Sunday Puzzle is a regular weekly series. The puzzle party begins Sunday mornings at 9:30 am Eastern time / 6:30 am Pacific time, and you're invited.
But the puzzles in the Sunday Puzzle series can sometimes be a little intimidating to newcomers. So now there's also Sunday Puzzle for beginners to give new people an easy introduction. Sunday Puzzle for beginners posts Saturday evenings at 9:30 pm Eastern time / 6:30 pm Pacific time.
Each week SPfB features a new acrostic (or JulieCrostic, as we call them in Sunday Puzzle). This week's puzzle has 4 rows, with 3 answers per row. Here are the clues:
1. Houston, informally
2. Fills too tightly
3. Sides of a door
4. Finish
5. Bare
6. Improper
7. Line of adjacent seats in a theater
8. Threadbare
9. What Rush is a lot
10. Cover
11. What people on Fox did a lot this week
12. Food stores
For those who aren't familiar with JulieCrostics, there is a complete explanation of the rules right below the fold, along with the clues and answers to last week's puzzle.
BONUS: You'll also find instructions for how you can make lunatics out of the GOP.
Instructions for making lunatics out of the GOP coming up. First, though, here are the rules for JulieCrostics:
Read the clues provided below, then fill in words to match the clues in the appropriately numbered spaces in the diagram.
Each word in a row has all the letters of the previous word in that row, plus one new letter. Write the new letter in the space between the answers. For example, if the answers in a row were TREE, METER, and REMOTE you'd place an "M" in the box between TREE and METER and an "O" between METER and REMOTE.
When you have filled in all the spaces correctly, the columns formed by the added letters should spell out related words. It might be a person's name, such as CHARLES DICKENS (spelled out in two columns). It might be the title of a book or movie, such as GONEW ITHTH EWIND (spelled out in three columns). It might be almost anything. Your challenge is to figure out what the verticals say and what they mean.
As an example, here are the clues for last week's puzzle and the completed answer grid.
Clues:
1. Jargon
2. Spider-Man's is green
3. Throwing something in an arc
4. Tilting to one side and then the other, repeatedly
5. Highest point of a hill, a wave, or a rooster
6. Uncomfortable garment
7. People who accompany others to provide protection, guidance, or company
8. Items which protect tables
9. Wash with water
10. Prospectors
11. About 900 have been killed and about 9,000 wounded so far in the Iraq War
12. Religious school
Answers:
-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#
-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#
A Puzzle For Everyone: making the GOP into LUNATICS in 5 easy steps
Here's a puzzle that everyone who reads this diary -- no matter how late you come to it -- can solve and post the answer for. That's because there are many possible answers. So even though others may have come up with answers before you, you can still come up with an answer of your own -- and post it in the comments, to let others know you've been here.
The challenge is to construct a word ladder starting with GOP and ending with LUNATICS.
For each rung of the ladder, you must (a) change one of the letters from the previous rung to a different letter, (b) add a new letter, and (c) rearrange these letters to form a new word.
For example, to get from CAT to TIGER, you might go
CAT
GATE [C changes to G, an E is added]
TIGER [A changes to I, an R is added]
Or here's a longer example pucklady also provided:
How to get from CAT to ELEPHANT
CAT
MACE
CRANE
CANAPE
CHEAPEN
ELEPHANT
Got the idea? Then now it's your turn!
Start with GOP. For your first rung of the ladder, you can easily change that into PIGS, HOGS, DOGS, even POOP! Continue along for 4 more rungs so that the 8-letter word you create for the final rung is LUNATICS.
If you have any difficulty coming up with a ladder, you'll find help in the comment posted right below the tip jar.
Have fun! (And if you enjoyed the puzzles in this diary, please come join us in the regular Sunday Puzzle party Sunday morning.)