ARE YOU GAME?
Arthur Wynne created the first modern one of these puzzles, published in the New York World in Dec. 1913
a crossword puzzle
In 1967 New York City ordered all officially licensed taxis painted this color
yellow
Egg drink
(3)
nog
An annual publication chock full of facts & figures
Almanac
Van Heflin, Gig Young & Robert Coote played Athos, Porthos & Aramis in this "novel" 1948 film
The Three Musketeers
This game to build words from lettered tiles began as "Lexico" in 1931
Scrabble
Facing Boston, he fittingly hit the first home run in Yankee Stadium in 1923
babe ruth
Fraction's top half
(9)
numerator
Hellbenders & newts are types of these
Salamanders
At the end of 1949's "In the Good Old Summertime", Liza Minnelli made her screen debut as this woman's daughter
Judy Garland
There are 43 quintillion possible wrong solutions & 1 correct one for this cube
a Rubik's Cube
Into the 1840s, sanitation on Wall Street was handled by thousands of these porcine wanderers
pigs
Buddhist freedom, perhaps for rock drummer Dave Grohl
(7)
nirvana
To take apart
Dismantle
This 1941 detective drama, a Bogart classic, is in my top 5; after all these years, it's still a challenge to figure out
The Maltese Falcon
In the 1760s mapmaker John Spilsbury invented this, which must be fit together
a jigsaw puzzle
Construction of the Empire State Building began in 1930 on the site of this hyphenated hotel that moved to Park Avenue
Waldorf-Astoria
The lowest point
(5)
the nadir
Not temporary
Permanent
He made a cameo appearance as a man carrying a violin in his own film "Spellbound"
Hitchcock
An early version of this game in India was called Chaturanga & used elephants, horses, chariots & foot soldiers
Chess
Workplace safety was reformed after the March 1911 fire at this garment factory
Amiable French port city
(4)
Nice
it's a famous snow-laced mountain
Kilimanjaro
The 1949 film about this big ape won a special effects Oscar (remember--we said 1949)
Mighty Joe Young