Sunday Puzzle Blogging: "Don't Get Crabby" Edition
Sun Jun 15, 2008 at 02:36:40 AM PDT
I know I haven't been posting many puzzles lately; summer makes for different kind of brain space. I have, however, found the time this week to come up with a new acrostic, along with a couple others.
As usual, remember the simple rules: don't post answers in subject lines. Instead, post subjects such as "*ACROSTIC 1,2,3*" with the answers or suggestions included inside the subject.
PUZZLE #1 is a simple trivia question, and I don't know the answer to it:
What kind of crab is this? I spotted it in Wellfleet, MA, and don't know anything about crabs at all. This may be incredibly easy or not so much so, but I think it's probably an easy one.
Below, I'll include the directions for the acrostics, as well as the other puzzles.
Note: the photos shown here are all clickable, and will bring you to larger versions
Instructions for ACROSTICS:
The rules for an acrostic are simple: for each row, the answer is of increasing length, such as a five-letter word, a six-letter word and a seven-letter word. Each next size word is formed by adding a letter to the previous answer and scrambling.
In the box in-between each answer, put the extra letter. I.e., if your answers were:
ITEMS, MISTER and RED MIST
You'd place an "R" in the box between ITEMS and MISTER and a "D" between MISTER and RED MIST.
When you solve the whole puzzle, you will get related words in the down columns.
From now on, I won't be including the acrostic grid in the puzzles, but instead let you all guess the layout as part of the puzzle. I.e., if I were to include the following acrostic:
I could reference it as 9 x 4-5-6. But I might, instead, just let you figure out that the down words are 9 letters long and sort out the 4-5-6 on your own. In previous puzzles I have consistently kept the word lengths consistent, but I don't promise that this will always be true. I.e., one set might be 4-5-6, and another might be 5-6-7.
I may also sometimes do a trick on the down words (such as reversing the order of one, or switching the first names (in one puzzle I used JOHN ROMNEY and MITT MCCAIN as the answers). I may even possibly use anagrams.
PUZZLE #2: decipher the following: (solved!)
SWELL
SWELL
SWELL
SWELL
SWELL
THATWELL
The answer gets 679,000 hits on google and is a five word phrase.
PUZZLE #3: a cryptolist. Replace the letters in the list below with the appropriate letters (solved!):
BSAAD PKXDNHGD FHGJQ
SAHUKD HDF TSGPUNKDA
YGSA FKB JHRA
YGOA TAYKSA MCHKU
TGSFGDB DAL ADBJHDF
Intermission:
This is a photo I took of what I think is a silver-spotted skimmer feeding off of a chive flower with a small ant right next to it. The ant was small enough that I didn't even notice it was there when I took the photo.
PUZZLE #4: make your choice
Pick the right answer in the poll below
PUZZLE #5: the aforementioned acrostic
- Attracted the attention of the fuzz?
- Photosensitivity?
- Testify!
- Event
- This is all about #2
- Unblemished
- A common use for corn?
- Flattery
- Solid
- These don't pass with #2
- People who are #9 use this
- Port
- This is not a real clue
- Helped
- #12 locale
- Ignore this clue
- Basic French writer
- Look! A red herring!
- O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!
- Christian in costume?
- Blast
- Meander
- Like a rose
- I'm not real
PUZZLE #6: a geometrical puzzler (solved!)
If the length of the following square is 20cm, what's the total area of the area in burgundy?
note: all squares within this square are at the same relative angle to one another. I.e., if the first square inscribed inside the main square is at a 73o angle, all the others are as well.
That's it for the puzzles this week. Hope y'all enjoy my first try in some time, and hope that the acrostic isn't too vexing. A couple of the answers are definitely in the "use google" category, but most are very common words and/or phrases.
I will close with one more photo of a Ruby-Throated Hummingbird, feeding off of a bleeding heart:
As usual, clicking on the photo gets you to a larger version.
