The Puzzler

By Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon

MAGIC

Some of the answers to this puzzle’s clues involve a magic trick, which is identified by the central Across entry in the diagram. Clue answers include five proper nouns; all other words except 8 Down (a common phrase not in most dictionaries) can be found in Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary.

The answers to last month’s Puzzler appear on page 69.

ACROSS

1. When garbage truck driver goes in reverse, there’s a need for surgery (9)

5. English monarch fighting in endless swirl (6)

10. Coming to peer behind a teacher’s back (7)

11. Between terminals, tramps wind (4)

12. Head decorator recalled medical assistance (6)

13. Piece with mushrooms in the middle eaten by group (8)

14. Products of static far off (9)

16. Folks from Indiana laugh off willowrods (6)

18. Monks in conversation with some nosy folks (6)

21. Tide penetrates dune, apparently (4)

24. Fungal growth most of the way hence (4)

27. Rocks to the start of salsa sounds (6)

29. Clergyman gets over love affair’s ending (6)

31. God is beginning to sit a spell (6)

32. Clobber cat, brain camel (8)

33. Chained outside, chopper got ready for takeoff (6)

34. Campus military group with cunning overturned vehicle (7)

35. Unruly brother caught in place of priest (10)

36. Hotshot’s housing Hair performers (9)

37. Left incense back of a monarch (6)

DOWN

1. Hot and bothered, I vacated Rio (11)

2. Indians most truly topless and bottomless (5)

3. Oxford pamphleteer misspelled “Antarctica,” using an “r” for a “c" (10)

4. Make Much Ado About Nothing creator mad about 1/3 of verses (9)

5. Obscure quote about medicine brought up (8)

6. During days, snarled traffic makes light change? (9)

7. A command initially enraged bear (5)

8. Frame OK for car! (8) (two words)

9. Study Eliot’s depressions (5)

15.Creates music about the last of George Burns (6)

17. Leave me out of income taxes when rearranging fees (9)

19. Wander into Section E in ornamental garden (8)

20. Con men—timid sorts? (8)

22. Ineptly protect lady from reptile (11)

23. Pull raincoat out about two times (10)

25. Spirited meeting among these ancestors (6)

26. Inside dining spot, a red wine holder (6)

27. Take away hoagie, returning pie with key inside (8)

28. Around middle of musical, lead up to medleys (5)

30. After love, each one works (5)

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 envelope to The Atlantic Puzzler, 8 Arlington Street, Boston, Mass. 02116.

Answers to the March Puzzles

“WORD SQUARE”

Across. 1. AF(FORES)T 6. WO(MA)N (NOW rev.) 10. BE(LI)EF 11.K(I)MON-O (monk anag.) 12. ORIEL (homoph. of oriole) 13.LI(STENE)D (teens anag.) 14. C-YPRES’s 16. TOFU (hidden) 17. THIS (anag.) 20. A-TO-P 21. PA(S)T 24. BIRD (homoph.) 26. NI-NA (rev.) 28. s(MEL)LED 32. S(AGUA)ROS (Ross anag.) 33. (o)DE-COR(n) 34. E-THANE 35. PAR(AD)E 36. SET ON (rev.) 37. S(EA) MILES Down. 1. AB(O)UT (rev.) 2. F(E-RV)OR 3. F-LIPF-LOP 4. RE(al)LY 5. S(T)IR 6.W(a)ITS 7. MO(N)TH 8. A(NEM)IC (rev.) 9. NODOSITY (anag.) 14. CU(S)PID’S 15.S(TIP)END 18. I-AMBUSES 19. MANIACAL (anag.) 22. PI(RAT)E 23. EN(CO)DE (need anag.) 25. RIGHT (homoph.) 27. A(C)RES 29. MANN (hidden) 30. LOVE (hidden rev.) 31. EDAM (rev.) Word Square. a. ADO-RE b. HER-ON c. CREDO (anag.) d. R-OVER e. MARCH (double def.)