Something new today: Sunday Puzzle Workshop.
For the benefit of people who look in on the Sunday Puzzle diaries, are intrigued, but aren't quite sure how to solve the puzzles, I'm going to use today's diary to demonstrate how to solve the puzzles from last week. This is going to be a regular feature in coming weeks.
But wait! What about the people who show up expecting puzzles to solve? Fear not. There's a regular crossword, a cryptic crossword, plus several Crypto-Gremlins.
Here's Puzzle # 1: "Tasty Treat"
More new puzzles, plus demonstrations of how to solve last week's puzzles, below the fold.
Puzzle # 2: "Places to go..."
Here's a new Cryptic Crossword. I still don't know how to draw in black bars where words end, so I guess you'll have to do that for yourselves. Should be easy enough to figure out where the bars go, though; there are seven 5-letter words, two 3-letter words, two 2-letter words, and one 4-letter word.
(If you aren't sure how to do cryptics, here are some instructions on how to solve the clues.)
Clues Across
- I'm back, with a New England variety of lobster.
- Some politicians think this should come first, and some don't, but it's clear that Cuomo had it backwards.
- This place is less than 5% Black and less than 3% Asian, but it looks all-inclusive.
- This is not the same as the UN.
- Activist Russell is an instrument.
- The British, for example, but it is the French which really show it.
Clues Down:
- One is in Michigan, but this is also found in Arizona, California, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, and of course Florida.
- Dazes, confuses, and gouges.
- Don't come to me for legal advice, but if you look back I can show you a veranda.
- One's neighbor is a little bit inhibited.
- One's out for a long time.
- Word from above: this is particular.
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Puzzle # 3: Crypto-Gremlins.
Do you like to do cryptograms? I do. But nowadays there are online programs which can solve ordinary cryptograms in the blink of an eye.
So I've created a new kind of cryptogram, which is easy for a person to solve through logic and creative thinking but which is (I believe) beyond the capability of any current cryptogram-solving program.
Here's what's different. Each word begins with a consonant and ends with a vowel. If the word already begins with a consonant and ends with a vowel -- such as THE, TO, and BEFORE -- then no change will be made to the word. But if the word begins with a vowel, then a consonant (of my choice) will be added to the front; and if the word ends with a consonant, then a vowel (of my choice) will be added to the end of the word.
Take, for instance, the sentence There is one Dog. The word there begins with a consonant and ends with a vowel, so it would be unchanged. But one begins with a vowel, so I need to add a consonant to the beginning; Dog ends with a consonant, so I need to add a vowel to the end; and is both starts with a vowel and ends with a consonant, so it needs a consonant added to the start and a vowel added to the finish. Before I do the letter substitution, then, I might change the sentence to read THERE FISU GONE DOGY.
So if the letter substitution were to move each letter one letter ahead in the alphabet -- A becomes B, B becomes C, C becomes D, etc. -- then a normal cryptogram of THERE IS ONE DOG would be UIFSF JT POF EPH, but a Crypto-Gremlin of it might be UIFSF GJTV HPOF EPHZ.
These are easier than they look! If you have trouble with them, come on down a little farther in the diary for the puzzle-solving workshop where I'll be demonstrating how the Crypto-Gremlins posted last week could have been solved.
CG-1:
Monan'un ex ugftnal jdaed knynal rpegmn. (Mopup opud udqmnen axmmapjgmnin md Bn. Mn. Jxaegrn, jgmg sxug jxfmgxzzl uxpin jl Ixypin Oxeegrx.)
CG-2:
Puck ducu fgh guests ahpth qucak nunlsth ruc'es ns bummu nuah. (Tulas nk Msh Ohtescl, astrolnlcpl Fl. Rl. Blsmats.)
CG-3:
Bickengng xthat beg jionung stig ktag uc mg micwght. (Dcqught kentuuiemougar uc Dghehg, fxc ftnr zocuehvg Pchtuxthg Nfeque, fxc ftnr zocuehvg ptht dcdat Mghvdenxg jdejxg.)
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And now, let's look at last week's puzzles and how they could be solved. The Ana-Gremlins, Acrostic, and Cryptic Crossword were all solved correctly in the comments. The Regular Crossword was almost solved, but several answers were incorrect. And none of the Crypto-Gremlins were solved in the comments, but science has solved the first one and will be posting the answer, along with a demonstration of how he cracked it, in the comments section today.
As is often the case in these Sunday Puzzle diaries, there was a common theme to the puzzles last week. Some puzzles were quite easy to figure out even without knowing the theme. Other puzzles were harder, but once one figured out the common theme one could use that as an aid in solving.
Let's start with Puzzle # 5 from last week, the Ana-Gremlins. Science solved this handily, and provided a good explanation in the comments of how he got the solution.
Workshop Demo # 1: Solving an Ana-Gremlins puzzle
Here is the puzzle:
- OUGHT
- FRY
- AWE
- ID
- ARM
- WAS
- ALE
And here is the explanation of how to solve it:
spoiler ANAGREMLIN
Rather than just give the answer, here's the argument. The first word is "tough", and since ough has so many different sounds in English, it is probably the t that needs to be replaced. Since it's first in the list, it is probably either bough, cough or dough (all of which sound different). Trying each, dough seems clear, since we all know what famous sequence starts with DO.
That immediately gives
DO, RE, MI, FA, SO, LA, TI
which alphabetically is
DO, FA, LA, MI, RE, SO, TI, which homophones to
Dough, Far, Law, Mi, Ray, Sew, Tea
Note that Mi is not homophoned, but there is one (ME).
by science on Sun Oct 04, 2009 at 03:10:43 PM CDT
In the introduction to the puzzle, I wrote: "I've used homophones for all the items except one. Four of the homophones are perfect (i.e. the word I used sounds exactly like the word it replaces); two are slightly imperfect. Interestingly, there was a perfect homophone for the one word I left alone. There's a reason why I left that one alone, which should become obvious when you've solved some of the others of today's puzzles (or which should help you solve some of the others if the reason is already obvious to you)."
As science noted, the item which was not homophoned, but for which a perfect homophone existed which I could have used, is MI. So we now know that there is some special significance to MI which will be helpful in solving the other puzzles.
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Workshop Demo # 2: Solving an Acrostic puzzle
Here was the puzzle:
- Kind of bookstore.
- Puzzled over.
- Totalled.
- Mahoney and McCarthy.
- Asses.
- Nasty.
- Kind of job.
- Consumer price and cost of living.
- Certain octopi.
- Man who was told to come back.
- Lacking a beard.
- Often said to be good.
This was a fairly easy acrostic. OldPhart quickly figured out that:
- Kind of bookstore = USED;
- Puzzled over = MUSED; and
- Totalled = SUMMED.
It didn't take long for OldPhart to realize that Jerry Mahoney and Charlie McCarthy were ventriloquist's DUMMIES. That cracked the first row, and established that there were 3 rows, 4 columns, and word lenghts 4-5-6-7.
Fordian analyst then figured out that
- Asses = ENDS;
- Nasty = SNIDE;
- Kind of job = INSIDE; AND
- Consumer price and cost of living = INDICES.
And a few minutes laster Fordian analyst posted the answers to the final row:
- Certain octopi = HENS [the female ones]
- Man who was told to come back = SHANE;
- Lacking a beard = SHAVEN; and
- Often said to be good = HEAVENS ["Good heavens!"]
Here is the completed grid for the answers, revealing that the verticals are MIA, MIV, and ICE ("Miami Vice")
Note that the first two verticals [MIA and MIV) begin with the letters MI.
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Workshop Demo # 3: Solving a Cryptic Crossword
CLUES ACROSS:
- "Less than an ape!" she is often screaming.
- Very keen to see a short film.
- I repeat: this looks like one, but doesn't sound like it
- This might be dead, but it's in the water.
CLUES DOWN:
- Sounds like Lazarus' woman is back, again.
- I've said there's no help for a once-blacklisted singer.
- I'm in the Middle East, so perhaps I should keep my mouth shut.
- I state a belief.
Each clue has two indications of the correct answer. One is a fairly straightforward definition of the answer; the other is some more devious way of obtaining it. I'll show the straightforward way first, with an equals sign, and show the more devious way second, using arrows.
1. "Less than an ape!" she is often screaming.
- she is often screaming = MIMI (screaming mimi)
- less than an ape:
ape => MIMIC;
one letter less than MIMIC => MIMI
5. Very keen to see a short film.
- Very keen = AVID
- to see a short film:
a => A
short film => VID
in the word AVID, you can see A + VID
6. I repeat: this looks like one, but doesn't sound like it
- this looks like one, but doesn't sound like it = MEME
The word MEME looks like it should be pronounced the same as MIMI, the answer to clue one; but actually, while MIMI is pronounced me, me, MEME is pronounced mem.
- I repeat
I => ME
I repeat => ME ME
7. This might be dead, but it's in the water.
it's in the water = ASEA
This might be dead: The Dead Sea is an example of A SEA.
1. Sounds like Lazarus' woman is back, again.
- Sounds like Lazarus' woman = MAMA
For close to 40 years, Mel Lazarus has done a syndicated comic strip titled "Momma" -- which sounds like MAMA.
- is back, again
is => AM
is back => MA
is back, again => MA + MA
2. I've said there's no help for a once-blacklisted singer.
- a once-blacklisted singer = (Burl) IVES.
- I've said there's no help
I've said => IVESAID
help => AID, so no help => subtract the letters AID
IVESAID - AID => IVES
3. I'm in the Middle East, so perhaps I should keep my mouth shut.
I should keep my mouth shut = MIME
I'm in the Middle East
I'm => IM
Middle East => ME
IM in ME => MIME
4. I state a belief.
- belief = IDEA
- I state a
I => I
state => DE (the state of Delaware)
a => A
I state a => I + DE + A
Looking at the completed puzzle, the answers include the word MIMI, MAMA, MEME, and MIME. At first glance, one might think the significance of this is the M_M_ patterns. But from the Ana-Gremlin, we know that the real significance is the repeated use of the letters MI.
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Workshop Demo # 4: solving the regular crossword.
Banjolele solved most of this. Unfortunately I wasn't reading the thread as closely as I should have been last week, and didn't spot until too late that a few answers were incorrect. Here's how it should look:
Clues Across:
- Cover charge = MINIMUM
- Wrath = IRE
- Credited with early "homicide bombing" = ARI
(ARI Fleischer was one of the first people to use the term "homicide bombing", which is right-wing PC-speak for what previously had been referred to as suicide bombings.)
- Shermer publication = SKEPTIC
(Michael Shermer is the founding publisher of Skeptic magazine.)
- Play often precedes this = DOH
(This is a reference to the child’s toy Play-Doh.)
- Dominate = ECLIPSE
- What sometimes comes after E = ESE
(On a compass rose, ESE is the point after E.)
- Famous Lopez. = RUY
(Ruy Lopez was a famous chess player)
- Shape badly = MISFORM
Clues Down:
- Judge incorrectly = MISDEEM
- Annoy = IRK
- Annoys = NEEDLES
- Someone who is good with numbers = MATH PRO
- Self-proclaimed mystifier, informally = URI
(Uri Geller, who used to pretend to have paranormal powers, now refers to himself simply as a "mystifier".)
- Yankee or mouse = (Mickey M. can stand for either Mickey Mantle or Mickey Mouse.)
- Fermented food = POI
- New York, Miami, or Las Vegas = CSI
(This is a reference to the various CSI tv shows.)
- Big out west = SUR
(This is a reference to Big Sur, out in California.)
Looking at the completed diagram, all of the edge words begin with the letters MI.
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Which brings us, finally, to Workshop Demo # 5: Crypto-Gremlins. These are the puzzles I am most interested in demonstrating how to solve this week, and I apologize for how long it has taken me to get to them.
Science will be posting the solution to Crypto-Gremlin # 1, so let me start with
Crypto-Gremlin # 2:
Snoopy tray sncz utygn qkley mekror sngon srgoy greeku urnchy myangy hk btrgay vprbycr.
NOTE: Yow! That was a pain to try to post. I had typed it up off-line, and planned to simply paste it into the diary -- but the stuff underlying DKos made a mess of it, so I had to convert it to a picture, post it on flickr, and then put it in the diary. Hope it displays okay now...
I'm already more than an hour late this morning, so I'm going to post this now and keep working on typing up the demonstrations Crypto-Gremlins 4, 5 and 3. It will probably be an hour between this and CG-4 going up, then another hour until CG-5, and another hour before CG-3. Apologies; as you may have gathered, I'm not the most organized person these days.
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Oops. Misplaced my notes on CG-4, so I’m going do skip ahead to CG-5.
Crypto-Gremlin # 5
Number calbmb panzisr, hyjb panzisr gabmb sajy ebpuzeapijb. (Kijjeuhyjbga ja kiggumasr nutsber.)