Welcome to Sunday Puzzle, a weekly series for people who enjoy light mental exercise spiced with politics, humor, and odd bits of trivia.
The theme this month over in our companion series, Sunday Puzzle Warm-Up, is good quotes. So far the quotes have all been related to torture.
Last weekend's quote (as deciphered by JoeXM) was:
"The fact is, torture is for sadists and for thugs. It's like getting groceries with a flame thrower. It doesn't work, and it makes a mess."
And yesterday night's quote (again deciphered by JoeXM) was
"You are to take charge of two hundred and eleven privates of the British Army... Treat them with humanity, and let them have no reason to complain of our copying the brutal example of the British Army in their treatment of our unfortunate brethren."
Next week's Warm-Up diary (if all goes according to plan) will feature two quotes. So if any of you want to solve one before JoeXM does, you've got twice as much chance next week.
Meanwhile, what's on tap for tonight? Well there's one way to find out...
On tap tonight: a brand-new JulieCrostic.
JulieCrostics are a special kind of acrostic puzzle, named in honor of Julie Waters who started the Sunday Puzzle series here 7 years ago. If you're not familiar with how JulieCrostics work you can find a detailed explanation in last night's Sunday Puzzle Warm-Up.
If you're new you should be warned that we have some mischievous gremlins who like to tamper with the Sunday night puzzle clues. In particular you should keep in mind:
* you can't trust the clue capitalization;
* you can't trust the clue punctuation;
* sometimes you can't even trust the word spacing.
The gremlins also like bundling the clues into tidy little groups of 3, regardless of how many answers there actually are per row. If the number of clues doesn't divide evenly by 3, they add a space-filler clue or two at the end to fill out the final bundle.
A small request: please don't put any any spoilers in the comment subject lines. Use the subject line of comments to identify what your comment will be about but keep any guesses as to clue answers or the verticals confined to the comment itself. That way folks who are still trying to crack a clue for themselves won't inadvertently see the answer before they're ready to see it. Thanks!
Okay, I think that covers the basics. Here are the clues for tonight's puzzle. Have fun and I'll see you in comments!
1. claim
2. women who love women
3. descriptive of Rush Limbaugh, with or without first letter
4. Caesar
5. French fries, perhaps
6. drew back
7. high places
8. Arkansas' cotton riddle
9. leaves out
10. cartoon Goose
11. what Trump and Travolta have in common [HINT: something they wear]
12. steps
13. boy
14. holiday beverages nobody likes
15. fire alarms
16. WRL magazine
17. kind of bottle used in recent assault
18. useful for wrapping packages
19. seventeen might be
20. irresistible fate
21. long-winded
22. free
23. loot
24. leech