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This month's $100 question (not a real prize)

Puzzling Asked on November 30, 2020

****A big one to celebrate my half-century (50th puzzle)!****


I work as a puzzle setter at FakePuzz (not a real magazine). This morning I burst into the office of Eddie Tor (not a real editor) so fast that I bumped against – and smashed – an expensive vase (a real one, unfortunately).

"I’ve finished compiling this month’s $100 prize crossword at last!" I exclaimed. "Let me tell you how it works…"

The puzzle is actually a combination of four different puzzle types in one grid: a criss-cross, a quizword, a codeword, and a three-to-one.

All four sub-puzzles need to be solved to find the answer to the contest question, "Whose grave am I visiting?"

"The coloured cells are obviously important…?" Eddie ventured, uncertainly.

"The letters within them are, yes," I replied. "And in addition to those, each ‘coloured zone’ within the puzzle contains a further concealed clue, hidden somehow within it. The first person to solve the puzzle and send in the correct name wins the $100!"

"Which is absolutely, definitely NOT A REAL PRIZE," stated Eddie.

"Indeed," I said. "Maybe we can send them one of our souvenir green checkmarks in the post instead…"

TASK: Solve the full puzzle (collaboration permitted) and give me the answer to the question, "Whose grave am I visiting?" The answer is the name of a person of historical interest.

Oh, and just in case it wasn’t obvious from the tongue-in-cheek flavourtext, THERE IS NO ACTUAL $100 PRIZE! (Sorry…)


ACCESSIBILITY

Colour-blind-friendly version available here. B=Blue, G=Green, O=Orange, R=Red and Y=Yellow. Two different shades (black/grey) have been used for the blank spaces alternately across the four quadrants to aid differentiation between the four sub-puzzles (puzzles do invade each other slightly – this can be used to your advantage…).

A .xlsx version of the blank puzzle grid is available via filedropper.com to make it more convenient to solve (nobody wants to copy out a puzzle this large manually…).


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Top-left puzzle: CRISS-CROSS

ACE  ATOM  BEEPS  BREATH  AWESOME  ACCRUING  BLUEBELLS  APPEARANCE  
ASH  BLOC  BLITZ  IMPART  DESIGNS  EGGHEADS  DOWNRIGHT  
ASS  BLUR  COSTA  PUBLIC  HIGHEST  FLOUNDER  GIBRALTAR  
ATE  COLT  DEALT  REPEAL  MASSAGE  GUSTAVUS  HOMOPHONE  
BRA  DEEP  EERIE  SCAMPI  PARAGON  SPACEBAR  PNEUMONIA  
CRY  EFIT  EMOJI  SIMPLE  SHAKEUP  
DIM  FEUD  FOXES  SLURPS  TUMULTS  
EGO  FREE  LEANS  
FLU  LUTE  LEMON  
GNU  MENU  OFTEN  
HID  OEUF  PANIC  
IRE  PATE  SPAIN  
MOM  REAL  SPASM  
NAB  SOUL  TRIPE  
NEE  TALC  WIDOW  
NIL  VERB  
OWN  WASP  
SEA  WEED  
SOT  WHET  
SPY  
TAU  
USE  

Top-right puzzle: QUIZWORD

ACROSS
#1. Capital city of Ghana (5)
4. Nocturnal birds, Strix aluco (5,4)
9. Protagonist of The Color Purple, by Alice Walker (5)
12. Mole, metre, or second? (4)
13. Highest active volcano in Europe (4)
14. Brand of plastic construction toy, originally from Denmark (4)
16. Seven _______, 1954 Akira Kurosawa movie (7)
17. First name of former Arsenal goalkeeper, Lehmann (4)
19. Special forces unit of the British Army (1,1,1)
21. The White Stripes, The Carpenters, or Tenacious D, perhaps? (3)
22. Planet of snow and ice in The Empire Strikes Back (1980) (4)
23. Capital city of Iran (6)
24. Kiss from a Rose singer (4)
25. My ____ Foot, 1989 Daniel Day-Lewis movie (4)
27. Muslim prayer leader (4)
30. Music genre originating in Jamaica in the late 1950s (3)
31. 1993 UK Singles Chart topper for Take That (4)
34. Currency of Argentina (4)
36. Seventh letter of the Greek alphabet (3)
37. French word for ‘water’ (3)
38. Tablet computer first released in 2010 (4)
41. Fagin’s gang, or the Baker Street Irregulars, perhaps? (7)
44. Portrayed a title character in 2008’s Frost/Nixon (5)
45. Biblical region east of the Jordan River (6)
50. Qatar’s continent (4)
53. Lawman involved in ‘the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral’ (4)
55. ___ whale – second-largest animal species on Earth (3)
61. Come ________, 1969 Beatles song (8)
62. The ____ Tower, Stephen King book series (4)
68. Placeholder for an undefined value in computing (1,1,1)
71. Cult mystery TV series by Mark Frost and David Lynch, ____ Peaks (4)
73. Series of wars fought between Rome and Carthage, 264-146 BC (5)
74. John Carney film of 2007, later a stage musical (4)

DOWN
#1. Ancient Greek lyric poet from the city of Mytilene (7)
2. Item of sporting equipment used in snooker and pool (3)
3. Country sharing a land border with the United Kingdom (1,1,1)
5. Major Italian river (4)
6. ______ Fillion, star of Firefly and Castle (6)
7. Species of the animal named ‘Ratty’ in The Wind in the Willows (5,4)
8. Language of Chile, Costa Rica and Cuba (7)
10. Stage name shared by rappers Kim, Wayne and Xan (3)
11. ______ Wood, star of The Lord of the Rings movies (6)
12. African country led by Idi Amin, 1971-79 (6)
15. ___ Lovelace, 19th century English mathematician (3)
18. Device for time-telling comprising a flat plate and a gnomon (7)
20. Bouillabaisse, goulash, or beef Stroganoff, perhaps? (4)
22. ___ 9000, antagonist of 2001: A Space Odyssey (3)
24. Witheringly harsh (8)
26. Italian automobile manufacturer, founded in Turin (4)
28. Exits from a building (8)
29. Sir Christopher ___ , portrayer of Dracula, Saruman and Scaramanga (3)
30. ‘____ grapes’ – disdain for something one does not have (4)
32. Little ___ Corvette, song by Prince (3)
33. Domesticated bovid found in the Himalayas (3)
35. Finnish steam bath (5)
39. Twenty-third letter of the Greek alphabet (3)
40. _____ of Glass, 1979 chart hit for Blondie (5)
42. Informal term for an executive search firm (10)
43. Opacifications of the lens of the eye (9)
46. Vesper ____, character in Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale (4)
51. What a somnambulist might do (9)
54. Sixteen ounces (5)
55. Result of sunlight exposure (7)
63. Frozen character voiced by Kristen Bell (4)
64. Location of the patella (4)
67. A Prayer For ____ Meany, John Irving novel (4)
71. Object placed beneath a serving dish to avoid heat damage (6)
72. Antagonist in Shakespeare’s Othello (4)
74. Winner of the 2013 Kentucky Derby (3)

Bottom-right puzzle: CODEWORD

Solution grid provided directly below the puzzle for your use.

Bottom-left puzzle: THREE-TO-ONE

ACROSS
47. OBEY / OBOE / PREY
48. CLEAR / SHEER / SHINE
49. ETCH / ETUI / SPUR
52. ARE / URN / USE
56. BARB / LAUD / LOUD
58. MARIGOLD / MACHETES / PREQUELS
65. EYE / GYM / RYE
66. PASS / TORN / TORS
69. NATO / NOTE / TOGO
75. CAGOUL / EARFUL / RECALL
78. NOTED / VITAL / WONKA
79. ISRAELI / LORELEI / PARABLE
81. OVERRIDES / SKEWERING / SPIRITING
83. OMEN / PEEL / OPEL
84. AND / RNA / ROD
86. NOW / SEA / SPA
89. IGGY / INTO / NONE
90. EGGPLANT / ITERATED / OPTIONAL
91. AILS / KILO / NOPE
92. DOE / DUD / HID
93. KNOW / USED / WEED
94. APIA / JULY / RHEA
97. ASTI / HYPE / KEPT
99. HOLE / IRON / PROP
100. EVEN / REAP / REIN
101. LUGOSI / MALAWI / MURDER
104. LARA / TOOL / TORN
105. BAN / NAB / PIN
106. VAT / VIE / VIM
110. CHIC / ERIC / LOUT
111. CATS / COWL / NEWS
112. RABBITS / RACCOON / SECTION
113. TEMP / TURF / ZERO
114. BLUR / CLUB / CRAB
115. BESTOWERS / MANSPLAIN / POSITRONS
116. EPIC / THIN / TONE
117. EROS / PLOY / TRAY
118. RHONE / SCOWL / SHOAL
121. CUR / DEN / DUE
122. OSTENTATE / OVERSTAYS / TREADMILL
123. BEADS / ETHOS / INCOG

DOWN
57. BRAE / CIAO / DEAF
59. DOWNY / ROUND / SALTY
60. ASBESTOS / ASSASSIN / UNBROKEN
70. EVENT / ONION / OWING
76. LIE / ULE / USE
77. LENGTHEN / LOLLIPOP / LONGJUMP
80. ERIE / ERNE / LAID
82. ASK / INK / INN
83. OWL / OWN / PAL
85. AGO / AND / EGG
87. EONS / OILY / PILE
88. ABYSMAL / CHARLIE / IDYLLIC
95. KIEV / SHIV / SPIV
97. PERSONNEL / PROACTIVE / TROMBONES
98. EEL / INN / TEA
102. ABHORS / UNHOLY / UNRULY
103. ARCHER / OCCURS / ORDERS 
104. LESOTHO / TORMENT / TORPEDO
107. ACE / ICE / INN
108. EARPLUG / MARBLES / TOBYJUG
109. COWPAT / SOFTEN / STREET
113. BIO / TOO / ZOO
114. BALL / BODY / COAT
119. CAT / ERE / HEN
120. ADD / ADO / WHO

2 Answers

Part 1: The Solved Grid

The solved grid is below:

The logic for the left side portions was relatively straightforward. There were no particularly difficult steps - just searching for the next place progress can be made, like solving a jigsaw puzzle.

A few sections had extra information that seems important:

Part 2: The Messages

Correct answer by Deusovi on November 30, 2020

Partial: Criss Cross and Three to one solved

(There are three letters missing to the right of ‘Three to one’ that I can’t yet place without solving the bottom right area)

Three to one:

Criss cross:

However I know that Deus has all four parts and is looking at the next steps so I expect this to become obsolete :) Still very fun to solve!!!

Edit: congrats Deus as expected!


Quick bit of logic for how to get these grids:

Three to one:

Criss cross:

Answered by Beastly Gerbil on November 30, 2020

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