The Atlantic Puzzler

By Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon
Saved Stories

GARDEN PLOT

The diagram represents a flower garden with 37 flowers in full or— at the borders—partial bloom. Each clue answer is to be entered in a flower clockwise with one letter per petal and one letter—it may be any in the word— removed to the flower’s center. Perimeter words always proceed clockwise from the border; interior words proceed clockwise from a petal to be determined. The numbered central letters, when read left to right, will reveal the type of flower grown in each of the seven horizontal rows of the garden. Answers include an uncommon word at 35 and two proper words.

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

CLUES

1. Compost around one row (4)

2. Front missing from shelter in part of a garden (5)

3. Bee bit flora and fauna (5)

4. Hack sticks back (4)

5. Soil turned around a small bunch (5)

6. Leaves in dark red shades (7)

7. Bird freezing at back of garden (7)

8. Someone raising a drink in honor of yellow flower (7)

9. Florist’s first lawyer is tubby (5)

10. Garden spot needs oxygen in its current state (5)

11. After plucking Monday, wild persimmons sway (7)

12. Harvests requiring 600 carriers (7)

13. Plant life is base in this spot (7)

14. Sort of cherry hedges are wildly producing fruit (7)

15. Ward off incipient fungus in bonsai (5)

16. Flat piece of balsa cut from the rear (4)

17. Collects flower’s last companions (7)

18. One Indian tribe has l/6 of agricultural land (7)

19. Garden arranged around circle showed signs of distress (7)

20. Farmer’s great passion (7)

21. In garden, I also find contradictions (7)

22. Cut around head of lettuce, and chopped cabbage (4)

23. Cracked vase containing earliest of larkspurs from meadows (5)

24. Cast doubt on one fruit carrying a trace of mildew (7)

25. Some antifreeze wiped out ant hole (7)

26. Muscular man split log, rail (7)

27. Protected better in yard with no opening (7)

28. Poles plant ultimately in bulk (5)

29. Squash pest I treat with ill will (5)

30. Metal tip of trowel I gripped in ill humor (7)

31. Man twisting lilac like a corkscrew (7)

32. Frost invades preserve in a Black Sea region (7)

33. Two thirds of spearmint lacks a seed (5)

34. Peeled berry’s flaws (4)

35. 1/20 of a lira was paid for organdies at first (5)

36. Scandinavians and English originally planted in loose sand (5)

37. Pea seed embodies naturalness (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 a self-addressed, stamped envelope to The Atlantic Puzzler, 8 Arlington Street, Boston, Mass. 02116.

Answers to the June Puzzler, “THEME AND VARIATIONS”

The Theme Words and their Variations are: EARTH (HEART, HATER), WATER (LOO, GATE), AIR (HEIR, ERE), and FIRE (READY. AIM).

Across. 5. REPLET-E (anag. + e) 10.A-LEX ll.PE(0)R-IA 12. RESINS (double def.) 13.(c)OVER 16. HANSOM (homophone) 18. RE-GAL 21. ARCH (double def.) 22. F-OREGON-E 24. SPIL-LWAY (rev.) 30. MARS-HY 35. TOTE-MS 36. E-LARES 37. KEEP (rev.) 38. EM(PER)OR (Rome rev.) Down. 1. H(A-Z)ARD’S 2.(d)ALLlES 3. T(E)RM (Mr. T rev.) 4. ROSA (hidden) 5. RAIN-BOWS (rein homophone) 6. PESOS (anag.) 8. TIED (homophone) 14.V(ERO)NA (ore rev. in van anag.) 16. HAR(L)EM 17. M(AGUE)Y 19.GAIT-ER 20. DRAG(ST)ER (regard rev.) 23. ENTR(OP)Y 25. B(RIB)ED 26. GAFFE (homophone) 29. FI-LM (rev.) 32.A-SEA (homophone)