Hello, warmer-uppers! This diary will post Saturday evening, but I'm writing and queuing it up Wednesday morning because I'll be catching a bus back from California to Tennessee tonight, getting off the bus Friday afternoon to share a ride to Nashville in order to attend an all-day SOCM board-meeting in Lebanon TN on Saturday -- and then after the board meeting getting a ride to Cookeville to catch the tail end of a musical event (to benefit SOCM and Tennesseeans for Fair Taxation).
If all goes according to plan, I should be able to get a ride the rest of the way home from the musicale. So there's a good chance I'll be home in time to take part in the comments section. But there's also a good chance I won't get home in time. I don't expect to be able to update this diary between now and when it posts, which puts me in something of a time warp.
For the past few weeks Sunday Puzzle and Sunday Puzzle Warm-Up have featured the Julie Waters Memorial Puzzle Challenge -- a challenge which Julie herself created 10 years ago, and which no one (yet!) has successfully completed. In Julie's honor, we're going to be the first to do so.
As I type this we're on the home stretches of Phase II. I'd like to include whatever puzzles we're currently on in this diary, but I expect that by the time this diary posts those will be old news.
There's a chance I'll have computer access briefly Friday evening, and if so I'll check in to see what progress has been made while I was in transit. I probably won't have time to post any additional puzzles, though, so tonight's Sunday Puzzle Warm-Up will likely consist simply of the JulieCrostic I'm about to type in. But you never know; if, somehow, I do get home in time I'll try to add a little more.
So if you're in the mood for a little puzzle fun, jump down below the nurple...
UPDATE: I'm home, my computer is up and running, and there's an hour left until post time, so I'm about to add one of the JulieChallenge puzzles to this diary. We have finished five of the seven Phase II tracks -- crosswords, math, trivia, cryptograms, and music -- and are close to finishing the logic puzzle track. Then there's the mystery huh? track, and once we complete that we'll be into Phase III, the final part of the challenge!
Here's a quick little JulieCrostic for the Warm-Up Puzzlers.
(If you've never seen or done a JulieCrostic before, don't panic. Full instructions, and an example of a completed puzzle, can be found just below the puzzle.)
(And just below the JulieCrostic instructions and example of a completed puzzle, you'll find one of Julie's logic puzzles from the JulieChallenge!)
1. [ ] 2. [ ] 3.
4. [ ] 5. [ ] 6.
7. [ ] 8. [ ] 9.
10. [ ] 11. [ ] 12.
1. yes
2. something Paul Krugman, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney have in common
3. premature
4. limb
5. delight
6. big bird
7. before
8. swerve
9. brink
10. American Crossroads, for a noxious example
11. superhero accessory
12. noteworthy movement
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JulieJulieJulieJulieJulieJulieJulieJulieJulieJulieJulieJulieJulieJulieJulieJulieJulieJulie
EilujEilujEilujEilujEilujEilujEilujEilujEilujEilujEilujEilujEilujEilujEilujEilujEilujEiluj
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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.
EXAMPLE OF A SOLVED PUZZLE
1. exist
2. what Mitt Romney offered to do with $10,000 of his own money
3. something you can dance to
4. sew loosely
5. kind of girl
6. kind of movie "The Avengers" appears to be
7. weapon handle
8. supple
9. like
10. something full of water
11. green food
12. glue
13. in the direction of
14. spoil
15. hit movie character
16. benefit
17. Doonesbury character
18. good place to spend the night
19. dot
20. home
1. be T 2. bet A 3. beat S 4. baste
5. It H 6. hit L 7. hilt E 8. lithe
9. as E 10. sea P 11. peas T 12. paste
13. to R 14. rot H 15. Thor W 16. worth
17. BD E 18. bed A 19. bead O 20. abode
The verticals read
THERE ALPHA SETWO -- which, properly spaced, spell out
the real phase two.
Have fun with tonight's puzzle, and I hope to be able to join y'all in comments.
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JulieJulieJulieJulieJulieJulieJulieJulieJulieJulieJulieJulieJulieJulieJulieJulieJulieJulie
EilujEilujEilujEilujEilujEilujEilujEilujEilujEilujEilujEilujEilujEilujEilujEilujEilujEiluj
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If you like logic puzzles, here's one you can play with overnight (while waiting for Sunday Puzzle to go up 12 hours from now).
The set-up: You are given the name of 9 musician, 9 musical instruments, 4 styles of music, and 4 group names. For each person you need to figure out the instrument they play, the group they are part of, and the style of music for that group.
The musicians:
George; Giles; John; Mary; Paul; PeeWee; Peter; Ringo; Spike
The music styles:
folk; blues; jazz; country/western
The instruments:
guitar; banjo; bass; drums; keys; baritone sax; tenor sax; alto sax; soprano sax
Groups:
a solo act; Papa's New Car; The Parkers; Time of Ages
And here are the clues Julie provided:
0. There's at least one solo act; the other groups may be trios or duos.
1. Spike's sax is lower-pitched than the one used in Time of Ages.
2. The three fretted-instrument players are Ringo, PeeWee and John.
3. Mary does not play jazz. Paul does not play C&W. Spike does not play blues.
4. John plays in the same band with Spike; PeeWee plays in the same band with Mary.
5. The jazz act has no keys, and the blues act has no drums.
6. The solo act has the highest-pitched saxophone.
7. The Guitarist plays for Time of Ages.
8. The C&W act has no banjo, and the jazz act has no bass.
9. The c&w act has the lowest-pitched saxaphone.
10. Giles is not part of the jazz or blues bands.
11. Giles, Mary and Spike play wind instruments.
12. The banjo is in a different group from the bass and the guitar.
13. Ringo's guitar has fewer strings than John's instrument.
14. The Parkers do not play c&w.
15. The folk act has no keyboards & the jazz act has no guitar.
16. The jazz act has a lower pitched sax than the one Peter uses.
17. The C&W act is a duo.
18. PeeWee, Ringo, Mary & Spike are all in trios.
I
think I solved this one during the bus ride from California to Tennessee, and will be testing out the answers I came up with in a few minutes. If I'm right, I'll be posting the answer tomorrow morning in Sunday Puzzle -- along with a new
JulieCrostic, a new
crypto-gremlin, and more
JulieChallenge puzzles.
If you can't wait until morning for the answer, here's a link to the puzzle on Julie's site so you can test out answers for yourself. Have fun (and I hope to see you in the morning for Sunday Puzzle)!