The Puzzler

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 clockwise in a flower, with one letter per petal and one letter—it may be any in the word—removed to the flower’s center. Perimeter words begin and end on the border; interior words start in a petal to be determined. The numbered central letters, when read left to right, will reveal the kind of flower grown in each of the seven horizontal rows of the garden. Answers include five proper nouns.

See page 134 for Puzzler contest details. The solution to last month’s Puzzler appears on page 146.

Clues

1. Tiller of land’s beginning in border (4)

2. “Flower Hour”—for lovers of greenery?(5)

3. Squirting can involved in soil erosion (5)

4. Maneuver cultivator mostly alongside of yard (4)

5. Work the ground around a place in New England (3)

6. Animals in harness glide among colors (7)

7. In the article here, a legendary gardener pinches (7)

8. Cursed malady in rose (7)

9. Native American pumpkins initially grow like vines (5)

10. Cut off tip of evergreen in container (5)

11. Book about metropolitan horticulturist (7)

12. Shrub I produce samurai’s way (7)

13. Owner of a large farm managed by an entertaining woman (7)

14. Worm in ground under it (7)

15. 1,000 leaves Earl picks in long plots? (5)

10. Ultimately, hoe and rake going into magistrate’s vehicle (4)

17. Birds’alarming cry pollinators heard (7)

18. Gathering unproud sprays? (7)

19. Annoying boor carries centerpiece of bouquets inside (7)

20. Bats go nuts about arborist’s original confections (7)

21. Sun is falling behind pair of poppies for painter (7)

22. Spot pest in the garden (4)

23. Intensely desired having evergreens? (5)

24. Expand back half of garden, having one eye turned on the front (7)

25. Soak head of marigold, following

the guy’s faulty reasoning (7)

26. Only tool for removing dirt from behind some fruit (7)

27. Bottle that sprays around back of fern in church (7)

28. Turned dirt—about a ton, in fact (5)

29. Last sign of flower in receding ooze barely shows (5)

30. Firmly fixed ends of daisies in cultivated earth (7) (hyphenated)

31. Most of cleome scattered about on glass (7)

32. Trying on wild rose pierced by hairpin (7)

33. Enclosed bovine in part of a garden (5)

34. Oddly swampish fluids found in plants (4)

35. Garden walk bordering fair plot of ground (5)

36. Shade crossing through blooming hostas (5)

37. Container with end underground (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 long; envelope to The Atlantic Puzzler, 745 Boylston Street, Boston, Mass. 02116.

PUZZLER CONTEST

Rules: Only one entry per person allowed. No purchase necessary. No entries can be returned. All decisions are final The Atlantic is not responsible for late or lost mail. Contest open to residents of the U.S. and Canada, l8 years or older, except employees of The Atlatntic and their immediate families. Winners will be notified by mail. Contest void where prohibited and subject to all state, federal, and local laws and regulations.

MARCH’S WINNERS:

PRANAV PAREKH, ARTHUR PILVIN, STEPHEN SARKIS