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Return to the Table of Contents. 		The November 1998 Puzzler

by Emily Cox & Henry Rathvon


Back in the Labyrinth

Previous Puzzlers:

  • "Rite of Passage"
    October, 1998
  • "Service With a Smile"
    September, 1998
  • "In Common"
    August, 1998
  • "Nine-Hole Course"
    July, 1998
  • "Guidelines"
    June, 1998
  • "Picnic"
    May, 1998
  • "Three-Ring Circus"
    April, 1998
  • "Marching Orders"
    March, 1998
  • "Step by Step"
    February, 1998
  • "Celebrating the First"
    January, 1998
  • "Cryptacrostic"
    December, 1997
  • "Chessboard"
    November, 1997
  • "Haunted House"
    October, 1997
  • "Double-Crossers"
    September, 1997
  • "Scoreboard"
    August, 1997
  • "Celebrating the Fourth"
    July, 1997
  • "Fortune Cookies"
    June, 1997
  • "Slide Show"
    May, 1997
    		• IN the diagram at right we've traced a meandering path from the upper-left corner to the lower-right, putting one letter in each square. The resulting trail of Maze words is cross-checked by 11 rows of Across words (two words per row, clued consecutively). To help us find our way home, we've also dropped some extra letters as markers. These letters, superfluous to the Maze words but inherent in the Acrosses, spell an important word when read backward along the trail. Two answers are capitalized, and the answer to 10a is not a common word.

    See the solution to last month's Puzzler.

    Clues

    Across
    1a. Beginning of twisty course (6)
    b. Endangered animal's face turned, notice (5)
    2a. Note circled by a pen: "Lots of land" (7)
    b. Look endlessly for point of light (4)
    3a. Flag in primary color is withdrawn (7)
    b. Almost change a word of agreement (4)
    4a. After the start, seem happy with race distance (4)
    b. The Mexican kisses rope's last loop (7)
    5a. Pull up a crockery material (5)
    b. Man keeps running back for rock (6)
    6a. Call me second-rate in part of a poem (4)
    b. Grains in installments, according to The Voice (7)
    7a. King, having hygiene problem, is put back under wraps? (5)
    b. Detective group brought back and tried (6)
    8a. Troll in great Alaskan seaport (5)
    b. Dislike tangled thread (6)
    9a. Cyclist's brother embracing Eisenhower (5)
    b. Fought regiment's leader in hot spot (6)
    10a. Egg functions, housing large birds (6)
    b. Concerned with end, back down (5)
    11a. Medieval warrior possessing greater craft (6)
    b. Marie Antoinette's very small lock (5)

    Maze
    a. Piece of furniture for room in current musical (8)
    b. "A girl's name repulsed me," I fib (6)
    c. Royal attendant's temperature taken by messenger (8)
    d. Lurch in auto, even letting victory escape (6)
    e. Vocally disapprove of ruler's engagement (7)
    f. Audibly drags swine (5)
    g. Unhappy game interrupted by Mr. Gardner (9)
    h. The woman's holding checkup on alien with six feet (9)
    i. Claim brewpub selection has pin in it (6)
    j. Take pound from agreeable farmer (7)
    k. Does some needlework with curses (5)
    l. New York wind is temperate (6,5)
    m. Editor repaired electronic device (6)
    n. Separate observer taking volume (5)
    o. Story far from original after the beginning (4)
    p. Some racers started in peculiar dress (8)

    Copyright © 1998 by The Atlantic Monthly Company. All rights reserved.
    The Atlantic Monthly; November 1998; The Puzzler; Volume 282, No. 5; page 139.
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