Welcome to Sunday Puzzle Warm-Up, a weekly series for people who enjoy light mental exercise spiced with politics, humor, and odd bits of trivia.
The theme of the warm-up puzzles in recent weeks has been good quotes. Last week's quote was from God, who posted it on Twitter on April 7th: "The first step to recovering from repeatedly shooting unarmed black people is admitting you’re repeatedly shooting unarmed black people."
Here's tonight's quote:
Ihas both tfcknohefxd as if aloam kfsknf xs esao iotamugoaf them alf XRo pmehyfutf. Uoramonnd, aloam tfcknohetd go nsad. Aloa’tm kusgognd bld alf rlouorafuth yonnf xuftth them ahzlah rstamiftf ioexo zs gousmexo almikhezf alf tlham bsmaf vsph iforlm xsalfus.
I had a different quote in mind to use tonight, but when I ran across this one I knew I had to use it. Google the quote if you're curious for more details; or I'll provide a link next week to the site where I found it. It's a good story.
Of course, you'll need to decode the quote first.
It's pretty easy to decode. Be warned though: it's not a regular cryptogram. It's a Crypto-Gremlin (a kind of cryptogram which can't be solved by computer code-cracking programs which run through all the possible letter substitutions, but can be solved through the use of your wits).
If you're not familiar with how Crypto-Gremlins work you can find an explanation here. (And you can find a handy tool to help you with letter substitutions here.)
Tonight's diary also includes a new JulieCrostic which reveals the source of tonight's quote (and a full explanation of how JulieCrostics work, for the benefit of any newcomers). The clues and the puzzle party are waiting for you right below the orange cloud.
Tonight's JulieCrostic puzzle has 5 rows, with 3 answers per row. When you've solved the puzzle the verticals will identify the source of tonight's quotation.
If you're familiar with how JulieCrostics work, you can jump right in; if you're new and don't yet know how JulieCrostics work, you can find complete instructions in the bottom part of the diary.
(Also if you're new, a request: please don't post any answers or other spoilers in comment subject lines. Instead, please put any guesses at possible answers into the comment itself. Thanks!)
Okay, I think that covers the basics. Here are the clues. Have fun, and I'll see you in comments!
1. had sex
2.
3. order
4. high point or climax
5. clandestine
6. reads out loud
7. fear
8. broke in
9. held in high regard
10. mug
11. Christmas decoration
12. cracker
13. guys
14. shines with delight
15. distorts
instructions for solving JulieCrostics
In JulieCrostics you are given a set of clues, such as these:
To solve the puzzle, figure out the answers to the clues and enter them into a grid of rows and columns, like so:
All the rows in the grid will be the same length (i.e. have the same number of answers). All the answers in a column will be the same length (i.e. have the same number of letters). And the words in each column are one letter longer than the words in the column to its left. That's because each word in a row has all the letters of the word before it plus one new letter.
For instance, if the clues for a row were
1. say what's not so
2. resting
3. concede
then the answers might be LIE, IDLE (= LIE + D), and YIELD (= IDLE + Y)
Write the added letter in the space between the word which doesn't have it and the word which does. For the row in the example you'd write:
1. LIE D 2. IDLE Y 3. YIELD
When you have solved all the clues and written down all the added letters, the added letters will form columns that spell out a message of some sort. It might be a person's name, it might be the title of a book, it might be a familiar phrase, or it might be a series of related words. Your challenge is to solve all the clues, fill in the vertical columns, and figure out what the vertical columns mean.
In the example given, the verticals read DAIL YKOS. With proper spacing and capitalization that spells out Daily Kos!