The Puzzler

By Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon

MAGIC ACT

In this puzzle ten diagram entries are unclued. Eight of them can be arranged to form three different cryptic clues (minus definitions), as follows:

_+_+_-_

25 D 24 D 16 A

_+_=_

1 D 36 A

_+_+_=_

27 D 15 D 1 A

The two remaining unclued entries (20 Across and 26 Across) provide the definition for the three items above. Clue answers include four proper nouns and one common abbreviation.

The solution to last month’ Puzzler appears on page 127.

ACROSS

6.Damned villains interrupting work (7)

11. Where some French people are in conjunction with deviates (7)

12. Fiddler backed rock number (4)

14. End of great schism in council site (5)

15. Stop after the guy is at this place (6)

17. Paint handle aboard train (6)

18. Song made a false impression (4)

19. Creative finale in film (7)

29. Seated female with secondhand clothing (7)

30. Lousy pitcher gets hit (4)

32. Unresponsive person I move around without resistance (6)

34. Dig for lifesaver in garbage (4)

35. Fat cats smell inside of collars (6)

37. Segment of semirigid ruler (4)

38. Pant at topless person who’s titillating (7)

39. Princess, day after day, started getting fooled (7)

40. Unopened pressure lock (5)

DOWN

2.Casablanca actor upset with Captain Blood actor (5)

3. Taverner’s fish (7)

4. Bill flipped for a cheese ingredient (6)

5. Old fruit ultimately dropped (5)

6. Rule, getting beheaded after a while (4)

7. Make outside of mass burn up (7)

8. Agitation right in university hangout(6)

9. Red fish go round and round (4)

10. Drinks in large quantity, along with chips (6)

13. Going uphill wrong in truck (6)

21. Around North Sea, I’m in stitches? (6)

22. Plagiarism article in second volume, part 3, of The Writer (7)

23. Vessel sustaining low split (7)

26. Upcoming group engages 100 investigators (4)

28. Buries rest in ground (6)

30. Make muddled wager about Sox losing final (5)

31. Hits with purses (5)

32. I attempt to win in the same place (4)

33. Fat boy captures rook (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, send an addressed, stamped envelope to The Atlantic Puzzler, 745 Boylston Street, Boston, Mass. 02116.

Answers to the November Puzzler

“TRAPDOORS”

The trapdoor word is PRESTO. Across. 1. DAC-HAS (cad rev.) 6. D-ROSS 10. E-QUALITIES 12. TA(PR0-0)M 13. MARS-HALS 14. LE(V)I 15. SLIER (hidden) 16. MISTLE-TOE (homophone) 17.CANVAS-S 23. ITALICS (anag.) 24. RE(GAL)L.V 26. JU(ST)ICE 28. I-RAN 29. GOP-HER 31. PIN-TO-S 32. HOROSCOPES (anag.) 33. EGGED (double def.) 34. B(ASS)ET Down. l.DE(E)MS 2. CLRR(ENC)IES 3. HAL-O 4. ALSO-RAN (hidden) 5. S(TATI)ST (at it anag.) 6. DIP-OLES 7. REALTY (anag.) 8. S(LIYER)I\G 9. SICILY 11. PAL(AVER)ING 18. SIL-ICON (LI’s rev.) 19. MAJ-ORCA (jam rev.) 20. HLS-PANIC 21.TRIP(L)E 22. MANTEL (homophone) 25. LAIDRD 27.T-RUST 30. PRO-SIT