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S E P T E M B E R  1 9 9 8

The September 1998 Puzzler

by Emily Cox & Henry Rathvon


Service With a Smile
Discuss this feature in the Word Games & Puzzles conference of Post & Riposte.


Previous Puzzlers:
  • "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

    		•  THIS is a "Theme and Variations" puzzle, featuring three theme words each having three variations played on it. For example, if a theme word were PIRATES, its variations might be PARTIES, TRAIPSE, and PASTIER (anagrams); or HOOK, SILVER, and BLUEBEARD (examples); or PRATES,RATES, and RATS (letter deletions). Three of the Variation words in this puzzle are capitalized, as are two clue answers; 12 Across and 25 Down are chiefly British usages; 5 Down and 28 Down are not in common use.

    See the solution to last month's Puzzler.

    Clues

    Across
    1. Decorated racer in winter gets smart (8)
    6. Variation on B
    11. Reach for pair of tablets in a box (6)
    12. Foreign watch, by the sound of it (7)
    13. Put back Iranian money in hiding place (4)
    14. Not very bright in one's hour with shrink (8)
    15. Cipher called for great ape (5)
    16. A Coke is stirred with a teaspoon for a meal item (7)
    17. One calling again placed toward the front (6)
    20. Variation on A
    21. Rock said, "Thousand bucks still not paid" (5)
    22. Theme Words A, B, and C
    26. Variation on C
    27. Get out most of Grace's anagrams (9)
    30. Object in space, initially off in distance (6)
    32. A tenor housed in noble Italian family's properties (7)
    34. I count (backwards) 100 notes (5)
    35. Composer reversed part for a soloist? (8)
    36. Variation on C
    37. Contract G-man returned near the end of day (7)
    38. Precious antique, in general (6)
    39. Variation on C
    40. Chick's covering each street in Maine (4,4)

    Down
    1. Odd characters in small-town drawing room (5)
    2. Man, pig, rat, ape, bird (9)
    3. Iran: an awfully fanciful land (6)
    4. Variation on A
    5. Unmanly saga: "Trio of enemies" (7)
    6. "A flock of geese," I answer, "is for the birds" (6)
    7. Variation on B
    8. Insect that's a little pain in the neck? (7)
    9. Try middle of seesaw, for example (5)
    10. Hardy heroine has the last word in docility (8)
    14. Passes out cold at the conclusion, accompanied by cheers (5)
    18. Variation on A
    19. The guy's caught by a drop's sticky stuff (9)
    20. Sees what people say is left on messy diapers (3-5)
    23. Wonder about automobile in distance (7)
    24. Moor let loose a quavery note (7)
    25. Had a bite during Mr. Mom (5)
    27. Wet and icy pigpen shelters Civil War general (6)
    28. Lou & Bel messed up a furniture design (6)
    29. Stick with employees (5)
    31. Variation on B
    33. Roth attempts penning pronoun

    Copyright © 1998 by The Atlantic Monthly Company. All rights reserved.
    The Atlantic Monthly; September 1998; The Puzzler; Volume 282, No. 3; page 139.
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