Do you like puzzles?
Do you like a little light socializing on a Saturday evening?
Do you like electing more and better Democrats?
Some say that every time a puzzle is solved, an angel whispers into someone's ear encouraging them to vote Democratic.
... Of course, others say that's nonsense. But even if solving tonight's puzzle won't directly help win elections, it's still a fun way to exercise your wits.
Sunday Puzzle Warm-up is a companion to the regular Sunday Puzzle series, which features puzzles suitable for group solving. These Saturday evening warm-up diaries feature somewhat easier introductory puzzles to get folks warmed up for Sunday (and to try to lure in new folks).
Tonight: a new 18-clue JulieCrostic. Tomorrow night: a 27-clue JulieCrostic; a code message; a mystery puzzle; and a re-post of last week's unsolved logic puzzle.
Sunday Puzzle will post tomorrow at 8 pm eastern time (5 pm pacific time). But Sunday Puzzle Warm-Up is ready for you right now...
Before we get into tonight's JulieCrostic, here's a quick teaser for tomorrow's Sunday Puzzle diary.
In addition to a new JulieCrostic and new code puzzle, I'll also be re-posting Hal Humbug's Horrible Headache. In this logic puzzle, which went unsolved last week, Rush Limbaugh awakens in a world similar to but not quite the same as our own, and needs to figure out which of four Republican candidates he should endorse. All four candidates lie repeatedly -- but only one lies consistently enough to deserve Rush's endorsement. Can you figure out which one? You can read the whole puzzle here if you'd like to get a head start on solving it for tomorrow.
I'll also be posting a new mystery puzzle. Here's a sneak preview:
Very last abbreviated ancient city home often precedes this news agency = a spymaster for Romney's type of enterprise.
Hmmm! What kind of puzzle is that? I'll provide additional help for solving it tomorrow night. Meanwhile, here's a puzzle you can solve tonight. Tonight's JulieCrostic has 6 rows with 3 answers in each. Here are the clues:
1. mislay
2. infiltrators
3. tidbit
4. runs away
5. religious figures
6. Italian sausage
7. swamp
8. excavator
9. annoying creatures
10. get up
11. lift
12. nests
13. fury
14. extent
15. plant place
16. bundle
17. chart
18. notwithstanding
NOTE: If you're not familiar with JulieCrostics, don't panic! An explanation of how they work, and an example of a solved puzzle, are provided directly below.
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SUNDAY PUZZLE / Puzzle Party / SUNDAY PUZZLE / Puzzle Party / SUNDAY PUZZLE /
How to solve JulieCrostics
For those of you unfamiliar with this kind of puzzle, what you do is solve the clues and write the answers in rows. In tonight's puzzle there are 3 answers per row.
Each word in a row contains all the letters of the previous word, plus one new letter. Write the added letters in the space between the word which doesn't have it and the word which does. The vertical columns created by the added letters will spell out a word or phrase.
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SUNDAY PUZZLE / Puzzle Party / SUNDAY PUZZLE / Puzzle Party / SUNDAY PUZZLE /
As an example of how it works, here are the clues, grid and answers to last week's puzzle:
THE CLUES TO LAST WEEK'S PUZZLE
1. distributed
2. postponed
3. overdue
4. wheelbarrows
5. boxes
6. Angelina Jolie, for instance
7. big bird
8. juice
9. half-human creature
10. Kelley
11. turmoil
12. Bachmann, Beck, Taitz and Trump
13. averages
14. kind of person Romney likes to work with?
15. forgiveness
16. lying down
17. Eva and Juan
18. person who allegedly spoke of a blushing crow and a nosy little cook
19. highest Quaker position
20. make creases on a smooth surface
21. vertical is definitely not this -- but vertical helped people who had this get rid of it
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SUNDAY PUZZLE / Puzzle Party / SUNDAY PUZZLE / Puzzle Party / SUNDAY PUZZLE /
THE GRID FOR LAST WEEK'S PUZZLE
1. ----- [ ] 2. ------ [ ] 3. -------
4. ----- [ ] 5. ------ [ ] 6. -------
7. ----- [ ] 8. ------ [ ] 9. -------
10. ----- [ ] 11. ------ [ ] 12. -------
13. ----- [ ] 14. ------ [ ] 15. -------
16. ----- [ ] 17. ------ [ ] 18. -------
19. ----- [ ] 20. ------ [ ] 21. -------
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SUNDAY PUZZLE / Puzzle Party / SUNDAY PUZZLE / Puzzle Party / SUNDAY PUZZLE /
THE ANSWERS TO LAST WEEK'S PUZZLE
dealt B tabled E belated
carts E crates S actress
crane T nectar U centaur
nurse T unrest T nutters
means Y yesman T amnesty
prone S Perons O Spooner
clerk U ruckle N clunker
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SUNDAY PUZZLE / Puzzle Party / SUNDAY PUZZLE / Puzzle Party / SUNDAY PUZZLE /
The verticals read BETTYSU ESUTTON -- which, properly spaced, spell out Betty Sue Sutton, the author of the bill which created the "Cash for Clunkers" program and our spotlighted Hell To Pay candidate.