Do you like puzzles? Do you like political humor? Do you like adorable kitty pictures with hilarious captions? And are you in the mood for a little Sunday night socializing?
Sorry, you'll need to go to one of the pootie diaries for the kitty pictures :( But you're in the right place for the rest.
Sunday Puzzle is a weekly party, featuring puzzles suitable for group puzzle-solving. New diaries currently post on Sunday evenings at 8:30 pm Eastern time / 5:30 pm Pacific time. Everyone is welcome, and you don't need to be a puzzle genius to take part.
So come on down, introduce yourself if you'd like, take a look at the puzzles, and party down. On tap tonight:
* the solution to last week's mystery puzzle -- which was so mysterious apparently no one even recognized it!
* two new Crypto-Gremlins;
* a new mystery puzzle;
* a new 24-clue JulieCrostic; and --
* the still unsolved (!!!) Spoonerism puzzles.
NOTE: The Spoonerism puzzles were first posted September 2. This is your 5th and final chance to solve them. I'll start posting the answer to these in comments at half hour intervals beginning half an hour after the diary goes up.
(1) Here's the first item which appeared below the orange squiggle last week:
Let's start with some exciting news:
The man I gave the answer to is back!
What answer, you may be asking. Could it be the answer to one of the following puzzles?
No, it wasn't the answer to one of the other puzzles. It was a puzzle on its own, and apparently it sneaked by since no one posted the answer (or even mentioned it as a puzzle) in comments last week.
This was a very easy puzzle. Here's why:
As a public service for Republicans who get uneasy when the word vagina is used, each week Sunday Puzzle features the word vagina in the clue or answer to at least one puzzle.
So when all the other puzzles last week were solved and no vagina appeared, it should have been obvious vagina had to be the answer to this puzzle.
And it is. Take another look at the key sentence:
The m anIgav e the answer to is back!
All right, let's try something a little more difficult...
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(2) Here's tonight's Mystery Puzzle!
Mitt Romney was out campaigning when he came across a set of large alphabet blocks. To show I am qualified to be president, he told the reporters accompanying him, I will stack these up into a tower and then stand at the pinnacle, above them all (and above you all).
So he put the B block on top of the A, the C block on top of the B, the D block on top of the C, paused briefly to smile at the cameras, and continued to stack the blocks.
What Romney didn't know was that there were only 25 blocks in the set; The Z block was missing. What will happen when Romney finishes stacking the blocks and climbs up to the pinnacle?
Hint: the answer consists of 9 letters and can be read either as a 4-word phrase or a 3-word phrase.
Hint: I previewed this puzzle last night in a comment to Sunday Puzzle Warm-Up diary -- an appropriate place to do so, for a reason which should become clear in the coming weeks if it isn't clear already.
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(3) Next, how about a pair of Crypto-Gremlins...
NOTE: Crypto-Gremlins are a special type of cryptogram -- a type which cannot be solved simply by running through all the possible letter substitutions, as various online programs can do. You can find a complete explanation of how these things work here.
Crypto-Gremlin # 1:
Hocac kse oyzc py duic xuas wyae dyuigiydfk, focic’my as lrygc fs ps... zyane kse gya’fc duanu vyak bsjkpcac disbs tsefmunc foc dyuigiydfk fs pcfy xuas foc dyuigiydfk, tcgyemc foc huanshmc nsa’fc bslcay. Zu nsa’fc wash hok fock nsa’fc ns foyfu. Vuf’me py icyrs listrcbs.
Buffy Isback
Crypto-Gremlin # 2
Bac’hi drbop stealthy btl’ct zytna, sizr kaly firdnt my bzalealei walt mykmtzzthhkylci cutca Stealt jahy futca kaddailhr cualoy fivy othi vykalahkr.
Otcut Giddaccy, walt cuy Kibcimyzy 1, 2012, sahhry fivy Cuy Ltcailr, bikkylcaley wila Ltika Fidv'hi lyf miiot Stealt: Wt Lyf Maieztgup
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(4) Last chance! Here, for the fifth time, are the (mostly still-unsolved) Spoonerism Puzzles from the September 2 potluck party
OldPhart solved # 3 during the potluck party, when these were first posted; the rest have remained unsolved even though I've re-posted them each week since.
1. travel from Trafalgar Square to the Temple Bar (4)
2. travel to side protected from wind (2,3)
2. ermine (which resembles Rowling's bush): toss the vehicle to where it will be sheltered from the wind (7, 8)
3. similar to Romney's business (2)
SOLVED by OldPhart: like Bain / bike lane
4. vehicles lean over, causing onlookers to jeer (4)
5. device sailor uses to transmit voice (2, 1)
NOTE: the original version of # 2 was for only part of a longer phrase. The longer phrase is well known, but the partial phrase is not. This was an error on my poart. I have corrected this by substituting in a clue to a Spoonerism of the complete phrase -- which is what I should have posted in the first place. This should make the puzzle easier (and more fun) to solve.
I'll start posting the answers half an hour after this diary goes up. The first answer I'll post will be # 5; half an hour later, # 2; half an hour after that, # 4; and I'll save my favorite, # 1, for last. That's unless you folks post the correct answers first...
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And lastly, here's tonight's feature puzzle: a new 24-clue JulieCrostic.
(Those of you unfamiliar with JulieCrostics can find complete instructions, examples of completed puzzles, and introductory puzzles to work on, over in our companion series Sunday Puzzle Warm-Up)
1. came before prime minister during the mid-to-late 80s
2. more than 1 of 1
3. butler's last name
4. shelter
5. nathan known for 2005 law
6. what don called sarah
7. brooded
8. cleaned up
9. airy desert island
10. 102 predecessor
11. has more than enough
12. respect
13. controversial opus
14. bill buckley, phyllis schlafly and ralph nader all got this
15. brooded
16. alfred's real name
17. where some seek amnesty
18. long strip of cloth
19. musical instrument
20. term for newt
21. name for hunter
22. name for public transit system
23. baron's other identity
24. sailor
Once again I ran out of capital letters, so you'll need to provide your own capitalization. And I've grouped the clues in tidy little bundles of 3 -- but that does not necessarily mean there are 3 answers per row.
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Don't forget -- next week is potluck Sunday!
So if you've got any puzzles you'd like to share bring 'em along next week (or send them in advance to pucklady or me) and we'll post them in the diary.
Have fun with tonight's puzzles, and I'll see you in comments.