PUZZLING

No new tricks this time. It’s all there in black and white. We return to the British style diagram which proved quite popular a few months ago. Remember, because some letters in each answer are uncrossed, appearing only in that word with no crosschecking evidence available, the puzzle can’t be solved without actually deciphering every clue.

Instructions:

Each clue indicates the answer in more than one way. In addition to straightforward definitions, clues may also contain puns, plays on words, anagrams (“The ability to lead people in confusion is a charm -CHARISMA), or embedded spellings (“How it zeroes in distinguishes a cannon”). Another common type of clue is word construction, where the answer is built of component parts. Example: “Directions: Halt! Turn around! Hold in!” Solution: “Halt” (STOP), “Turn around” (STOP becomes POTS), “Hold in” (put IN inside of POTS) and the answer is POINTS, which is also the straightforward definition answer to “Directions.” All abbreviations are acceptable as long as they are in current usage (e.g., TV, p.d.q., etc.). Isolated letters may be indicated in a variety of ways -as compass points (“North” in a clue might indicate the letter N, likewise for E, S, W); Roman numerals (the figure 1,000 in a clue might indicate the letter M, likewise for D, C, L, X, V, I); grades or scores (A, F, “zero” = 0, “love” as in tennis = 0); musical notations (P, F for soft or loud respectively). Parts of words may be used (IVE or just V might be indicated by “Midwiues”).

The one paramount rule is that the clue sentence, with a little repunctuation, will tell exactly how to get the answer, with all letters accounted for.

An added hint: this puzzle contains four proper nouns.

Send the completed puzzle with name and address to Puzzling, D The Magazine of Dallas, 2902 Carlisle, Dallas 75204. All correct solutions will be held for one week, at which time a drawing will be held to determine the winners. First winner will receive a $25 cash prize. Runner-up will receive a free one-year subscription to D. Winners and completed puzzle will appear in the May issue.