Fall 2015 POTW #6: Ehhh, The Horror!

Solutions due by midnight on Sunday, November 1, 2015.

To celebrate this week's Hallowe'en Holiday, puzzle questions and answers are related to famous horror/thriller films. Every question/answer is based on a film on the American Film Institute's list of "The 100 Most Thrilling American Films". Feel free to use this list as a reference while solving these puzzles!

More specifically, the answer to each clue is a modified film title. Each title is obtained by taking the title of a well-known horror film (on that AFI list) and changing one of its vowels to a different vowel. (This is similar to a previous puzzle I posted.) I have provided clues in the form of brief synopses of the modified films.

For example, if the clue were "This war drama concerns young recruits and the steel outerwear they sport during October and November while the leaves change color", the solution would be Fall Metal Jacket. (Yes, Full Metal Jacket is #95 on AFI's "100 Years, 100 Thrills" list.)

Advice: look for references to both  the original and modified film titles in a clue.

Each correct answer earns 2.5 points. Happy spooky week(end)!

1. In this acclaimed film, a convicted killer (and former psychiatrist) helps an FBI trainee track a serial killer and keep his arms and legs quiet.
2. In this black-and-white thriller, a California town is mystified when Shakespeare, Chaucer, and other classic poets inexplicably rampage the citizens.
3. This Academy Award-winning film depicts mankind's relationship to the universe via apes, monoliths, an intelligent computer, as well as pepper, turmeric, cardamom, dill, cumin, and many more ...
4. A possessed child is the main antagonist in this 1970s horror classic, but in a climactic scene where his father drags him to an altar, the child only mutters a four-letter word signaling the end of a prayer.

What is your name (or team name)?
(Please use the same name every week so that I can properly record your scores!)


1.


2.


3.


4.

Solution to Fall 2015 POTW #5: Oh My Gourd!

See here for the original puzzle post.

Solution:

1. Pumpkin
2. Butternut (squash)
3. Acorn (squash)
4. Spaghetti (squash) ("Spa-Getty")

Fall 2015 POTW #5: Oh My Gourd!

Submissions due by midnight on Sunday 10/25.

To celebrate the autumnal spirit, this week's answers are all types of gourds and squashes. Each answer has been clued in a roundabout way, possibly involving a pun or wordplay and, at the least, involving an interpretational stretch. (In the parlance of crossword puzzles, these are "question mark-style" clues.)

Here's an example to help you: If the clue were, "Trigger that's pro-environment?", then the solution would be Green Button (which is a type of squash). (I promise the answers below are more well-known gourds and squashes...)

2.5 points will be awarded for each correct answer.

1. Relative of a particular kind of low-cut shoe?
2. Churning fanatic?
3. Maize doing well in school?
4. Place to get a mani-pedi owned by a particular American gas company?

What is your name (or team name)?
(Please use the same name every week so that I can properly record your scores!)


1. Relative of a particular kind of low-cut shoe?


2. Churning fanatic?


3. Maize doing well in school?


4. Place to get a mani-pedi owned by a particular American gas company?

Solution to Fall 2015 POTW #4: trivia with a theme

See here for the original puzzle post.

Solution:

1. Royale
2. The Middle East
3. Church
4. Great Scott

Theme: These are all live music venues in Boston.

Solution to POTW #3: MBTehhhhh

See this link for the original puzzle post.

Solution:

1. Haymarket
2. Government Centre
3. Braintree
4. Coolidge Corner
5. Cleveland Circle

Fall 2015 POTW #4: trivia with a theme

Submissions due by midnight on Sunday 10/18.

The questions below are straightforward trivia.

2 points will be awarded for each correct answer and 2 points will be awarded for identifying the unifying theme of the answers.

1.     According to Pulp Fiction, what you’d call a Big Mac (sans cheese) in France.

2.     A particular politically-contentious region of the world.

3.     A particular place of worship that has a pair of letters repeated twice (like the word mathematics does, with ma appearing twice).

4.     An old-timey way to say “OMG!”

What is your name (or team name)? *
(Please use the same name every week so that I can properly record your scores!)
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Submit your answers for POTW#4 here *
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Solution to POTW #2: mOvie vOwels

See this link for the original puzzle post.

Solution:

1. Johnny Depp gives a stellar performance in this true-life tale of mobsters, the FBI, and the search for a deadly, dark-colored fungus.
   Black Moss (from Black Mass)
   
2. This critically-acclaimed Oscar-winner depicts the mayhem and violence caused by corruption, organized crime, and double-agents at a big city’s department of Citizenship & Immigration Services.
   The Deported (from The Departed)
   
3. In this dark tale of entangled crimes and accusations, a softball team’s enigmatic extra infielder is murdered by his childhood pal.
   Mystic Rover (from Mystic River)

Theme: All of these movies are set in the city of Boston, MA. (More specifically, they're crime dramas set in Boston, but I accepted "set in Boston" as sufficiently correct.)

Fall 2015 POTW #3: MBTehhhhh

Submissions due by midnight on Sunday 10/11.

The answer to each clue below is an MBTA (Boston, MA) subway stop. (Bus stops do not count; this only refers to the Red, Green, Blue, Orange, and Silver lines.)

Each answer has been clued in a roundabout way, possibly involving a pun or wordplay and, at the least, involving an interpretational stretch. (In the parlance of crossword puzzles, these are "question mark-style" clues.)

Here's an example to help you: If the clue were, "Where Citizens and Santander treat their customers well?", the solution would be Fairbanks.

2 points will be awarded for each correct answer:

1. Where a farmer may purchase some feed for his horses?
2. Washington, D.C.?
3. An elm inside your helmet?
4. Where a former Mass. Governor and U.S. President grew up and hung out?
5. Ring around a major Midwestern American city?

Note about submissions:

• Please use the same name every week so that I will have a correct cumulative total at the end of the semester!
• Also, you do not  need to provide both a name and team name. If you are an individual, supply your name. If you are submitting on behalf of a group of people, supply your group's name.
• Also, please be unique. Don't use a name of, for instance, "Joe" because there will surely be more than one Joe. Full first and last names would be best.

What is your name / team name? *


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Submit your answers for Fall 2015 POTW #3 here. *


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