Puzzles for Adults and Children
This is a simplified version of a rows garden puzzle. Across answers fit into their listed rows in order, and the white, yellow, and gold clues fit into the hexagons of their color, going either clockwise or counter-clockwise as indicated. Combining these two types of clues allows the grid to be completed as so:
The only letters which are not clued twice are the top six letters and bottom six letters. Read out, they spell the phrase FRENCH FOR BEE. The French word for bee is ABEILLE.
As suggested by the title, the pieces can be cut apart and reassembled as a puzzle:
If the grid lines are ignored, the remaining lines divide the finished puzzle into a number of irregularly-shaped regions, most of which are relatively small. However, certain letters appear when looking at the larger regions:
These letters spell out the answer, SURGERY.
Each of the lines of letters can be split into two different foods which go together – except there is one letter missing:
The missing letters spell out ANSWER IS SAUSAGE. The answer is SAUSAGE, which is a food which is made by chopping up and mixing together other foods.
Each of the coats of arms shown represents a letter in a different encoding. The ornamentation on top of each crest is a clue to the encoding used.
| Ornamentation | Encoding | Letter |
| Telegraph keys | Morse code | S |
| Boar | Pigpen cipher | A |
| Signal flags | Flag semaphore | L |
| Sherlock Holmes | Dancing men cipher | T |
| Cat in the Hat hat silhouette | Dr. Seuss’s ABC | A |
| Sailing ship | Int’l maritime signal flags | N |
| Blind Justice | Braille | T |
The letters spell out SALTANT, which is a word solvers may not be familiar with. However, looking it up reveals that it is a heraldic term referring to an animal featured in a leaping pose.
In each pair of clues, the solution to the clue on the right sounds like the solution to the clue on the left with a syllable added. In each case, this syllable sounds like the name of a letter. (The clue in the flavor text is M + TEA = EMPTY):
The added letters spell out the phrase COLORLESS BILLIARDS ORB, which is a CUE BALL, which of course sounds like Q + BALL.
In these three arithmetic problems, there are ten letters, which can be assumed to each replace a different digit from zero to nine. There are several ways to work through this puzzle, but one logical path is below:
The final translated math facts are 90654 + 5304 = 95958, 539 x 247 = 133133, and 309401 / 29 = 10669.
The question marks from one to seven are replacing the digits 3, 5, 9, 1, 3, 0, and 1. Translated to letters, these spell out the answer ACTUARY.
The seven words given in this metapuzzle can be paired up with the answers to the previous puzzles as members of seven different categories:
A closer look will show that each of these groups has an ordering, and most of them are numbered. Further examination reveals that each of the seven words given here hold a unique position between first and seventh in their sets. Sorting the list by those numbers gives the following table:
| Category | Given Word | # in Set | Puzzle Answer | # in Set |
| Elements | Hydrogen | 1 | Silicon | 14 |
| Zodiac | Taurus | 2 | Aries | 1 |
| Tarot | The Empress | 3 | Judgement | 20 |
| Trains | Gordon | 4 | Samson | 15 |
| Presidents | Monroe | 5 | Garfield | 20 |
| Greek | Zeta | 6 | Psi | 23 |
| Pokémon | Squirtle | 7 | Beedrill | 15 |
In this order, the positions of the puzzle answers in the sets can be converted to letters, with 1=A, 2=B, etc., to make the phrase NATO TWO. In the NATO phonetic alphabet, the second member is BRAVO. Bravo to you for solving this metapuzzle!
Each of the clues references two words which when combined sound like another word, which is also clued.
Reading the first letters of the longer words gives the phrase MAGISTRATE INTENDED. This is a clue for JUDGE MEANT, which sounds like JUDGMENT, the answer.
This is a regular crossword, except that some of the clues give an answer that is twice as long as the number of squares given. These are all preceded by “50% OFF” indicators, and either the first or second half of the answer must be left off to form a crossword-legal entry to place in the grid. The completed grid looks like this:
Here are the longer answers to the 50% off clues, in case the grid doesn’t help with them: 1A) CHICKENS, 9A) WILLIAMS, 10A) CHLORIDE, 14A) FIBULA, 16A) NUCLEI, 17A) MACRON, 31A) TRUSTY, 32A) BO PEEP, 33A) HORNET, 35A) EXPONENT, 41A) COURTIER, 42A) FEMININE, 43A) ANYWHERE, 2D) ARCHIE, 3D) UPHILL, 4D) CLEFAIRY, 5D) ARTHUR, 6D) VIOLATIONS, 8D) DELICATE, 18D) ARIANA, 25D) STAIRS, 26D) REPEAT, 27D) FLASHY, 30D) LAST SUPPER, 32D) BETHSEDA, 34D) BARITONE, 36D) BEFORE, 38D) DIPPER, 39D) CAPONE, 40D) SEETHE
Clue 24A, “The answer, without a discount” can be determined from the crossing down clues to be MILITARIES. To solve the puzzle, take 50% off from this to get ARIES.
Each of the clues refers to a very long word, generally one specifically coined to be long. Indexing into these words by the numbers following their clues spells out shorter words. The long words and their shorter counterparts are as follows:
Reading the shorter words in order gives the clue phrase INHALING TINY PARTICLES MAY INFLICT THIS DISEASE. Following the pattern established previously, this is a clue for PNEUMONOULTRAMICROSCOPICSILICOVOLCANOCONIOSIS. Indexing into this word by the numbers at the bottom spells out the final answer, SILICON.