Vanna's Nightmare

solution

Red


abcdefghijklmn
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

All of the white squares above should contain letters such that the horizontal strings of letters are words. The clues below will help you fill the grid, although alone they do not determine a unique fill; you'll need to bring your hangman skills to the table as well as your logic skills.

NOTE: If a clue says a word reads upward or downward in a column, that word may skip over black squares, but not other letters.

CLUES

1. The first two letters in Row 1 and then the first two letters in Row 2 spell something you'd get at a coffee shop. The second and third letter in Row 1 and then the second and third letter in Row 2 spell something you leave at a barbershop.

2. There are only two G's in the grid; one in each word in Row 4.

3. Reading downward in Column l is a four-letter irregular past tense form of a verb. Reading upward in the same column are both a subject pronoun and the corresonding object pronoun (each of which is at least two letters long.)

4. Reading upward in Column a, starting with the bottom letter is a three-letter irregular past tense form of a verb.

5. The squares e3, e7, and h6 contain the same letter; these are the only occurrences in the grid of this letter.

6. Rows 2, 4, 5, 6, and 8 contain the same state abbreviation; in two rows it reads backward in adjacent squares, in two rows it reads forward in adjacent squares, and in one row it reads forward skipping over one black square.

7. If square d2 contained an I (which it doesn't), the rectangle with corners at c2 and d7 would be a 3 x 2 rectangle of 2 x 1 blocks, in which each block contains either two R's or a moon of Jupiter reading downward. No "moon block" shares an edge with another "moon block," and no "RR block" shares an edge with another "RR block."

8. Starting with square 7a and reading in a diagonal line is the three-letter central principle of a certain religion.

9. Row 8 contains two consecutive letters of the alphabet in adjacent squares (in order from left to right.)

10. Each of the five T's in the grid is horizontally adjacent to an H or an A (but not both.)

11. The first three letters in Column h reading downward spell a garland associated with the Aloha State.

12. There are three U's in the grid; each is in either Row 2 or 9. Two of them are the third letter of one of a pair of words which start with the same three letters; these two occur in different rows. The third U is the seventh letter in its column.

13. The "first names" of a famous couple with the surname Kettle read forward in Rows 6 and 7.

14. Exactly three N's share an edge or corner with square e2. There are also exactly three N's in Column i.

15. The letters in Column n, readng upward, spell an MIT abbreviation for someone who would keep the peace or someone who would wear a costume piece.

16. The only Y in the grid is in Row 3; the letters to its left and right are the same.

17. In exactly three rows, Columns d and e contain the same letter.

18. The last three letters in Column k are consecutive letters of the alphabet in order reading downward.

19. The five letters in column g reading downward spell something you might see at a rodeo.

20. Columns f and j each contain exactly one O; these O's are in the same row.

21. Row 7 contains exactly four S's; three are in one word, one is in the other.

22. Square h2 contains the same letter as one of its diagonal neighbors; h2 and this neighbor do not contain T's, but each of them is diagonally adjacent to a T.