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F E B R U A R Y  1 9 9 9

The February 1999 Puzzler

by Emily Cox & Henry Rathvon


Central Square

Previous Puzzlers:

  • "Cross-Training"
    December, 1998
  • "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

    		•  When all clue answers have been entered in the diagram, the 5 x 5 shaded area will feature a miniature crossword known as a "word square," in which the five Across entries are the same as the five Down entries. The central entry of this word square must be deduced. Clue answers include ten capitalized words.

    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

    Across
    3. Regular streets looped by Wood Circle (5-6)
    10. Carnal desire is mostly irregular (4)
    11. Rock-and-rollers live at The Parisian (7)
    12. "Arch and sway," sweetheart said (7)
    13. Current in the sound is a potential shipping hazard (4)
    16. Cry about style in French city (6)
    17. Tool Time led by French film director (6)
    18. Furred animals were skinned in front of tunnel (6)
    20. In tub, note something drawn (6)
    21. Turner runs the premiere of Robert E. Lee with a retraction (6)
    24. Nothing gained by habitual failure or slacker (6)
    27. Start in behind hoop gear (6)
    29. Before afternoon, a reversing in the current rate? (6)
    30. Staff eating fruit turned fat (6)
    32. In Quebec, I satisfy a certain Catholic (6)
    34. Minirecession holds back isle (4)
    35. Note: Jay won't do exercises (3,4)
    36. Argue the pros and cons of plate thrown before the start of supper (7)
    37. Article followed by O'Neill's first name (4)
    38. Methods seen working for a Greek statesman (11)

    Down
    1. Eat meal, burp rudely, and go for a walk (11)
    2. Midwestern city has controlled storage facility (7)
    3. Thin metal sword (4)
    4. Sound made by pace-setter is something groovy (6)
    5. What's true about Madonna's face, even (6)
    6. Repaired street layer (6)
    7. Poetic Indian went fast, straddling Silver (6)
    8. I pound and pound Shakespeare in malice (3,4)
    9. Sign of the end of Iron Age (4)
    14. Midafternoon prayer comes up around porch occasionally (4,3,4)
    15. In conversation, nails part of a contract (6)
    19. Passion rising in mountains and deserts (6)
    22. Bribe the guy's mother at first with devious rhetoric (7)
    23. Wrong side of England we'd strengthened (7)
    25. Dark passage in Egypt's earliest puzzle (6)
    26. Combat is breaking up peace (6)
    27. Bird with a pronounced halo (6)
    28. Lousy wreck to rent (6)
    31. Port town that is under East River (4)
    33. Interjections "slime" uttered (4)

    Copyright © 1999 by The Atlantic Monthly Company. All rights reserved.
    The Atlantic Monthly; February 1999; The Puzzler; Volume 283, No. 2; page 107.
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