For longtime puzzle-solving D Magazine readers, the title is a clue for the news: Peggy’s back! For new friends, my reappearance means an original mind-bender will be coming your way each month. For all of you, the solution for this is what E replied when asked to do the puzzles again, and is plagiarized from a famous military man.
Instructions
Very simple. Fill the crosses with words. Here’s how. Start working on a set of five-letter words arid the corresponding set of four-letter words. The answers for each set are in alphabetical order. Every four-letter word can be derived from a live-letter word by dropping a letter and then, if necessary, rearranging the remaining letters. Each four-letter word is to be entered clockwise in one of the squares of its cross, and its dropped letter goes in the circle in the middle of that square.
The cross shapes are actually Rattened out cubes. If you cut one out and folded along the solid lines, you could reconstruct it. Letters must be entered so thai if the cross were folded into a cube, wherever two edges joined they would each have the same letter. The other requirement is mat when a cross is finished, the center circles taken in order must spell something intelligible. Cross I’s answer will be two words; cross II will be one word. Several letter pairs are provided to help you along.
NOTE: The first four letter-word will not necessarily be paired with the first five-letter word, nor will either of them necessarily bear any relation to the beginning square of their cross. One of the clue answers is a proper name.
Each clue points to the answer in more than one way. In addition to straight forward definitions, clues may also contain puns, plays on words, anagrams, or embedded spellings (e.g. “How it zeroes in distinguishes a cannon”). Sometimes the answer may be constructed out of component parts (e.g. “American leader requires identification in gift”: I.D. inside PRESENT is PRESIDENT, the answer). The one paramount rule is that die clue sentence, with a little repunctuation, will tell exactly how to gel the answer.
Send the completed puzzle (or reasonable facsimile) by February 10 to S’YGGEP, D Magazine, 1700 Commerce Street, 18th Floor, Dallas TX 75201. Include your name, address, phone number and email address. The first correct solution in a random drawing will receive a white polo shirl embroidered with the D logo! A runner-up will receive a 12-month gift subscription to D Magazine. Winners and the completed puzzle will appear in the February issue. Having trouble? Log on to www.dmagazine.comeach Monday for new helpful hints.