10
$\begingroup$

This is part 28 of the puzzle series Around the World in Many Days. Each part is solvable on its own.

Dear Puzzling,

This is a connecting wall puzzle similar to the ones used in the Only Connect TV show. The list of 32 words can be divided into eight categories of four words each, where each word in the category can be combined with a certain theme word to form an existing term or phrase. Once you have figured out the eight categories and their theme words, those theme words can in turn be divided into two groups of four in the same manner.

Today I have joined tens of thousands of people to watch a game in a large sporting arena. Can you guess where I am?

Love, Gladys.

AWAKE BEARER BIG BOY BREAKING BROKEN CAT
CRIMINAL DRUM GAFF GARBAGE GENTLE HOLDER
HUR INNER JUNK MIND NEVIS OFFERING OIL
OPEN OPENER PLAYER RECEIVER SCREEN SIGN
SIZE SODA SQUARE TEA WORMS YAM

Gladys will return in Tropical Rhythms.

Improve this question
$\endgroup$

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
10
$\begingroup$

Gladys is at:

the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas (home of the Dallas Cowboys), also known as JERRY WORLD.

What is effectively two merged connecting walls can be resolved as follows...

Wall 1:

BEN = BIG ben, GENTLE ben, ben HUR, ben NEVIS
CAN = GARBAGE can, can-OPENER, SODA can, can (of) WORMS
RIG = GAFF rig, JUNK rig, OIL rig, SQUARE rig
TOM = tom BOY, tom CAT, tom DRUM, tom YAM.

The word that connects these four categories is JERRY: BEN (&) jerry, jerry CAN, jerry RIG, TOM (and) jerry.

Wall 2:

CUP = cupBEARER, cupHOLDER, cup SIZE, TEAcup;
PEACE = INNER peace, peace (of) MIND, peace OFFERING, peace SIGN;
RECORD = record-BREAKING, BROKEN record, CRIMINAL record, record PLAYER;
WIDE = wide AWAKE, wide OPEN (or "OPEN wide!"), wide RECEIVER, wideSCREEN.

The word that connects these four categories is WORLD: world CUP, world PEACE, world RECORD, worldWIDE.

Put these two words together and you have:

JERRY WORLD, a 'large sporting arena' that seats 80,000+ spectators.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
5
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ I was about ten seconds away from posting $\endgroup$
    – hexomino
    Commented Jun 30, 2023 at 9:39
  • $\begingroup$ Well done again on your speed, +1 $\endgroup$
    – hexomino
    Commented Jun 30, 2023 at 9:39
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ @hexomino Oof, sorry! I honestly thought I'd get beaten to this one as I struggled to find some categories, getting held up on side-avenues like EAR, NEWS and SET (that one took some undoing). There are some tricksy words that could appear in more than one category (like OIL, HOLDER, CAT and BEN) and I had to rearrange my groups so many times to find the only way that fully satisfied the walls! $\endgroup$
    – Stiv
    Commented Jun 30, 2023 at 9:42
  • $\begingroup$ Haha, yes, I got caught in some avenues too - EAR (like you), CIRCLE (has DRUM, INNER, OFFERING?), SPACE (has INNER, OPEN, SQUARE, JUNK). Really well done though, it's very tricky to tease out the categories and I thought I had done it relatively quickly. $\endgroup$
    – hexomino
    Commented Jun 30, 2023 at 9:46
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @hexomino It's amazing how words like GAFF and JUNK turn out to have far more potential companions than you ever realised! I definitely found what I describe here as 'Wall 1' the harder of the two to piece together, particularly the third and fourth categories in my list, which I think were two of the last ones I managed to pin down overall. $\endgroup$
    – Stiv
    Commented Jun 30, 2023 at 9:50

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.