IN PURSUIT OF PUZZLES

Shape Shifter #2

Mark Lester, as Oliver Twist, in the 1968 movie musical "Oliver!"

I posted my first pair of shape shifters back in September; today it’s time for a quartet of puzzles. Here’s a reminder of how they work:

In each grid, the two staircase-shaped sections can be pushed together vertically or horizontally, forming two different sets of words reading across; important: there are no down answers. For example, the upper-left grid can form four 5-letter words if you push the lower half up, or five 4-letter words if you push the upper half to the right. Similar rules apply to the other three grids, which, going clockwise, form 5- and 6-letter, 6- and 7-letter, and 7- and 8-letter words, respectively.

The clues are grouped by answer length, but you’ll have to determine which grid each answer goes in, and where it goes within its grid.

If you give them a go, I’d love to know what you think.

Full screen version here.

Responses

  1. Eric G Avatar
    Eric G

    Wow, these are challenging! I had to go back and do the September puzzle to get my head around the mechanics, and the single pair wasn’t too bad, but sorting out the clues for overlapping grids like these was a real brain buster. Satisfying when it comes together though!

    Is there an extra S in ‘It may open a books’? Or am I misreading that clue?

    Reply
    1. JDB Avatar
      JDB

      Hi Eric! Thanks for diving in and solving. I agree completely: these can be a challenge. I struggled with the first one I encountered. I think the next time I create this type of puzzle, I’ll go back to a single pair, like I had in September. And yes, that’s an extra ‘s’ that I’ll remove. Thanks for pointing it out, and thank you again for stopping by. Really appreciate your interest and engagement.

      Reply

Leave a Reply