A Nancy Drew A-Z character challenge!

See if you can complete the following, using only the first name of a Nancy Drew character from any of the games. Super Challenge: Try to include a character from each of the 19 games!

Ace the horse (SHA)--only as an example
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z

When you complete this, feel free to post your answers under Comments. I'll post your answers on Friday! Good luck and have fun! :D

What is Carson Drew's middle name?

This question sure had a wide range of responses! Here's how the voting turned out:

Randolph--4
Matthias--0
Edmund--1
Phinnaeus--0
Campbell--5
Lawrence--5
Bradford--3
Vaughn--1

It looks like you were all too smart to fall for Matthias and Phinnaeus! (Although I did some research and found these were common names used before the turn of the last century when Carson would have been named!)

Congratulations to those of you who said Campbell! This bit of information can be found in book #56 The Thirteenth Pearl and surprisingly, it's the only mention of his middle name in any of the Nancy Drew books.

Now for this week's poll...I thought it would be fun to ask what your favorite Nancy Drew activity really is: Reading the books, playing the games, or watching the movies/TV shows. To vote in the poll, scroll down to the bottom of the page. Thanks so much for taking the time to vote!! :D

Spot the Difference puzzle answers!

Patches, Debbie, Melissa, and Jewel you all did great!! Thank you all so much for posting and for all the time I know you spent working on this puzzle!

The 12 differences are: [Water is missing from fountain, squirt nozzle on hose is missing, tree tile has been added, bridge tile is missing, green leaf on floor is missing, pink flower is missing, another pink flower has been added, palm branch has been added, planter base has changed from round and silver to square and brown, leaf on man-eating plant is missing, window bar is missing, hanging light has been added.]

The bonus difference is:[The wire is missing and the wood panel has changed color to the left of the fountain.]

I have another spot the difference puzzle idea in mind for July! :D

A Nancy Drew spot the difference puzzle!

Can you spot 12 differences in these pictures of the conservatory at Blackmoor Manor? Bonus: There is one more difference that is pretty tricky to spot! Can you find it, too?

Feel free to submit your answers under "Comments" if you find them. I'll wait to post them until Friday, along with the answers. Have fun!! :D

Where do YOU think ND21 will take place?

The results are in and it was really close! Here's how the voting ended for where you think the next Her Interactive game (ND21) will take place:

In River Heights--2
In the United States--6
Outside the United States--7
On board a cruise ship--5

It will be really interesting to find out where the setting for the next game will take place! I'm really looking forward to watching the trailer at the end of Ransom of the Seven Ships to find out!

Now for this week's poll! Since it's Father's Day, I thought it would be appropriate to honor Nancy's father with a trivia question: What is Carson Drew's middle name?

To vote, scroll down to the bottom of the page. Even if you don't know the answer, go ahead and give it a try! You might surprise yourself! Thanks again for your great support and for taking the time to vote!! :D

Crossword puzzle answers!

Thanks everyone! I'm so glad you enjoyed the puzzle! Alex, Grace, Jewel, and scoutout14, you did an excellent job solving this!! You really know your Nancy Drew games trivia!! Here are the answers:

Across: [tape, reading, Frank and Joe Hardy, eleven, Monty, snowshoes, donut, Tubby, Mayan, quarter, Bob, purple rose]

Down: [hangman, I see you, Blackmoor Manor, five, Helena Berg, worms, crab]

I want to ask those of you who have been working the puzzles a few questions, which will help me design puzzles in the future.

1) Of the following Nancy Drew puzzles that I've posted in my blog, which types you would like to see me do again? Choose as many as you want:

Sudoku
Secret Message Puzzle
Scavenger Hunt
Spot the Difference Puzzle
Story Puzzle (How It Could Have Happened)
Crossword Puzzle

2) Do you enjoy puzzles based on the books, the games, or a mix of both?

Thanks for your input! I really appreciate it. I also have some ideas for new puzzles if I can figure out how to make it so you can easily post your answers (if that makes sense!). :D

A Nancy Drew crossword puzzle!

The following questions all come from the Her Interactive Nancy Drew computer games. Hint: There is one question for each of the 19 games in the Adventure series.

When you think you know the answers, feel free to post under "Comments." I'll wait to post them until Friday when I post the answers. Good luck and I hope you have fun!! :D

ACROSS
3 What does Harlan have all cued up?
4 What is Kyler Mallory doing when you aren't talking to her?
6 Who does Nancy see on the beach in Hawaii?
8 How many dolls did Camille have in her collection?
9 What is the name of the mechanical magician at the Royal Palladium Theater?
11 What does Lou Talbot not let you borrow?
12 What is the security guard eating in STFD?
13 What is the name of your employer in Titusville?
15 What kind of artifacts do you find in the museum in Washington DC?
16 What do you need to play the pinball machine in Maxine's Diner?
17 What is the name of the horse you ride at Shadow Ranch?
18 What is Marie Antoinette holding?

DOWN
1 What game does JJ like to play?
2 What does the picture say to you as you walk up the stairs in MHM?
5 Where does Nancy stay in England?
6 How many buzzard statues do you find in Bruno Bolet's garden?
7 Who does Nancy share a room with in Venice?
10 What does Nancy say "Ewww" about in Em's Emporium?
14 What is Nancy talking to when she says, "Fight the power little one" at Snake Horse Harbor?

What is the name of Nancy's cat?

It appears this one was a little trickier than I thought it would be! Here's how the voting turned out:

Snowball--5 votes
Watson--3 votes
Spunky, Twinkles, and Pepper--2 votes
Whiskers--1 vote

Five of you had it right! Congratulations!! In the original version of #17 The Mystery of the Brass Bound Trunk, Nancy is given a white Angora cat as a token of appreciation and names her Snowball. Unfortunately, she's never mentioned again in any of the other books.

For this week's poll, I thought it would be interesting to see where everyone thinks the next Nancy Drew computer game (ND21) will take place, since we don't know the name of the game or any details about it yet.

To vote in the poll, scroll down to the bottom of the page. Thanks so much for voting!! :D

Answer to the How It Could Have Happened puzzle

Great job Meatloafbandit, Grace, Debbie, and Jewel! You all came up with the correct answer of: [The Clue of the Black Keys]

I'm working on a special Nancy Drew crossword puzzle for next week's challenge! Thanks so much for your support and participation!! :D

Through the years with Nancy Drew

Next spring, Nancy Drew will be 80 years old, but you would sure never know it by looking at her! Amazingly, she has a way of staying a teenager forever and is always on the cutting edge of fashion. Even though her age doesn't reflect the number of years we've known her, Nancy's appearance has changed quite a bit through the course of time--hair color, hairstyle, and fashions.

I gathered together some of my favorite pictures of Nancy from the book covers and put them into a collage showing how she's changed from decade to decade. I hope you enjoy it!

Top Row: The Secret of the Old Clock #1, The Mystery of the Brass Bound Trunk #17, The Scarlet Slipper Mystery #32
Center Row: The Mystery of the Fire Dragon #38, The Clue in the Crossword Cipher #44, Mystery of the Glowing Eye #51
Bottom Row: The Phantom of Venice #78, The Treasure in the Royal Tower #128, Model Suspect (Girl Detective)

How It Could Have Happened (as told by Nancy Drew)

Instructions: Print the story and circle the key words found in the titles of the 56 Nancy Drew yellow hardback books. By doing this, you will discover the one book that is not mentioned in the story.

When you think you know the answer, feel free to post it under "Comments." I'll wait to post them until Friday when I post the answer. I hope you have fun with this!! :D

*•..•*•..•* •..•*•..•* •..•*•..•*•..•*•..•* •..•*•..•* •..•*•..•*•..•*•..•* •..•*•..•*

Looking back at how it all began, it was like one crazy summer of solving mystery after mystery, like I was stuck in a twilight zone gone terribly awry where I was forever 18, always seeking clues...

One morning, as I was driving home after delivering legal papers for my dad, I came to an old haunted bridge. At the end of it, was a fallen tree blocking my way. A message in the hollow oak told me to take a detour past Red Gate Farm and turn left when I spied a leaning chimney. I got lost looking for it, and stumbled upon a mystery involving a whispering statue wearing a broken locket and a velvet mask. The statue whispered to me about a secret involving Larkspur Lane and an old album.

I immediately headed right over and after I located the album, I found a picture of an old clock. However, I soon learned that a ringmaster stole it to cover up his secret. Soon after, I discovered a mysterious letter inside a jewel box in an old bungalow, but before I could read the letter, a mysterious mannequin and a wooden lady stole it.

On their tail, my roadster had a flat tire outside of Blackwood Hall where I found an old brass-bound trunk. Inside was a missing map with directions to Crocodile Island where I discovered the thirteenth pearl in the old attic of a moss-covered mansion. While wearing the necklace, I was double jinxed and tumbled down a crooked banister, falling 99 steps, in a hidden staircase. A mysterious potion in an ivory charm brought me back to life and I spied a sky phantom holding twisted candles. They illuminated an old diary which I tried to decipher.

It told about a hidden window at Lilac Inn on the shore of Mirror Bay. A strange message in a parchment and a crossword cipher located in the back of the book told me to find the glowing eye at Moonstone Castle which would reveal a clue in the crumbling wall.

I never found that place and instead went on a quest for the invisible intruder's scarlet slipper at Pine Hill. An adventure at the ski jump led to a clue inside a tolling bell which opened a secret entrance to a forgotten city on Shadow Ranch. There I solved the mystery of the fire dragon's dancing puppet who was whistling bagpipes. And in a dramatic flourish to end my adventure, wearing tapping heels and a spider sapphire necklace, I hopped on an old stagecoach that was parked by the witch tree and stopped at a golden pavilion before finally catching a haunted showboat and heading home.

So as every hard working girl detective would say, “All in a day’s work.”
--Based upon the original story by Jennifer Fisher

Last week's poll results and a trivia question!

It looks like with 7 votes, Pamela Sue Martin (from the 1970's Nancy Drew TV series) wins as your favorite actress to play Nancy Drew! Emma Roberts came in second with 4 votes, Bonita Granville, Tracy Ryan, and Maggie Lawson each received 1 vote and Janet Louise Johnson did not receive any votes.

This week's poll is another trivia question! I have a feeling this one won't stump some of you clever sleuths! :D

To find the poll, scroll down to the bottom of the page. Thanks so much for taking the time to vote!♥

Spot the difference answers!

Grace, Alex, Debbie, Jewel, and Aki-ki, you all did a really awesome job with this!! Here are the 12 differences, plus the bonus:

[Button on back of chair is missing
Picture on panel in mirror is missing
Nail clippers are missing
Clasp on purse is changed
Electrical cord is missing
Bobby pins have been added
Reflection of lights are missing
Lipstick has been changed
Pink heart added to compact
Drawer handle is missing
Light bulb is missing
Yellow can is missing]

And the bonus one is:
[Small lipstick in group is missing ]

I had so much fun making this puzzle! I'll be looking for other fun scenes like this in the games, and I hope to make a new spot the difference puzzle each month if I can. Thank you all so much for your participation!! :D

A Nancy Drew spot the difference puzzle!

Can you spot 12 differences in these pictures of Mattie Jensen's dressing room? Bonus: There is one more difference that is very, very tricky to spot! Can you find it, too? Feel free to submit your answers under "Comments" if you find them. I'll wait to post them until Saturday, along with the answers. I hope you enjoy this!! :D