And You Thought My Articles Were Hard to Make Sense Of

A few years ago, the New Yorker ran a weekly cryptic puzzle. I toiled endlessly to create the cryptic below, which I sent to the New Yorker for publication in the exact week that they stopped running the puzzles. So here it is for your mind-bending pleasure.

The key to solving cryptics is mental repunctuation of each clue while realizing that within each clue is both its answer and the key to solving it. For example, if the clue reads, "Pressures slender boy (5,2)," the answer will be two words, the first 5 letters long, the second 2 letters long. In this case, the answer is, "Leans on," which is a synonym for "pressures." The rest of the clue, "slender boy," is another way of saying "lean son," which, when recombined, yields "leans on."

Got that?

There are other types of cryptic clues. A common one is forming an anagram out of part of the clue to provide a synonym for the rest of the clue. For example, the answer to "Navy prepared a drama (6)" is "armada," solved by rearranging "a drama" (that is, "preparing" those words) to spell "armada," a synonym for "navy." In general, look for words in the clue that indicate action or direction; these are the keys to unlocking that clue. The exception to this rule is double synonym clues, such as "Reserve tome (4)," the answer to which is "book," which is a synonym for "reserve" and "tome." There are other types of clues, too. Here's a lengthy guide to solving cryptics.

Every block will have a letter in it when you're done. Send me your correctly completed copy, and I'll come up with a fun prize for you. (Unless, that is, you're a friend of the five people who have already submitted the correct answers so far.) Send your answers in the body of an e-mail. I recommend printing this page before attempting to solve. Have fun!