I will be doing a shortened version of puzzle blogging for today, featuring a single puzzle: an acrostic that I developed this week. I will do a more thorough version of the puzzle blogging on New Year's Day, but for now, this is all I have time to complete. Of course, I will start all my puzzles with a photograph of some sort. I don't have any new photos today (long weekend, long story).
I'd hoped to capture a red-bellied woodpecker, but had no luck with it whatsoever, so maybe another time.
So instead, this is a photo from October, of a Savannah Sparrow at Parker River Wildlife Refuge on Plum Island, MA:
The acrostic is below the fold.
The usual rules apply: please do not post spoilers in the comments. Instead, place such statements as "POSSIBLE SPOILER" or "PUZZLE HINT" in the subjects so those who don't want to be spoiled can continue to work on their own.
Below is the grid for an acrostic:
Clicking on the acrostic will get you a larger sized (800x400) version of the same puzzle grid.
The rules for an acrostic are simple: for each row, the answer is a word of increasing length, such as a five-letter word, a six-letter word and a seven-letter word. Each next size word is formed by adding a letter to the previous letter word and scrambling.
In the box in-between each word, put the extra letter. I.e., if your answers were:
ITEMS, MISTER and RED MIST
You'd place an "R" in the box between ITEMS and MISTER and a "D" between MISTER and RED MIST.
When you solve the whole puzzle, you will get two related words in the down columns.
The clues for this acrostic are as follows:
- Foreign.
- Dull and unoriginal
- The opposite of #3
- Attacks, as with rotten fruit
- Powdered pigment crayon
- Drive and beat
- Out of the way
- Aloft
- Fish food.
- First sign of the zodiac
- Ridicule
- Across
- Wreck
- Of poor quality
- Where you place your butt.
- With savage or destructive qualities
- Accent
- Flourish
- Freedom, honor or science, e.g.
- Covered with metal rings
- To the tenth.
- Fasten
- Exert
- Unruly
- Eastern Red Cedar
- Fade
- Disreputable
- Pride
- Introduction
- One whose works are #5
- Emerge
- #25, in another word
- When hopes #28.
I hope y'all enjoy this puzzle. I will have more in a couple days.