I'm guest-hosting the Sunday Puzzle thread this week, while Julie is off birding.
The main puzzle this week is an acrostic, but I've also included a smattering of additional puzzles in case the acrostic is too easy.
To get you in the mood, here's your first puzzle. I'll warn you in advance, though: this one's a toughie!
PUZZLE # 1: Mystery Image!
Who is this woman -- and where did this image originally appear?
? ? ?
More puzzles to ponder, right below the fold!
PUZZLE # 2: Catch Phrase!
You've probably seen this kind of puzzle before, by a variety of different names. Over at JREF we call them Catch Phrase puzzles. Basically, the idea is to take some familiar phrase and represent the words (or letters of the words) pictorially. For instance:
EXAMPLE # 1: oholene
As a very simple example, I might represent the phrase "hole in one" as oholene.
Here's a slightly more challenging example:
EXAMPLE # 2: Malecowaliens
w...a...y
(The answer to this second example can be found in the thread below, in my first comment.)
Got the idea? Good! Then here are your first 5 Catch Phrase puzzles. (I hope to provide more in future weeks, especially once I learn how to use different colors, fonts, and sizes.)
#1: eht keche
(The answer is a 4-word phrase; the exact phrase turns up close to a million hits on Google.)
#2: of the
ne
(The answer is a 4-word phrase; the exact phrase turns up close to 4 million hits on Google.)
#3: h=Thatcher -on
(The answer is a 2-word phrase; the exact phrase turns up close to 4 million hits on Google.)
#4: Schuylkill Expressway
mon
(The answer is a 3-word phrase; the exact phrase turns up about a quarter million hits on Google.)
#5: dlb aeye
(The answer is a 4-word phrase; the exact phrase turns up more than a million hits on Google.)
.
And now for the moment you've all been waiting for:
PUZZLE # 3: this week's Acrostic!
I haven't mastered formatting yet, so I'm going to save the puzzle which I had originally planned to post today for a later date and am putting up instead a new one I devised this week (which should display better than the one I was going to post).
Rather than attempt to post the instructions and make a mess of things, I'll just link to last week's Sunday Puzzle diary. Anyone who isn't familiar with Julie's rules for acrostics can read them there.
I'll also just list the clues in order, the way Julie did last week, rather than try to put them in chart form. My clues tend to run a bit long, and when I try to fit several on a line I get a messy overflow. (But I did group the clues into bunches of three for you folks, to make the list look a little bit neater and easier to read.)
This is a pretty easy puzzle, to soften people up for later to let people get used to my cluing style. So, in order to present at least a little challenge, I have (like Stix and Julie, in recent weeks) omitted to mention whether the pattern is 4-5-6, 5-6-7, or other.
When I've been on the other side of the table, attempting to solve the puzzle, I've found it helpful guessing at (and, eventually, solving) the vertical words in order get help in solving the horizontal words. Therefore I think it's only fair to tell you that I had to anagram one of the verticals. I won't specify which one, but I will tell you it's a pretty easy anagram to unscramble. Just take the letter in the second row and move it to the top of the column, take the letter in the fourth row and move it to the bottom of the column, and then read the column upward. (Julie or Okie or Stix could probably have done this puzzle without needing to anagram one of the verticals, but please remember I'm new here.)
I think that all the words I have used -- horizontal as well as vertical -- are familiar and easily recognizable; you shouldn't need to refer to a dictionary to solve this puzzle. There are no bailies here! (You may need to Google for a few of the answers, though, depending on your degree of cultural literacy.)
I was tempted to do the rows for this puzzle in reverse order -- from longest to shortest -- not so much to trick you people (surely you don't think I would try to do that!) but simply because clues 19, 20, and 21 would read so much better in the reverse order. (Try it yourselves and see. You don't need to solve them first -- it's the clue sequence I'm referring to, not the answers.) Needless to say, I restrained myself.
I had fun creating this puzzle, and hope y'all have a good time solving it. But since Julie is off birding and won't be able to take active part in solving this puzzle today, good manners suggest that you pretend to have trouble solving the puzzle and leave a good portion of it to solve tomorrow when Julie is back. If people want to do that, it's okay with me. I'll understand you're only doing it as a matter of courtesy, and will try to refrain from insulting you by posting unneeded hints.
And now, without further ado: the clues for this weeks' acrostic puzzle!
(1) Dole concern
(2) Holiday time
(3) Triumphed with ease
(4) Adornment, often seen on cars and trucks
(5) Quieted
(6) Held tightly
(7) Thanks
(8) Ass, sometimes?
(9) First-rate, to some
(10) A major part of the traditional media
(11) Angel's partner
(12) Important step in many recipes
(13) Something George Bush has and Barack Obama lacks?
(14) Dead or high
(15) Sweet frozen sugar
(16) Controversial producer
(17) Taste
(18) Drug containers
(19) Vista, for instance
(20) Total crap
(21) Plain old crap
(22) John B.
(23) 1960s spy mission?
(24) Play once and only once
(25) Short form for popular Wolfman series
(26) It was called offensive at the time
(27) Head
(28) Principle
(29) Tie score?
(30) International understanding