Hello, and welcome to ...
Sunday Puzzle Warm-up is a companion to the regular Sunday Puzzle series. The aim is to introduce people to the kind of puzzles featured in the regular Sunday Puzzle diaries and to provide introductory-level puzzles for folks to practice on.
Just below the DK squiggle you'll find a new 15-clue JulieCrostic, complete instructions for solving this kind of acrostic, and the answers to last week's puzzle.
If you'd like to solve tonight's puzzle on your own, set comments to shrink or to hide so you won't see what others have said. If you'd like to be part of the solving team, set comments to expand so you can see what other people are saying.
And if you enjoy this warm-up puzzle, please drop by tomorrow morning (9:30 am Eastern time) for the regular Sunday Puzzle diary.
If you're familiar with JulieCrostics, jump right in. If you're not, an explanation of how these puzzles work (plus an example of a completed puzzle) is included a little lower down the page.
1. hurries
2. ladder parts
3. freed from jail
4. the target of 2006 racist "Call me" ad
5. famous hobbit
6. worked on the top of a house
7. wealthy
8. church singers
9. noble
10. chair
11. goes out with
12. trainees
13. famous fiddler
14. old Scandinavian
15. birds with long legs, necks, and bills
1. _ _ _ _ [ ] 2. _ _ _ _ _ [ ] 3. _ _ _ _ _ _
4. _ _ _ _ [ ] 5. _ _ _ _ _ [ ] 6. _ _ _ _ _ _
7. _ _ _ _ [ ] 6. _ _ _ _ _ [ ] 9. _ _ _ _ _ _
10. _ _ _ _ [ ] 11. _ _ _ _ _ [ ] 12. _ _ _ _ _ _
13. _ _ _ _ [ ] 14. _ _ _ _ _ [ ] 15. _ _ _ _ _ _
how to solve JulieCrostics
Read the clues provided, then fill in answers 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 CRAG, CARGO and COUGAR, you'd place an "O" in the space between CRAG and CARGO, a "U" in the space between CARGO and COUGAR.
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.
last week's puzzle
I. clues for last week's puzzle:
1. hurried
2. precipitation
3. smart person
4. droop
5. what every diary must have
6. loose-fitting garments
7. animal doctor
8. authorize
9. kitchen appliance
10. Newt Gingrich: "... Apparently if the president sends out Christmas cards, they are paid for by the Democratic or Republican National Committees because no federal official at any level is currently allowed to say ‘Merry Christmas'."
11. Kazan
12. identical
II. answers for last week's puzzle:
1. ran I 2. rain B 3. brain
4. sag T 5. tags O 6. togas
7. vet S 8. vest O 9. stove
10. lie A 11. Elia K 12. alike
The verticals read ITSA BOOK. Spaced out correctly, and with an apostrophe added, they spell out it's a book. That was a hint to the solution to the Sunday morning puzzle, which spotlighted an interesting recent book titled "Godless for God's Sake".