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The January Puzzler

Your Turn

Your Turn
Previous Puzzlers:
  • "A River Runs Through It"
    January, 2000
  • "Windup"
    December, 1999
  • "Downsizing"
    November, 1999
  • "Cycles"
    October, 1999
  • "Shakedown"
    September, 1999
  • "At the Movies"
    August, 1999
  • "Family Reunion"
    July, 1999
  • "Mismatches"
    June, 1999
  • "Lawbreakers"
    May, 1999
  • "Mystery Box"
    April, 1999
  • "Hide and Seek"
    March, 1999
  • "Central Square"
    February, 1999
  • "Cross-Training"
    January, 1999
  • "Criss-Crossing"
    December, 1998
  • "Back in the Labyrinth"
    November, 1998
  • "Rite of Passage"
    October, 1998
  • "Service With a Smile"
    September, 1998
  • "In Common"
    August, 1998
  • "Nine-Hole Course"
    July, 1998
  • "Guidelines"
    June, 1998
  • "Picnic"
    May, 1998
  • "Three-Ring Circus"
    April, 1998
  • "Marching Orders"
    March, 1998
  • "Step by Step"
    February, 1998
  • "Celebrating the First"
    January, 1998
  • "Cryptacrostic"
    December, 1997
  • "Chessboard"
    November, 1997
  • "Haunted House"
    October, 1997
  • "Double-Crossers"
    September, 1997
  • "Scoreboard"
    August, 1997
  • "Celebrating the Fourth"
    July, 1997
  • "Fortune Cookies"
    June, 1997
  • "Slide Show"
    May, 1997
    		• In this spinning puzzle we've taken our turn by grouping symmetrically situated entries, one from each quadrant of the grid, and shuffling them into random order before cluing them. The four entries in each clue group are identified in the grid by their shared number, which may occur anywhere in a word's sequence (not necessarily at the beginning). The shaded, unclued set of entries will offer an appropriate activity, along with a piece of advice. Four answers are capitalized. Now it's your turn to play.

    The instructions above are for this month's puzzle only. See a complete introduction to clue-solving.

    See the solution to last month's Puzzler.

    Clues
    1.a. Try incomplete turn for a sure thing (6)
    b. Writer Hubbard's high after a turn (6)
    c. Happened to put iron in one end of a sousaphone (6)
    d. Track activity of a cult's leader in criminal group (6)

    2.a. Arizona grassland containing a flowering shrub (6)
    b. Pleistocene elephant's head in front of iguanodon rib set (3,3)
    c. Timber above Thor Heyerdahl, for one (6)
    d. Enchantress maintaining large coterie (6)

    3.a. Talked of a violet fringed in pink? (9)
    b. Accommodating to reality, tamp cigar out (9)
    c. Waste time around one coffeepot during working hours, mostly (9)
    d. Trickiness of cinematic 007 about drip (9)

    4.a. Family doc eats alternative trail mix (4)
    b. Contest involving California's primary fault (4)
    c. Ace seen in top set (4)
    d. Put a restraint over the mouth of a lunatic (4)

    5.a. Soft material's fallen loosely around queen's back (7)
    b. Disregard gender in name chosen (7)
    c. Marine distributed cocaine (7)
    d. The second President's wife is a huge pain (7)

    6.a. Not even subjected to teasing (6)
    b. Misguide Twiggy about hairstyle (4,2)
    c. Macintosh maker touting initially small program (6)
    d. Electric guitar effect always found in R&B (6)

    7.a. Former senator consuming cold Italian sweet (5)
    b. Song of praise disturbed an ape (5)
    c. Be derisive of failure dogging science (5)
    d. Freight carried at the outset by Jason's ship (5)

    8.a. Kerosene only provides some lighting (4)
    b. Secure box with last piece of cord (4)
    c. Puppet put in hock (4)
    d. Flimsy article clipped (4)

    9.a. Heard regime come down (4)
    b. Smoked salmon eggs served after noon (4)
    c. Crudely paint name around west end of alley (4)
    d. Seabird's pirouette in the Sound (4)

    Copyright © 2000 by The Atlantic Monthly Company. All rights reserved.
    The Atlantic Monthly; February 2000; The Puzzler - 00.02; Volume 285, No. 2; page 107.