Round 1 Puzzle: Making Connections

by Matt Jones

The answer is DEBTOR, and the bigram is PI.

DEB/TOR is found by taking the first names of the 2 actors at the extremes of the chart, A and VVV.

If you look throughout the puzzle, there are also 3 instances of PI: The movie "Pi" (#6), the TV show "Magnum, P.I." (#17) and a series of words hidden in the last set of movie/TV titles (#59 to #65). Namely, these show "3.14159," or, as it appears in the titles, "3 / Point / One / IV / One / Five / 9."

Here are the titles and people, listed below.

1. Forget Paris
2. Mr. Saturday Night
3. "Step By Step"
4. The Paper
5. Happy Accidents
6. Pi
7. Office Space
8. The Hunger
9. The Elephant Man
10. The Tall Guy
11. The Tony Blair Witch Project
12. Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey
13. "Roswell"
14. Faithless
15. "The Specialists"
16. "Bunco"
17. "Magnum, P.I."
18. "The Waltons"
19. "The X-Files"
20. "(Celebrity) Jeopardy!"
21. Cujo
22. "G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero"
23. Way of a Gaucho
24. "The Andy Griffith Show"
25. "Make Room For Daddy" ("The Danny Thomas Show")
26. In the Spirit
27. Boyz N the Hood
28. Vampire in Brooklyn
29. 48 Hrs.
30. The Tic Code
31. "Taxi"
32. "Will & Grace"
33. "Martin and Lewis"
34. Basic Instinct
35. Hollow Man
36. "Monty"
37. "Happy Days"
38. "MarriedWith Children"
39. "Goddess of Love"
40. Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult
41. "Circus of the Stars (and Sideshow)"
42. One Day in September
43. Clear and Present Danger
44. "NYPD Blue"
45. "Marcus Welby, M.D."
46. "Bewitched"
47. The Cable Guy
48. Wayne's World
49. Freaky Friday
50. Roger & Me
51. "Card Sharks"
52. "The Fall Guy"
53. Norma Rae
54. "Best Actress"
55. Lucky Jordan
56. "The Anna Nicole Show"
57. "MTV Video Music Awards"
58. Cyborg
59. Cyborg 3: The Recycler
60. Point Doom
61. Table One
62. Rocky IV
63. "One Life to Live"
64. Went to Coney Island on a Mission From GodBe Back by Five
65. Plan 9 from Outer Space


A. Deb Lacusta
B. Billy Crystal
C. Josh Byrne
D. Jason Robards, Sr.
E. Jason Robards, Jr.
F. Marisa Tomei
G. Sean Gullette
H. Ajay Naidu
I. David Herman
J. Michael Bolton
K. David Bowie
L. Rowan Atkinson
M. Tony Blair
N. William Sadler
O. Dido
P. Tallulah Bankhead
Q. Harry Townes
R. Robert Urich
S. Tom Selleck
T. Michael Learned
U. Peter Donat
V. David Duchovny
W. Stephen King
X. Dee Wallace-Stone
Y. Don Johnson
Z. Everett Sloane
AA. Danny Thomas
BB. Marlo Thomas
CC. Angela Bassett
DD. Eddie Murphy
EE. Gregory Hines
FF. Carol Kane
GG. Cher
HH. Sean Hayes
II. Jerry Lewis
JJ. Jeanne Tripplehorn
KK. Paul Veerhoven
LL. Joey Slotnick
MM. David Schwimmer
NN. Henry Winkler
OO. Ted McGinley
PP. Amanda Bearse
QQ. Vanna White
RR. "Weird Al" Yankovic
SS. Delta Burke
TT. Catherine Zeta-Jones
UU. Michael Douglas
VV. Jim McKay
WW. Tom Clancy
XX. Willem Dafoe
YY. Kasey Rogers
ZZ. David White
AAA. Jim Carrey
BBB. Tabitha Soren
CCC. Soren Kierkegaard
DDD. Dick Van Patten
EEE. Sandra Bernhard
FFF. Bob Eubanks
GGG. Markie Post
HHH. Sally Field
III. Jordan Ladd
JJJ. Alan Ladd
KKK. John Harmon
LLL. Enid Blyton
MMM. Anna Nicole Smith
NNN. Howard (K.) Stern
OOO. Jean-Claude Van Damme
PPP. Zach Galligan
QQQ. Andrew "Dice" Clay
RRR. Burt Young
SSS. James "Cannonball" Green
TTT. Patricia Mauceri
UUU. Jon Cryer
VVV. Tor Johnson

Other facts along the way: