Contingencies Online - January/February 2013

Cryptic Puzzle toM toCe
South of the Equator

You all reallY lIkeD the puzzle, “Spiral Galaxy,” from the September/ October issue of Contingencies. There must be something appealing to actuaries about being able to read the same letters backward or forward and having them make sense. It’s either dyslexia or some deeper truth about the actuarial personality. Many of you were impressed by my skill in putting 100 letters together that could be read either way, although, in truth, it was one of the easiest constructions I’d ever done.

My dilemma was how to give you the same thrill and yet not repeat myself. (See “I Never Do Anything Twice,” from the May/June 2009 issue of the magazine.) Then I hit on this brilliant idea.

The diagram below is completely different from that in “Spiral Galaxy.” The earlier diagram was a counterclockwise (or widdershins, if you will) spiral. This one is clockwise (deiseil). It reminds me of a cyclone in the Southern Hemisphere.

When completed, the grid will form two sets of words, one reading inward from one to 100 and another reading outward from 100 to one. Every space will be used exactly twice.

There are four proper nouns, one foreign word, and one two-word answer. Everything else is playable in Scrabble.

Ignore punctuation, which is designed to confuse.

Thanks to Eric Klis and Bob Fink, for test-solving and editorial suggestions.

Inward Clues

■ ■ Big deals for LA in hoops ( 1-7)

■ ■ See river flowing in dreams ( 8-15)

■ ■ Greek adviser fit inside another operating room ( 16-21)

■ ■ Splendid garments I treat indiscriminately ( 22-27)

■ ■ Drug regimen cut short by Florence’s influential family ( 28-33)

■ ■ Prominent star, before a bit of nudity, is one who eats no animal products ( 34-38)

■ ■ Mario Andretti drove this vehicle both ways around Europe (two words) ( 39-45)

■ ■ Go back to slipshod rote creed ( 46-54)

■ ■ Dubious Democrat is installed editor (55-62)

■ ■ Colorless redactor and interpreter (63-67)

■ ■ Organizes balls on Mars, in a manner of speaking (68-72)

■ ■ Out of the ordinary but irrefutably rectangular around the edges (73-81)

■ ■ Firebrand shelled here below (82-86)

■ ■ Naughty behavior of Dotty and Bess (87-93)

■ ■ Talked trash of race at specialty food shop counter (94-100)

outward Clues ■ ■ Takes an organ from Carrie’s baby no longer? (100-93) ■ ■ Okay to ship fur featuring tail? (92-85) ■ ■ Yankee’s superstar showcased in September race (84-80)