Solvers are initially presented with a 10×10 grid of images.
Each image presents an actor in a prominent TV series. Solvers should identify each actor as well as the network (as clued by the use of that word in the puzzle’s title) which airs that TV series.
Doing so leaves solvers with the following 10×10 grid.
HBO Thandie Newton Westworld | HBO Nelsan Ellis True Blood | HBO Issa Rae Insecure | HBO Michael B. Jordan The Wire | HBO Justin Theroux The Leftovers | CBS David Krumholtz Numb3rs | CBS Lucille Ball I Love Lucy | CBS Johnny Galecki The Big Bang Theory | CW Emily Bett Rickards Arrow | CW Gina Rodriguez Jane the Virgin |
HBO Alfie Allen Game of Thrones | FOX Hugh Laurie House | FOX Alan Tudyk Firefly | FOX Wentworth Miller Prison Break | FOX David Boreanaz Bones | FOX Kiefer Sutherland 24 | CBS John Schneider The Dukes of Hazzard | CW Rachel Bloom Crazy Ex-Girlfriend | CW Ian Somerhalder The Vampire Diaries | CW David Anders iZombie |
HBO Kevin McKidd Rome | FOX Taraji P. Henson Empire | HBO Cynthia Nixon Sex and the City | FOX Zooey Deschanel New Girl | NBC Betty White Golden Girls | FOX Penny Johnson Jerald The Orville | CBS George Eads CSI | CW Blake Lively Gossip Girl | CW Cole Sprouse Riverdale | CW Jaime King Hart of Dixie |
HBO Ian McShane Deadwood | FOX Gabrielle Carteris Beverly Hills 90210 | HBO Steve Buscemi Boardwalk Empire | FOX Gillian Anderson The X-Files | NBC Charlotte Rae The Facts of Life | FOX Jim Carrey In Living Color | CBS Eddie Albert Green Acres | CW Maggie Q Nikita | CW Eliza Taylor The 100 | CW Kristin Kreuk Beauty and the Beast |
HBO Reese Witherspoon Big Little Lies | FOX Katey Sagal Married . . . With Children | HBO Adrian Grenier Entourage | USA Jessica Biel The Sinner | NBC Harry Morgan Dragnet | FOX Naya Rivera Glee | CBS Alyson Hannigan How I Met Your Mother | FX Eddie Izzard The Riches | FX Charlie Hunnam Sons of Anarchy | FX Sean Astin The Strain |
HBO Khandi Alexander Treme | HBO Michael Imperioli The Sopranos | HBO Christopher Meloni Oz | USA Timothy Omundson Psych | NBC Mariska Hargitay Law & Order: SVU | CBS Alan Alda M*A*S*H | CBS Tom Selleck Magnum PI | CBS Lucy Liu Elementary | FX Keri Russell The Americans | BBC Anthony Head Merlin |
USA Meghan Markle Suits | USA Ryan Phillippe Shooter | USA Mahershala Ali The 4400 | USA Anthony Michael Hall The Dead Zone | NBC Rainn Wilson The Office | NBC Justin Hartley This Is Us | NBC Barbara Eden I Dream of Jeannie | NBC Jennifer Aniston Friends | FX Elijah Wood Wilfred | BBC David Tennant Doctor Who |
USA Josh Holloway Colony | ABC Sandra Oh Grey’s Anatomy | ABC Evangeline Lilly Lost | USA Piper Perabo Covert Affairs | ABC Giancarlo Esposito Once Upon a Time | ABC Neil Patrick Harris Doogie Howser, M.D. | ABC Jay Silverheels The Lone Ranger | NBC D’Arcy Carden The Good Place | FX Timothy Olyphant Justified | BBC Ricky Gervais The Office |
USA Peta Wilson La Femme Nikita | USA Gabrielle Anwar Burn Notice | ABC Alfred Enoch How to Get Away With Murder | ABC Ed O’Neill Modern Family | ABC Adam West Batman | SYFY Colin Ferguson Eureka | ABC Ricardo Montalban Fantasy Island | BBC Idris Elba Luther | FX Michael Chiklis The Shield | BBC Benedict Cumberbatch Sherlock |
USA Matt Bomer White Collar | USA Rami Malek Mr. Robot | USA Ted Levine Monk | SYFY Olivia Taylor Dudley The Magicians | SYFY Edward James Olmos Battlestar Galactica | SYFY David Blue Stargate: Universe | SYFY Steven Strait The Expanse | BBC Gina Bellman Coupling | BBC John Cleese Fawlty Towers | BBC James Corden Gavin & Stacey |
Solvers should now realize this grid offers a Star Battle puzzle, where grid pieces are defined by the network that shows air on. This is clued by the title and, more subtly, by the flavor.
Solvers must place two stars on each grid piece, so that there are also two stars placed in each column and row, and no two stars are adjacent, even diagonally. They will notice an easter egg: three of the shapes spell out MIT.
HBO | HBO | HBO | HBO | HBO | CBS | CBS | CBS | CW | CW |
HBO | FOX | FOX | FOX | FOX | FOX | CBS | CW | CW | CW |
HBO | FOX | HBO | FOX | NBC | FOX | CBS | CW | CW | CW |
HBO | FOX | HBO | FOX | NBC | FOX | CBS | CW | CW | CW |
HBO | FOX | HBO | USA | NBC | FOX | CBS | FX | FX | FX |
HBO | HBO | HBO | USA | NBC | CBS | CBS | CBS | FX | BBC |
USA | USA | USA | USA | NBC | NBC | NBC | NBC | FX | BBC |
USA | ABC | ABC | USA | ABC | ABC | ABC | NBC | FX | BBC |
USA | USA | ABC | ABC | ABC | SYFY | ABC | BBC | FX | BBC |
USA | USA | USA | SYFY | SYFY | SYFY | SYFY | BBC | BBC | BBC |
To do so, stars should be placed on the squares with network names presented in bold.
To extract, solvers then read the actor surnames associated with the image in each of these starred squares. They should read these by column, ordered first by the top star in each column and then by the bottom star in each column (“seeing which stars are on top”).
Column | Top Star | Bottom Star | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | HBO | Alfie Allen | A | USA | Peta Wilson | W |
2 | FOX | Gabrielle Carteris | C | HBO | Michael Imperioli | I |
3 | FOX | Alan Tudyk | T | ABC | Evangeline Lilly | L |
4 | USA | Timothy Omundson | O | SYF | Olivia Taylor Dudley | D |
5 | NBC | Charlotte Rae | R | ABC | Giancarlo Esposito | E |
6 | CBS | David Krumholtz | K | SYF | David Blue | B |
7 | CBS | George Eads | E | NBC | Barbara Eden | E |
8 | FX | Eddie Izzard | I | BBC | Idris Elba | E |
9 | CW | Emily Bett Rickards | R | CW | Cole Sprouse | S |
10 | FX | Sean Astin | A | BBC | David Tennant | T |
Doing so offers the clue phrase ACTOR KEIRA WILDEBEEST, which corresponds to KNIGHTLEY GNUS.
As clued by the flavor (“is announced”), solvers should now apply a phonetic transformation to generate the apt final puzzle answer: NIGHTLY NEWS.