Tag Archives: Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Puzzles in Pop Culture: TV Escape Rooms!

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[Image courtesy of Yelp.]

It’s always interesting when TV shows incorporate puzzles into their stories. Not only do we get to see what Hollywood (and by extrapolation, the general public) thinks about a given puzzly experience, but we learn more about the characters when they face a particular puzzle or challenge.

This is especially true for sitcoms and comedies, since they usually have less time to focus on the puzzling and therefore put the spotlight on character relationships.

And it occurred to me that there are a number of different shows over the last few years that have featured the characters in escape room-style puzzle settings.

Why don’t we take a look at how accurately these puzzly experiences were portrayed, how difficult the room appeared to be, and what the characters’ solving skills were like?

Please enjoy as we explore fictional escape rooms from TV in our latest edition of Puzzles in Pop Culture!

big bang theory pic

[Image courtesy of IMDb.]

For our first offering, we turn to the CBS juggernaut The Big Bang Theory. Over the years, TBBT has featured puzzly activities like giant Jenga, a holiday-fueled session of Dungeons & Dragons, and a scavenger hunt with puzzly clues.

So I wasn’t surprised that their take on escape rooms was the same: fairly accurate, but simplified and streamlined for a mainstream audience.

The room in TBBT is pretty spacious, moreso than pretty much any escape room I’ve seen. But the level of detail is easily something achievable for high-end rooms. Also, I’ve heard about escape rooms with actors playing zombies before, so this is legit.

(In fact, one I heard about in Washington D.C. had a zombie on a chain; the chain got longer the more time solvers took to crack puzzles, cutting the room in half at one point!)

We don’t get to see much of their solving, as they allude to puzzles conquered instead of showing us, so it’s hard to gauge difficulty. But given that most of the characters featured in the scene hold doctorates, we can safely assume the puzzles were middle-of-the-road or slightly harder.

However, the episode ignores the fact that you’re trying to escape the room in a certain amount of time. The characters seemed disappointed by their impressive performance, but they probably posted one of the top times in that room’s history. Nothing to sneeze at.

  • Accuracy rating: 4/5
  • Room difficulty: 3/5
  • Character solving skills: 5/5

[Image courtesy of FOX.com.]

Another show that hasn’t shied away from puzzly content is the former FOX and current NBC hit Brooklyn Nine-Nine. This comedy/drama set at a New York City police precinct has featured a seesaw brain teaser, a crossword-fueled arson mystery, and several multilayered heist storylines set around Halloween.

Puzzle enthusiast Captain Holt invites his fellow officers out to an escape room, and is dismayed when the disinterested Gina and the bumbling Hitchcock and Scully end up being his only fellow players. The group is immediately hampered by Hitchcock wasting two of their three hints, and Holt accidentally wasting the third.

The hint system is usually not as rigid in escape rooms. Three hints is common, though many places allow you to ask for more; sometimes there’s a time penalty, sometimes not. Also, the room in B99 is a three-hour challenge, which was a surprise. The standard time is an hour, though I’ve seen rooms push it to ninety minutes.

The group has also clearly not tried the classic escape room method of “touch everything,” because an hour and a half into the game, having found only one of the four keys needed to escape the room, Holt has not yet investigated the bright red phone sitting out in the open.

This is another escape room where difficulty is tough to judge. Unfortunately, we’re not given enough details on the first key (which involves some sort of chess puzzle) and the fourth key to really gauge the room. But despite the rocky start, the lovable team of misfits manages to escape.

  • Accuracy rating: 3/5
  • Room difficulty: 2/5
  • Character solving skills: Holt gets a 3.5/5, everyone else gets a 2/5.

always-sunny

[Image courtesy of Variety.]

Next, let’s turn our eyes to It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

The characters in this darkly comedic show all consider themselves devious masterminds, but for the most part, they tend to get in each others’ way and foil their own schemes through silly self-sabotage. Although a few impressive schemes do come to fruition over the years, it’s hard to consider this group a crackerjack team of puzzle solvers.

This escape room breaks the mold quite a bit, since the company brings the escape room trappings to the apartment of two of the characters. This is much more elaborate than any escape room set you can buy for the home, and I don’t know of any companies that deliver an escape room to the house.

You might think this home field advantage would be a boon, but instead, all chance of cooperation immediately goes out the window. One pair takes the key to a lock, the other pair takes the lock, and they spend the entire time negotiating instead of solving.

iasip

[Image courtesy of IMDb. Because of the language involved, I couldn’t
use an actual video clip and keep the blog post family friendly.]

Once they actually agree to collaborate and open the lock, they discover a list of tasks for them to complete, and they have virtually no time left to do so. (Our only hint to the room’s difficulty comes from the fact that Dee has completed the room beforehand, so it can’t have been too difficult.)

They claim victory when Sweet Dee falls out a window after getting trapped in her brother Dennis’s bedroom. In order to check on Dee’s status, the game runner opens the door and the remaining players consider it a win.

  • Accuracy rating: 1/5
  • Room difficulty: 2/5
  • Character solving skills: 0/5

crazyex_s01a-1170x658

[Image courtesy of Frame Rated.]

The final entry in our comedic quartet of escape room episodes comes from the musical CW show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. This romantic drama, comedy, and coming-of-age story often features characters breaking out into elaborate song and dance routines, and many of the songs have become modern classics.

The show didn’t tackle puzzly content often, and indeed, the escape room in question is a b-plot in this particular episode, as main character Rebecca offers her escape room experience to friend Paula and her two disinterested sons.

The escape room is medieval-themed and huge, with lots of great set pieces and detail. The mix of exploring, touching things, solving puzzles, cooperating, and placing objects in particular places are all very traditional escape room moments.

ceg escape

[Image courtesy of Laura E. Hall.]

Though I was a little disappointed that the elements of the final puzzle are sitting out in plain sight the whole time. You could easily ACCIDENTALLY solve the last puzzle first and be out in minutes.

But Paula’s sons prove to be able puzzlers, attentive and clever, revealing things about themselves that Paula didn’t know. (In fact, the entire escape room subplot is all about Paula learning about who her sons have become, which is Puzzly Storytelling in Sitcoms 101.)

They all escape, having found new common ground, and it’s easily the most delightful ending of the four escape room scenarios we’ve looked at today.

  • Accuracy rating: 4/5
  • Room difficulty: 3/5 (the final puzzle is a long anagram, which is pretty tough, but the rest of the room is easy)
  • Character solving skills: 4/5

What did you think of this look at escape rooms from TV, fellow puzzlers? Should we look at more fictional escape rooms and see how they hold up?

I’ve heard Bob’s Burgers has one, as well as Schitt’s Creek. Let us know in the comments section below! We’d love to hear from you.

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A Pair of Brain Teasers From Your Fellow PuzzleNationers!

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[Image courtesy of SharpBrains.com.]

We love brain teasers here at PuzzleNation Blog. Whether they’re riddles, logic problems, math puzzles, or challenging bits of wordplay, we take on all comers here.

We’ve solved some doozies in the past, like the Brooklyn Nine-Nine seesaw brain teaser, the diabolical long division brain teaser, and the curious way to tell time brain teaser.

In April 2019, we did a whole week of brain teasers while your friendly neighborhood blogger was at a convention. Last year, we honored the life of mathematician and puzzle icon John Horton Conway by sharing two of his favorite brain teasers.

There’s a long, proud PuzzleNation Blog tradition of cracking whatever brain teasers come our way, whether we find them ourselves, stumble across them in pop culture, or receive them from our marvelous PuzzleNationers when asked for solving assistance.

A friend of the blog discovered two brain teasers in a book of riddles and puzzles during a bookshelf cleanout recently, and they sent them our way to share with you!

We’ll post them below, and share the solutions next week! Good luck, fellow puzzlers!

Brain Teaser #1: There is a three digit number. All three digits are different. The second digit is four times as big as the third digit, while the first digit is three less than the second digit. What is the number?

Brain Teaser #2: When asked about his birthday, a man said, “The day before yesterday, I was only 25, and next year I will turn 28.” This is true only one day in a year – what day was he born?

Have you unraveled either of these brain teasers? Let us know in the comments section below! We’d love to hear from you.

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Answer to the Fiendish Second Conway Puzzle, The Ten Divisibilities!

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Last month, in honor of mathematician and puzzly spirit John Horton Conway, we shared two of his favorite brain teasers and challenged our fellow PuzzleNationers to crack them.

Two weeks ago, we shared the solution to puzzle #1, The Miracle Builders, and offered a few hints for puzzle #2, The Ten Divisibilities.

Now that we’ve heard from a few solvers who either conquered or got very close to conquering the second puzzle, we happily share both the solution and how we got there.

The Ten Divisibilities

I have a ten digit number, abcdefghij. Each of the digits is different, and:

  • a is divisible by 1
  • ab is divisible by 2
  • abc is divisible by 3
  • abcd is divisible by 4
  • abcde is divisible by 5
  • abcdef is divisible by 6
  • abcdefg is divisible by 7
  • abcdefgh is divisible by 8
  • abcdefghi is divisible by 9
  • abcdefghij is divisible by 10

What’s my number?

[To clarify: a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, and j are all single digits. Each digit from 0 to 9 is represented by exactly one letter. The number abcdefghij is a ten-digit number whose first digit is a, second digit is b, and so on. It does not mean that you multiply a x b x c x…]

And here are the hints we offered to help:

-If you add all the digits in a number, and the total is divisible by 3, then that number is also divisible by 3.
-If the last two digits of a number are divisible by 4, then that number is divisible by 4.
-If the last three digits of a number are divisible by 8, then that number is divisible by 8.

The solution is 3816547290.

So, how do we get there?

First, we use process of elimination.

Any number divisible by 10 must end in a zero, so j = 0.

Any number divisible by 5 must end in a zero or a five, so e = 5 (because each digit only appears once).

That gives us abcd5fghi0.

But that’s not all we know.

If a number is divisible by an even number, that number must itself be even. So that means b, d, f, and h must all be even numbers (i.e. some combination of 2, 4, 6, and 8). That also means that a, c, g, and i must all be some combination of the remaining odd numbers (1, 3, 7, and 9).

That’s a lot of information that will come in handy as we solve.

So, where to next? Let’s look at one of those even-numbered spots.

We’ve been told that abcd is divisible by 4. But any number is divisible by 4 if the last two digits are divisible by 4. So that means cd is divisible by 4.

So, if c is odd, d is even, and cd is divisible by 4, that limits the possibilities somewhat. cd must be 12, 16, 32, 36, 72, 76, 92, or 96.

So d is either 2 or 6.

That will be helpful in figuring out def. And knowing def is the key to this entire puzzle.

One of the clues we offered in our last post was that if the sum of a number’s digits is divisible by 3, then that number is also divisible by three. We know abc is divisible by 3, so that means a + b + c is also divisible by 3.

And if something is divisible by 6, then it’s also divisible by 3, so a + b + c + d + e + f is divisible by 3.

Here’s where things get a little tricky. Since a + b + c + d + e + f is divisible by 3, and a + b + c is divisible by 3, then when you subtract a + b + c from a + b + c + d + e + f, the result, d + e + f would also be divisible by 3.

Why is that helpful? Because it means we can look at def instead of abcdef, and we know a lot about def right now.

d is either 2 or 6. e is 5. f is either 2, 4, 6, or 8. And the sum of d + e + f is divisible by 3.

So that gives us two possibilities to deal with, either 2 + 5 + f, where the sum is divisible by 3, or 6 + 5 + f, where the sum is divisible by 3.

Since each number is only used once, that’s six possible equations:

  • 2 + 5 + 4 = 11
  • 2 + 5 + 6 = 13
  • 2 + 5 + 8 = 15
  • 6 + 5 + 2 = 13
  • 6 + 5 + 4 = 15
  • 6 + 5 + 8 = 19

Only 258 and 654 have sums divisible by 3, so they’re our two possibilities for def.

We’ll have to try both of them to see which is the correct choice. How do we do that?

Let’s start with the assumption that def is 258.

That would mean our answer is abc258ghi0. We know b and h have to be even numbers, and only 4 and 6 are left as options. Since fewer numbers are divisible by 8 than by 2, let’s look at abc258gh.

One of the other hints we offered was that if the last three digits of a number are divisible by 8, then the whole number is divisible by 8.

So that means if abc258gh is divisible by 8, then 8gh is divisible by 8. That’s much more manageable.

So, f is 8, h is 4 or 6, and g is either 1, 3, 7, or 9. That gives us eight possibilities for 8gh: 814, 834, 874, 894, 816, 836, 876, and 896.

Dividing each of these by 8 reveals only two possible choices: 816 and 896. That means, in this scenario, h is 6, b is 4, and our number is a4c258g6i0.

What’s next? Well, remember that trick we did with abcdef before? We’re going to do it again with abcdefghi.

Any number divisible by 9 is divisible by 3. Our rule of sums tells us that a + b + c + d + e + f + g + h + i is also divisible by 3. And since a + b + c + d + e + f is divisible by 3, subtracting it means that g + h + i is also divisible by 3.

With 816 and 896 as our possibilities for fgh, that means our possibilities for ghi are 16i and 96i. That gives us the following possibilities: 163, 167, 169, 961, 963, 967, where the sum of our answer must be divisible by 3.

  • 1 + 6 + 3 = 10
  • 1 + 6 + 7 = 14
  • 1 + 6 + 9 = 16
  • 9 + 6 + 1 = 16
  • 9 + 6 + 3 = 18
  • 9 + 6 + 7 = 22

963 is the only one that works, which gives us a4c2589630. With only 1 and 7 remaining as options, our possible solution is either 1472589630 or 7412589630.

But, if you divide either 1472589 or 7412589 by 7 — which is faster than running every one of the 10 conditions through a calculator — neither divides cleanly. That means 258 is incorrect.

I know that was a lot of work just to eliminate one possibility, but it was worth it. It means 654 is correct, so our solution so far reads abc654ghi0.

And we can use the same techniques we just employed with 258 to find the actual answer.

We know b and h have to be even numbers, and only 2 and 8 are left as options. Again, since fewer numbers are divisible by 8 than by 2, let’s look at abc654gh.

4gh is divisible is 8. So, f is 4, h is 2 or 8, and g is either 1, 3, 7, or 9. That gives us eight possibilities for 4gh: 412, 432, 472, 492, 418, 438, 478, and 498.

Dividing each of these by 8 reveals only two possible choices: 432 and 472. That means b is 8, and our number is a8c654g2i0.

Now, let’s look at ghi.

With 432 and 472 as our possibilities for fgh, that means our possibilities for ghi are 32i and 72i. That gives us the following possibilities: 321, 327, 329, 721, 723, 729, where the sum of our answer must be divisible by 3.

  • 3 + 2 + 1 = 6
  • 3 + 2 + 7 = 12
  • 3 + 2 + 9 = 14
  • 7 + 2 + 1 = 10
  • 7 + 2 + 3 = 12
  • 7 + 2 + 9 = 18

Okay, that leaves us four possibilities for ghi: 321, 327, 723, and 729.

Stay with me, folks, we’re so close to the end!

Let’s look at our four possibilities:

  • a8c6543210 (79)
  • a8c6543270 (19)
  • a8c6547230 (19)
  • a8c6547290 (13)

Next to each number, I’ve placed the only digits missing in each scenario, two for each.

That means there are only 8 possible ways to arrange the remaining numbers:

  • 7896543210
  • 9876543210
  • 1896543270
  • 9816543270
  • 1896547230
  • 9816547230
  • 1836547290
  • 3816547290

So let’s do what we did last time, and divide each chain at the seventh number by 7.

  • 7896543 / 7
  • 9876543 / 7
  • 1896543 / 7
  • 9816543 / 7
  • 1896547 / 7
  • 9816547 / 7
  • 1836547 / 7
  • 3816547 / 7

Only one of the chains can be cleanly divided by 7, and it’s 3816547.

Which means the solution for abcdefghij is 3816547290.

I know this was a monster of a solve — it rivals our Brooklyn Nine-Nine seesaw puzzle solution in complexity — but it’s one that every one of our fellow PuzzleNationers are capable of puzzling out.

How did you do on this diabolical brain teaser, folks? Let us know in the comments section below. We’d love to hear from you!

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The Best Puzzle Solvers on Television

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[Image courtesy of Spoiler TV.]

A few weeks ago, we celebrated Halloween by compiling a list of the best puzzlers in horror movies. The goal was to highlight characters who stood out, the ones you’d want on your side, because they’re clever, decisive, and immensely capable.

But it’s not just horror movies that feature characters with these rare qualities. Television dramas and comedies both have their fair share of top-notch puzzlers, and today, we turn the spotlight on them.

True, I certainly could have listed more detectives/investigators/crime scene techs, but honestly, they’re often part of a big team of solvers. (The casts of CSI and Bones, for instance, are effective teams, but rarely does one particular puzzler shine brighter than the rest.)

These individuals (and the occasional duo), however, most definitely perform puzzly feats under pressure.

bestpuzbatman

Batman, Batman: The Animated Series

[Image courtesy of Polygon.]

Yeah, we’re getting an obvious one out of the way first. He’s not called the World’s Greatest Detective for nothing, after all. Although the ’60s Batman leapt wildly to conclusions that turned out to be right, we’d rather lean on the cunning cartoon version of the character from the ’90s FOX show.

This Batman outwitted the Riddler, foiled the Joker, and defeated Ra’s al Ghul, all while remaining age-appropriate for the kiddies. His comic-book counterpart might get to show off his puzzly detective skills more frequently, but when it comes to TV, it’s hard to ignore the Caped Crusader.

bestpuzsherlock

Sherlock Holmes / Mycroft Holmes / Jim Moriarty, Sherlock

[Image courtesy of Tumblr.]

Again, this trio is too obvious to ignore. It’s hard to pick the sharpest knife out of this particular drawer. Moriarty proves himself to be Holmes’s equal throughout the show, though Sherlock does defeat him in the end. Similarly, Mycroft is often regarded as Sherlock’s equal (or perhaps superior) when it comes to sussing out evidence.

But we always return to the often imitated but never duplicated Great Detective when we think of someone who can put together tiny details and suddenly realize the stunning whole of the case. Call it deduction or just great jigsaw skills, Sherlock has it in spades.

(Oh, and an honorable mention here goes out to Dr. Gregory House, who was based on Holmes.)

bestpuzgyver

Angus MacGyver, MacGyver

[Image courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter.]

When you think of this iconic character, it’s likely that one of two things comes to mind: either his trusty Swiss army knife or his incredible knack for getting out of jams with jury-rigged, home-built, improvised equipment.

The man cobbled together a cannon from cigarette butts and built a functioning glider out of bamboo and trash bags. Any brain teaser, no matter how specious or obtuse, would fall before the mighty outside-the-box thinking of Mr. MacGyver.

Leslie Knope / Ron Swanson, Parks and Recreation

My first instinct was to mention Ron Swanson here, given his love of riddles and his impressive efforts to solve the Valentine’s Day scavenger hunt created for Ben in a famous episode. But one cannot honor a master puzzle solver and not give a fair shake to the woman who designed the devious scavenger hunt being solved.

Leslie Knope’s 25-clue puzzle hunt involved riddles, anagrams, a cryptex, and more, and not only did she amaze viewers, but she got Ron to admit his love of riddles to the world. They both merit mentioning in today’s list.

bestpuzdoctor

The Doctor, Doctor Who

[Image courtesy of Vocal.]

When your life is spent traveling through time and space, experiencing events out of order, you’d have to be a pretty decent puzzler just to keep cause and effect straight, let alone to battle threats that endanger the whole of creation. And this alien with two hearts and a police box that travels through time is one heck of a puzzle solver.

He has outwitted Daleks, demigods, and the devil himself. He has defeated aliens that move every time you blink or look away, or that you forget about as soon as you lose sight of them. I assure you, no riddle or brain teaser stands a chance against someone who thinks in four dimensions.

bestpuzlisa

Lisa Simpson, The Simpsons

[Image courtesy of SketchOK.]

No, I haven’t mentioned too many actual puzzle solvers in this list — but just because people like puzzles, that doesn’t mean they’re the best solvers. Lisa, however, fits both sides of the equation.

We’ve seen her skills as a crossword whiz and her ability to crack a Da Vinci Code-esque mystery, all while navigating the perils of elementary school and a father whose choices often defy belief. Lisa is thoughtful, diligent, observant, and clever. She not only loves puzzles, but applies her puzzly mind to making the world around her a better place.

bestpuzwalt

Walter White / Gus Fring, Breaking Bad

[Image courtesy of Breaking Bad Wiki.]

From schoolgirls to drug kingpins we go. It’s hard to pick who is the better strategist between the devious Walter White and the tactical Gustavo Fring. Granted, White does defeat Fring in the end, but not before Gus outmaneuvers old rivals and new, drives a wedge between Walt and Jesse, and builds an entire empire under the noses of the local authorities.

Walt, like a sinister MacGyver, often rigs up surprising solutions to problems, but Gus is probably the superior puzzler, someone who can plan his game three moves ahead and make the best use of his resources.

bestpuzpenny

Penny and Brain, Inspector Gadget

[Image courtesy of Sassy Mama in LA.]

With the bumbling, insufferable bionic detective by your side, you almost have to be twice as good a puzzler to get anything done. And yet, the insightful Penny and her loyal canine companion Brain usually manage to foil the plans of Dr. Klaw despite the doltish antics of the show’s title character.

Penny is an able researcher, able to assess a situation and find the missing pieces with ease. Brain, on the other hand, is the one who puts Penny’s plans into action and adapting on the fly when things (inevitably) go awry. As puzzling duos go, they’re among the best around.

bestpuzmonk

[Image courtesy of Monk Wiki.]

Adrian Monk, Monk

A knack for observation will always serve a puzzler well. Maybe you notice a pattern, or something missing from a room that everyone else missed. Maybe you can draw connections faster than others. All of these qualities apply to Adrian Monk, the fearful obsessive investigator from USA’s Monk.

Monk is the ultimate logic problem solver, drawing out the tables in his head and neatly placing information in each box, then finally drawing his conclusion once he has enough detail. And he’s never wrong. A master of observation and deduction, Monk is a world-class puzzler (even if he probably doesn’t solve the daily crossword often for fear that the newspaper will smear ink on his hands).

Did I miss any world-class puzzlers from television? Let me know in the comments section below! I’d love to hear from you!

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We’re Not the Only Ones With Puzzles on the Brain!

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newsboy

[A photo from the early days of PuzzleNation Blog, as one of our intrepid puzzleboys spreads the word of PuzzleNation far and wide. Image courtesy of Toledo’s Attic.]

I would love to tell you that PuzzleNation Blog is the only game in town when it comes to outstanding puzzle content, but that’s not the truth.

Sure, I think we put out some of the best writing in the puzzle business, but there are other outlets that also pen some marvelous stuff. Deb Amlen’s Wordplay blog on The New York Times website, for instance, is a treasure trove of great material, featuring breakdowns of NYT puzzles, interviews with constructors, and more.

The New Yorker recently posted an intriguing one-two punch of puzzle content. The main article was a meditation on crosswords — their potential, what they mean to a fan, and more — while the accompanying video featured an interview with constructor Natan Last (conducted by crossword editor Liz Maynes-Aminzade) about political entries in puzzles.

What’s slightly more surprising is that another popular Internet outlet has also had puzzles on the brain:

The Onion.

theonionheader

Three times in the past month or so, the satirical news outlet has posted some hilarious puzzle-centric content. On June 20th, one of their headlines read “Exhilarated Woman Discovers Last Person Who Used Jigsaw Puzzle Left Lots Of Pieces Sticking Together.”

Two weeks earlier on June 6th, the article “Maze With Cheese In Center Enters Human Trials Following Decades Of Testing On Mice,” which feels all too apropos after our post last week about corn mazes.

But the cream of the crop was undoubtedly the article posted on May 28th, “Will Shortz Frustrated That Police Yet To Crack Taunting Puzzles Revealing Locations Of 40 Years Of Murder Victims.”

In a hysterically brief send-up of both the famously mild-mannered Shortz and classic criminal masterminds in general (like the one in the Brooklyn Nine-Nine episode that also featured Shortz, or the one from the Hallmark Crossword Mysteries earlier this year), the article paints the crossword editor as a murderous genius who feels unappreciated in his efforts to play a game of cat-and-mouse with the NYPD:

“I naturally assumed that, at some point during the last four decades, at least one detective would be smart enough to solve the case,” said Shortz, who also implied that the geographic coordinates of the victims could be determined by analyzing the sudoku puzzles in the Sunday edition.

It was one of the funniest pieces of the year for The Onion, and further proof of just how ubiquitous crosswords truly are these days.

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date on everything PuzzleNation!

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Come On Down! It’s Prime Time for Puns and Puzzles!

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Yes, yes, it’s that time again. It’s hashtag game time!

For years now, we’ve been collaborating on puzzle-themed hashtag games with our pals at Penny Dell Puzzles, and this month’s hook was #PennyDellPuzzleTV, mashing up Penny Dell puzzles with television shows, characters, catchphrases, actors, actresses, hosts, and more!

Examples include: I Love Loose Tile, Will Shortz & Grace, and Match Game of Thrones.

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

Puzzle TV Shows!

The Good Places, Please

Mighty Morphin’ Flower Power

Leave It To Weaver Words

Spinwheel of Fortune / Wheels of Fortune

Father You Know the Odds Best

The Addams Family Ties / Modern Family Ties / Family Ties Matters / All in the Family Ties / All Fours in the Family / Railroad Family Ties

All in the Crypto-Family

Mama’s Crypto-Family

Crypto-Family Feud

Tales From The Crypt-o-grams / Tales from the Crypto-Verses / Tales from the Crypto-Family

Bewitched Way Words

Sabrina the Teenage Which Way Words

My Three of a Kind Sons

Starspell Trek

ALF-abet Soup

Alphabet Talk Soup

Charlie’s Try-Angles

My Two at a Time Dads

Perfect Fit Strangers

Brooklyn Nine-Nine of Diamonds

Take it from St. Elsewhere

The Odds and Evens Couple / You Know the Odds Couple

Guess Who’s the Boss / Who’s Calling the Boss?

Trade-Off Spaces

Home Runs Improvement

Rowan & Martin’s Fill-In

Dr. Fill-In

Doctor Guess Who

Doctor Who’s Calling?

Whose End of the Line is it Anyway?

Scoreboardwalk Empire

Scoremaster of None

Late Night with David Letterboxesman

Tosh.O and Turning

America’s Next Top to Bottom Model

Throwbacks Horseman

3rd Rock from the Sunrays

Everybody Loves Sunrays

It’s Always Sunrays in Philadelphia

Square Deal or No Deal

Spider’s Webster

The White Shadow

Kaku-Rizzoli and Loose T-Isles

Rocky and Bull’s Eye Spiral

Dancing with the Starspell

Nine(teen Kids) of Diamonds (and Counting), Add One, Plus Fours, Seven Up…

American Pickers-Upper

Give and Take Two

These Three’s Company

Trading Off Spaces

Sister, Sister: Double Trouble

Little Puzzler on the Prairie

Battleships Galactica

Smallville Change

Simon & Simon Says

Knight Ride-of-Way-r

The Price Is Right of Way

Happy Daisy

Daisy of Our Lives

Match-Upstairs, Downstairs

Match-Up Game

Say That Again to the Dress

Riddle Me This Is Us

One Day at a Rhyme Time

One Day at a Time Machine

First and Last Comic Standing

Three to One-der Years

Unsolved Mystery Movie (or Person or Melody or State)

Heads & Tails of the Class

McHale’s Na-V Words

Wizard Words of Waverly Place

Puzzle TV Miscellany!

“No Alphabet Soup for You!”

“Heeeeeeerrree…. (and There’s) Johnny!”

Benedict CumberBattleships

Sherlock Holmeruns

The Walking Dead Keep on Moving

Simon Says: Curb Your Enthusiasm

Home Reruns

In Living Colors

“I’ll Be (Here and) There for You”

“Those Were the Daisy”

And members of the PuzzleNation readership also got in on the fun!

On Twitter, the intrepid Screenhog contributed “Tales of the Cryptoquizzes.” Excellent stuff! Keep it coming, Screenhog!

Have you come up with any Penny Dell Puzzle TV entries of your own? Let us know! We’d love to see them!

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