The Puzzler

CRYPTIC GOLF

The diagram represents a nine-hole golf course, and each answer represents a shot that travels in a straight line up, down, sideways, or diagonally, one letter per square. By starting at the tee in the upper left corner, solvers can reach the first hole (marked 1) in four such shots. Each new shot begins in the square where the last one ended. The first hole (1) is thus the tee-off square for the sequence of shots approaching 2, and so on. The nine numbered squares should not be touched by any shots other than those ending holes and teeing off toward new ones. Avoid shooting into trees or water. And remember that each sequence of clues is numbered for the hole toward which it is proceeding. Answers include one proper noun and a variant spelling involved in 4b.

The answers to last month’s Puzzler appear on page 76.

CLUES

1.a. Tee off behind bar (7)

b. Sand traps catching the sun (6)

c. Marginal shot on green’s grass (5)

d. Walk to cup for total (5)

2.a. Seat her on ten swings (8)

b. Skirted but topless, moved slowly (5)

c. Band leg after doctor’s visit (6) (two words)

d. Nothing’s inhibiting American studs (5)

3.a. Covering the lady with a skimpy

piece of gingham (9)

b. Turn part of a wheel around before painting vehicle (6) (hyphenated)

c. Puts a tee back with samples (6)

d. Small island country’s marine gear (5)

4.a. Gentian cultivated for medicinal

element (7)

b. Sort of play with small snack (4)

c. Wives in church are married (5)

5.a. Absolute amount repulsed rodents (8)

b. Men only name bug that’s not moving (8)

c. Drink left for a pond resident (4)

d. Extended record includes Beethoven’s Ninth (4)

6.a. Family pictures may get these

frames (8)

b. Rest in seat is disturbed (6)

c. Somebody fit permit inside of articles (7)

d. Revise copy describing Caesar’s chief law (5)

7.a. They ring for poisons taken orally (7)

b. Pay it back in waste (7)

c. Mysterious errors breaking up double play (4)

d. Calls a name in an airport, and leaves (5)

8.a. Scoff about last character that is

more like a dwarf? (8)

b. Passion overturned New Testament ruling (7)

c. Private eye, bum, etc. (3)

d. Cut-rate (4)

9.a. Peg’s ingesting routine muscle-

builders (8)

b. Man’s address is back by river (3)

c. Letter carried by carhop (3)

d. State greeting, clasped in hugs? (4)

e. Has snow fallen? (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 July Puzzles

“STARS AND STRIPES”

Stars spell E Pluribus Unum.Paired letters in Stripes abbreviate the 13 original states. Across. 1. F(ORB)ADE 7. PAR-SNIP 8. BAN-JO(b) (nab rev.) 9. POLL (homoph.) 10. FUMIGATE (anag.) 11. LI-C-TO-R’S 13. MARAUDS (anag.) 17. S(P)EEDY 20. COM(PET)E 21. GU(MD)ROP (group anag.) 22. PE(T)ER 24. S-COPE 26. EDGE (hidden) 27. PANHAND(L)ER (anag. + l) 28. M(O)AN 30. DI-VANS (ID rev.) 32. DOWN-Y 33. L(A-RED)O 34. SIZE (homoph.) 35. V(A)LANCE 36. S-TRIDENT 37. RED SEA (anag.) Down. 1. FABULIST (anag.) 2. B(ON-AF-I)DE (bed anag.) 3. BR(OM)O 4. ASP-IRE 5. DI(LUTE)D 6. MA(P)LE 12. HYPE(R)BOLA (anag. + r) 14. ROOD (homoph.) 15. AM(ALGA)-M 16. DEEP (hidden) 18. SPURNS 19. ENROLLEES (anag.) 20. CHE-MLS(E)S 21. G(RANUL)AR (rev.) 22. U(PEN)DED (dude anag.) 23. TAI-WAN (homoph.) 25. PEDDLE (homoph.) 29.POS(I)T 30. D-ROVE 31. F(R)EUD

ACROSTIC NO. 48

“Men and women do not feel the same way about dirt. . . . Women, for some hormonal reason, can see individual dirt molecules, whereas men tend not to notice them until they join together into clumps large enough to support commercial agriculture.”

—Dave Barry’s Guide to Marriage (and/or Sex)