)

7. MATRIARCH (8)

8. YARDSTICK (7)

9. MICROSCOPE (8)

10. WHEELBARROW (7)

 

Answers:

 

1. MAIDEN

2. LUMBER

3. LUNAR

4. LOATHE

5. ATHEIST

6. INNOVATE

7. ARMCHAIR

8. DRASTIC

9. COMPOSER

10. LABORER   

TRI -Os

GAMES/World of Puzzles

Holiday, 2026

Scott Erdman

 

Each clue below leads to a word, name, or title containing exactly three O's - a pair somewhere, either preceded or followed by a single O. For example, the answer to the clue "Kind of bridge or boat" would be PONTOON.

 

1. Ralph and Alice Kramden of old TV

2. "69 "happening" in Bethel, NY

3. Study of animals

4. Tradesman's carry-all

5. Gold coin in pirate stories

6. Where attendance is taken in high school

7. Chinese tea variety

8. Old five-and-dime store chain

9. Seasonal wind bringing heavy rains

10. Barnes & Noble, for example

11. Dog with extremely keen sense of smell

12. Large noisy parrot

13. It's useful for gaining access or egress

14. Poisonous mushroom, often

15. Landing spot for Santa's reindeer

16. Person in the crow's nest

 

Answers:

 

1. Honeymooners

2. Woodstock

3. Zoology

4. Toolbox

5. Doubloon

6. Homeroom

7. Oolong

8. Woolworth's

9. Monsoon

10. Bookstore

11. Bloodhound

12. Cockatoo

13. Doorknob

14. Toadstool

15. Rooftop

16. Lookout  

 

DROP A LETTER - GET A NEW WORD CXXVIII

GAMES/World of Puzzles

Holiday, 2026

FAMILY REUNIONS

Bob Stigger

 

Drop one letter from each word and re-arrange the remaining letters to leave eight related words.

 

1.VOLT

2. BLAZE

3. HANOI

4. UKASE

5. CHOSEN

6. RAJAHS

7. SCALIA

8. ALHAMBRA

 

HINTS:

First letters of the new words:

1. L

2. A

3. N

4. E

5. E

6. S

7. I

8. A

 

Answers:

 

1. LOT

2. ABEL

3. NOAH

4. ESAU

5. ENOCH

6. SARAH

7. ISAAC

8. ABRAHAM - - - Biblical names   

NAME TWO (PART II)

NY Times Puzzle Mania

Special Holiday Edition

November 23, 2025

Will Shortz

 

Ex: Name two kinds of birds in 7 letters starting with P and ending with N.

Possible answer: PENGUIN - PELICAN

 

NOW NAME TWO ..........

 

1. European languages in 7 letters starting with S and ending with H

 

2. 20th Century writers in 6 letters starting with O and ending with L

 

3. Things to wear on the feet in 7 letters starting with S and ending with R

 

4. Foreign rivers in 6 letters starting with T and ending with S

 

5. Native American tribes in 8 letters starting with S and ending with E  

 

6. French artists in 5 letters starting with M and ending with T

 

7. European capitals in 6 letters starting with L and ending with N

 

8. Bird sounds in 5 letters starting with C and ending with P

 

9. Outdoor cutting tools in 6 letters starting with S and ending with E

 

10. Chemical elements in 6 letters starting with S and ending with R

 

11. Parts of the body in 5 letters starting with T and ending with H

 

12. Things to eat in 5 letters starting with P and ending with A  

 

(Possible) Answers: 

 

1. SPANISH - SWEDISH

2. O'NEILL - ORWELL

3. SLIPPER - SNEAKER

4. THAMES - TIGRIS

5. SEMINOLE - SHOSHONE

6. MONET - MANET

7. LONDON - LISBON

8. CHIRP - CHEEP

9. SCYTHE - SICKLE

10. SILVER - SULFUR

11. THIGH - TOOTH

12. PIZZA - PASTA  

MISSING TRIOS CVI

Dell PennyPress Variety Puzzles

February, 2025 (1-5)

Volume 72 (6-7) 

 

For each group below, fill in the same three missing letters to complete 7, 6, 5, 4, and 3-letter words. The letters may be filled in in any order and the missing trio will be different for each group.

 

1. FL _ TT _ _

    CO _ _ S _

      _ _ _ PT

       _ _ G _ 

         _ _ _  

 

2. _ _ VI _ US

   _ AB _ _ N

    R _ _ _ T

     _ _ _ K

      _ _ _  

 

3. _ R _ E _ AY

     _ LO _ _ R

      _ A _ _ R

        _ I _ _

         _ _ _ 

 

4. E _ _ SO _ E

     _ M _ E _ E

       _ R _ _ E

        _ A _ _

          _ _ _ 

 

5. CO _ _ _ SE

     _ _ DIU _

      TE _ _ _

       P _ _ _

         _ _ _ 

 

6. _ OO_ WA _

     F _ A _ E _

       _ AI _ _

        _ A _ _

          _ _ _ 

 

7. R _ _ A _ ED

     _ E _ T _ R

      S _ A _ _

        _ _ F _

         _ _ _ 

 

Answers:

 

1. The letters are RUE:

         FLUTTER

          COURSE

           ERUPT

            URGE

              RUE  

 

2. The letters are BOO:

         OBVIOUS

          BABOON

           ROBOT

            BOOK

             BOO  

 

3. The letters are FEW:

         FREEWAY

          FLOWER

           WAFER

             WIFE

              FEW  

 

4. The letters are DIP:

          EPISODE

           IMPEDE

            PRIDE

             PAID

              DIP  

 

5. The letters are MOP:

         COMPOSE

           PODIUM

            TEMPO

             POMP

              MOP  

 

6. The letters are DRY:

         DOORWAY

           FRAYED

             DAIRY

              YARD

               DRY  

 

7. The letters are LET:

          RELATED

           LETTER

            STALE

             LEFT

              LET  

CRYPTO CLUES CCV

GAMES/World of Puzzles

Holiday, 2026

Bob Stigger (1-7)

Patrick Berry (8)

December, 2025

Fred Piscop (9-11))

 

1. Democrat avoided being deceived

 

2. Trivial-sounding trick

 

3. Chef is happiest serving pescatarian entree

 

4. Lalique's style excited our Aunt Eva

 

5. Tyrant ruthlessly concealing actual events

 

6. All the jerky is deadly

 

7. Group of stars appearing in Cleopatra

 

8. Proton, moving quickly

 

9. North Carolina athlete's imitation leather

 

10. Central Icelandic beast

 

11. Bureaucratic nonsense tapered off

 

HINTS:
1. Initial + word

2. Homophone

3. Hidden word

4. Anagram

5. Hidden word

6. Anagram

7. Hidden word

8. Anagram

9. Anagram

10. Hidden word

11. Anagram    

 

Answers:

 

1. DELUDED (D + ELUDED)

2. SLEIGHT (SLIGHT)

3. FISH (cheF IS Happiest)

4. ART NOUVEAU  (our Aunt Eva) 

5. TRUTH (tyranT RUTHlessly) 

6. LETHAL (all the)

7. LEO (cLEOpatra)

8. PRONTO

9. TARHEEL (leather)

10. ELAND (icELANDic)

11. RED TAPE (tapered)                                                                            

  

BRAIN BENDERS 

NY Times Puzzle Mania 

Heidi Erwin

 

For each of these pairs of words, change one letter of each word so that the two new words rhyme.

 

BOIL - PALE

MAID - DIM

ROUGH - SHOP

GOAT - SLAY

 

Answers:

 

BAIL - TALE or BOWL - POLE  

MAIM - AIM

DOUGH - SHOW

GNAT - SLAT