The Atlantic Puzzler

By Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon

MEDLEY

In this puzzle, clue-and-answer combinations are of five different kinds. Anagrams (A): Each clue answer must be anagrammed into a new word before entry into the diagram. Misprints (M): Each clue contains a misprint of one letter, always in the definition half of the clue. Answers are entered normally.

Right and Left (RL): Clues are presented in pairs. Solvers must determine which answer goes on the left side of the diagram and which goes on the right (the words may be clued in either order).

Wrong Number (WN): Each answer should be entered at a number different from its clue number. The appropriate number’s clue contains a definition of the answer to be entered at that location. Procedure recommended is to solve a clue and then find a definition of this answer in another WN clue to a word of the same length; this shows where the answer belongs. Letters Latent (LL): One letter is deleted from each answer before entry. The eight letters thus deleted, taken in order with Acrosses preceding Downs, will spell out a phrase descriptive of this puzzle. Answers include five proper nouns.

The solution to last month’s Puzzler appears on page 117.

ACROSS

RL 1. Agitation I’d turned back, 5. having the right fortitude to master a medley of clues (6,6)

WN 10. First lady, on roan, finally gets balanced (4)

LL 11. Small California island (7)

M 12. Clergyman occupies a position by east altar (6)

A 14. Group has to fight (5) (hyph.)

A 15. Tower near-ruined in MIT (7)

RL 16. In ravine, English king ar-

17. ranged and stored nuts (6,6)

A 19. Permission required by public ensemble (7)

LL 25. Parrot is flying to landing places (8)

RL 28. Lawyer backing “The Great-

29. est Barbarian Woman” keeps

too perversely calm (6,6)

M 31. Essay about people’s intricate lives (7)

LL 33. Sounds like one leaving school (6)

M 34. Bears migrating to southern glades (6)

LL 35. I tame it—wild ape (7)

WN 36. In a new way, rove again (4)

RL 37. Government agent, having

38. gotten old, quit jumping in cots with drinks (6,6)

DOWN

WN 1. Attend to tinsel in a big mess (6)

A 2. Poetry in this would be backward (5)

M 3. Boast about triter novel (7)

WN 4. Had a nap taken, we hear (6)

M 5. Roman to make bet (7)

LL 6. Stopped keeping N.Y.’s subway sullied (7)

A 7. He has skills in card game (6)

WN 8. Nero not stable in metropolis (4)

WN 9. One placed in large tent is present but not visible (6)

A 13. Cigar: it goes off (6)

M 18. Fish eating the hardest (7)

LL 20. Beatniks outside-topless bars (8)

LL 21. Float lob artfully in game (8)

WN 22. Gold hidden in Massachusetts swamp (6)

LL 23. Saving deer has swallowed can (7)

A 24. Ring left in Circe’s grasp (6)

M 26. Shoot at round stud (6)

M 27. Celt sowed seeds around pole (6)

A 30. Trade wrongly judged (5)

WN 32. Road to city west of New England (4)

Note: The instructions above are for this month’s puzzle only. It is assumed that you know how to decipher clues. For a complete introduction to clue-solving, write to The Atlantic Reprint Department, 8 Arlington Street, Boston, Mass. 02116, enclosing a self-addressed, stamped envelope.

Answers to the November Puzzler, “EIGHTS”

1. H(EIGHT)EN 2. REPARTEE (anag.) 3. REST-RAIN 4. HAWT-HORN (what anag.) 5. PA’S-SPORT 6. HEA(THE)RS 7. LEVELEST (anag.) 8. MO(V)EM-ENT (anags. + V) 9. T(HIRT)IES 10. I-M(PR)INTS 11. (f)E(MINE)NCE 12. BA(SEROR)N (rev.) 13. LANDLORD (anag.) 14. HARDHEAD (anag.) 15. MESS(MAT)E (seems anag.) 16. T(l-BET)ANS 17. HEATH (H)EN 18. A-N(T)EATER 19. P-ROSPECT (p + anag.) 20. REST(RES)S 21. L-I-FELINE 22. BEK(I)BER-I 23. R(ETIR)EES (rev.) 24. CU(BIC)LES (clue’s anag.) 25. ROA(D) R-ACE 26. RE(F-ERR)ED 27. PRO-SPERS (press anag.) 28. ES(PRES)SO 29. RE-FORMER 30. W(IRE)-W-OR-M 31. LOVELIER (anag.) 32. RETARRED (homophone)