Welcome once again to Sunday Puzzle!
It's Superbowl Sunday this weekend, so instead of the potluck puzzle party we usually hold the first Sunday of the month we're postponing that until next Sunday.
Since some of the Sunday Puzzle regulars will be otherwise occupied this evening, I was planning to come up with a fairly simple puzzle for tonight which people could work on at their leisure. But I was delighted to learn mid-week that I wouldn't need to! The puzzle gremlins, bless their little hearts, volunteered to provide tonight's feature puzzle. They said they'd come up with something relevant to the occasion and promised that it wouldn't be too tricky or difficult.
In addition to the gremlins' JulieCrostic, tonight's diary also includes a new Crypto-Gremlin you can solve whenever you're in the mood and a mystery puzzle you can work on at your leisure during the week. (Plus there's still one unsolved clue from last week's puzzle.)
I know some of you will be glued to the screen tonight, watching the premiere of many new commercials. But when you get restless or bored during the time between commercials, come on down and play with the puzzles.
First up, here's the unsolved clue from last week's puzzle:
12. I see blind man's heart
Since the rest of the puzzle has been solved, you know that the letters to the answer are A D E I H S T . All you need to do is figure out what order they go in ...
Second, here's a new Crypto-Gremlin. (Anyone unfamiliar with how Crypto-Gremlins work can find complete instructions here.
Kinsp duel must inxhlst Strp Boljn, Ongrh Qnlzu, Aubitzt Xnbianggp, Estdt Vugfh, Olein Zuaxnlfi, Fztggn Xtbvh, Chwt Gtket, Otugbt Qoutxleh, bnzzel chop quaqtnbiatgsh, bnzzel chop glzzucubnsuhgu, sithouten inxhlst Xtgfinju!, bnzzel chop etbteeuhgn wngrl bnzzel chop eilssugft rhkgh sit kihzt fhdtogatgsn ztesh rlzp qneetrn znkep dhcl sit Lgustrh Esnsten xnbslnzzp ftsh etwtblstrh xougfel sitet glsmhxeu ihlst dhcl sit khhrkhovp wngrl ougsh sit Otqlxzubngt Qnosp?
Must fuel on apestop.
This may look like it would be hard to solve because of all the capitalized words, but this is actually pretty easy. I'd say 5 minutes should be par for solving time, especially if you visit this site to use their handy letter-substitution too.
Suggestion: when you've solved this, instead of posting the decrypted text post
- [first solver] the encrypted username of the person who said it (using same letter substitutions) as the Crypto-Gremlin
- [second solver] the date they said it
- [third solver] the encrypted title of the diary in which they said it (using same letter substitutions as the Crypto-Gremlin)
Past that point, feel free to make up your own hint at the solution or to post the solution.
Next, here's tonight's JulieCrostic, courtesy of the gremlins.
1. dead follower
2. black hog
3. a furniture 1
4. erogenous protusions
5. MI6
6. in, out and up
7. angry states
8. cons
9. type of con
10. often associated with needle
11. protuberances
12. soaking wet
13. heroic red man
14. simple dwellings
15. GOP poll watchers, frequently
16. what began 5147 days ago
17. stunt or front
18. complain
19. fancy dwelling
20. gypsies
21. talk show host who almost died after consuming product he endorsed and sold
Even though the gremlins promised to be on good behavior, it would still probably be wise:
(a) not to trust the clue capitalization;
(b) not to trust the clue punctuation;
(c) not to trust the way the clues are grouped (the gremlins like to put the clues into tidy little bunches of three regardless of how many answers there actually are in a row);
(d) and just to be safe, you might want to be a little wary of word spacing as well.
Lastly, here's a mystery puzzle you can ponder on during the week. The nine entries are in alphabetical order and share a common theme.
1. garnetS
2-a. steven Aurd
2-b. cat or tart
2-c. bells of dew
2-d. tube rut
2-e. sTeal
3-a. pןɹan
3-b. parɹadɹise
3-c. ɹɹɹɹɹɹɹɹɹɹɹɹɹɹ
Vermonter
If no one solves this puzzle before next weekend I'll contribute it (along with some helpful hints which should make solving easier) to next weekend's potluck.