Ouerdplait

For today’s puzzle, we’re taking a dive into the Joss Whedon TV series “Firefly” and its big-screen follow-up “Serenity.” I’ll start by reading off the letters of a word associated with the Firefly universe, except I’ll only be reading the word’s consonants. You’ll have to suss out the vowels and think of the full word yourself. I’ll give you an extra clue to help you along. (Featuring music by Broke for Free, Nheap, Mark Sparling, and jdc5294.)

There is no set of villains quite as iconic as the Daleks from Doctor Who, and they're pretty well known for saying “EXTERMINATE,” in their very staccato tone. In this puzzle, I'll be trying to teach you to talk like a Dalek yourself. I'll start with a clue, as usual. And here's the hook: every correct response in this game will be a single word that begins with the letter E and ends with the “ate” sound. (Featuring music by Landon Beall, Nheap, and Mark Sparling [”Day 2″ and “Day 8″].) Want more? Browse our entire back catalog of puzzles at Ouerdplait.com.

This entry marks the last Ouerdplait of 2015, and I could think of no better way to pay tribute to the year that was than to spin up a puzzle based on the very digits this year is composed of. This puzzle is called “Digital Love.”Each correct response in this game will be a phrase or hyphenated word containing one of the digits in the year 2015—two, zero, one or five. (Featuring music by Landon Beall, Broke for Free, Nheap, and Mark Sparling [”Day 2″ and “Day 8″].)

Here's a nifty bonus episode for all you holly jolly fans. Christian Garman and Travis Brown, co-workers of mine, have their own podcast called Digital Downtime, where they discuss recent events and interview local guests. They had me on their show earlier this month to promote Ouerdplait, and they faced off in a head-to-head puzzle challenge I wrote just for them. It was fun, and they said they'd be happy to have me back in the future. Enjoy this segment, extracted from their full episode. (Featuring music by tweek.)

Kwanzaa derives from a Swahili phrase meaning “first fruits of the harvest,” and was established in 1965 as a means to help African-Americans reconnect with their African heritage through meditation and study, and also through celebrating the “seven principles of African heritage.” And here's the thing: I read up on Kwanzaa. I tried to think of a way to incorporate it into a puzzle while still being somewhat respectful, because Kwanzaa is a thing that's actually really  important to most people who celebrate it. But try as I might, I couldn't figure out a way to build a decent Kwanzaa puzzle, and I didn't want to settle for making a half-decent one. So while I'm more than happy to wish anyone who celebrates it a Joyous Kwanzaa… let's take another aside from the holiday season for something a little different. (With music byLandon Beall, Broke for Free, Nheap, and Mark Sparling [”Day 2″ and “Day 8″].)

Here's a nifty bonus episode for all you holly jolly fans. Christian Garman and Travis Brown, co-workers of mine, have their own podcast called Digital Downtime, where they discuss recent events and interview local guests. They had me on their show earlier this month to promote Ouerdplait, and they faced off in a head-to-head puzzle challenge I wrote just for them. It was fun, and they said they’d be happy to have me back in the future. Enjoy this segment, extracted from their full episode. (Featuring music by tweek.)

Kwanzaa derives from a Swahili phrase meaning “first fruits of the harvest,” and was established in 1965 as a means to help African-Americans reconnect with their African heritage through meditation and study, and also through celebrating the “seven principles of African heritage.” And here’s the thing: I read up on Kwanzaa. I tried to think of a way to incorporate it into a puzzle while still being somewhat respectful, because Kwanzaa is a thing that’s actually really  important to most people who celebrate it. But try as I might, I couldn’t figure out a way to build a decent Kwanzaa puzzle, and I didn’t want to settle for making a half-decent one. So while I’m more than happy to wish anyone who celebrates it a Joyous Kwanzaa… let’s take another aside from the holiday season for something a little different. (With music byLandon Beall, Broke for Free, Nheap, and Mark Sparling [”Day 2″ and “Day 8″].)

One truly interesting thing about language is how much it evolves over time. We're all about shortening words these days, either for the sake of brevity or just so you'll seem cool to your friends. As I record this, there are only 9 days left until Christmas Day, and some people consider it disrespectful when you truncate the word "Christmas" to "Xmas." They say it takes the "Christ" out of "Christmas," and in a literal sense, I guess theyr'e right... but here's the thing. The use of "Xmas" dates back to the 16th century, back when, I think it's safe to say, Christianity was a pretty massive force in the world. You have to imagine that if saying "Xmas" were really such a problem, it would've been stamped out before the 17th century rolled around. Anyway, our puzzle today revolves around that much-maligned letter, perhaps the trickiest of all English letters. It's time to celebrate our friend the X with a round of "First Things First." (With music by Landon Beall, Broke for Free, Nheap, and Mark Sparling [”Day 2″ and “Day 8″].)

Well, we're right in the middle of Hanukkah, but we already did an episode on that last week. That means I don't really have a holiday to base a puzzle around today, so instead, I've turned to my own hobbies for inspiration. I've always been a fan of video games, and one of my favorite game series is called Mega Man. The original game is about a robot boy named Mega Man who fights against his robot brothers, who've been re-programmed to be evil by the fiendish Dr. Wily. The original Mega Man series has 11 entries to date, and each of those games features brand new baddies for Mega Man to fight, from Cut Man (a lumberjack robot with scissors on his head) to Pump Man (a sewer-dwelling robot who works like an old-timey water pump). You may notice that the name of our hero, Mega Man, as well as that of all of his enemies, end with the word “man.” That's all I need to put together a quick puzzle. (With music by Landon Beall, Broke for Free, Nheap, Mark Sparling [”Day 2″ and “Day 8″], and Takashi Tateishi [“Game Start”].)

Well, as the year winds down, we find ourselves heading more and more into the holiday season. Different people celebrate different holidays based on their own personal belief, background, and upbringing, but generally, folks understand that the holiday season is a time to be a little more compassionate, to feel a bit closer to your fellow man. I say all that to say this: Hanukkah begins this coming Sunday, so I thought I should make a puzzle that related to the holiday in some way. I did encounter one small problem while I was putting the episode together, and basically, it's that… I don't really know anything about Hanukkah. (With music by Landon Beall, Broke for Free, Nheap, Mark Sparling [”Day 2″ and “Day 8″], and Dov Rosenblatt, Rosi Golan, & Deena Goodman.)