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Frontal Lobotomy

by Jeffrey Harris and Dave Shukan


The clues refer to key words appearing in print advertisements for Absolut Vodka, each ad having the distinctive Absolut bottle shape that the product's marketing is known for.

Apart from solving the clues and trying websearches to determine what the solution words have in common (since, by themselves, some will have multiple answers), clues to the theme of the puzzle are:

FRONTAL LOBOTOMY = the old "bottle in front of me" joke
"seeing spots" = advertisements
"Indubitably" = "absolutely"

The clues and answers are:

Adam Smith's birthplace EDINBURGH
Breed of cattle JERSEY
Chuck Woolery show GREED
Deadlocked HUNG
"Earthsea" genre FANTASY
Flyer's woe JETLAG
Good manners ETIQUETTE
Having dirt above UNDERGROUND
It's on the Tagus LISBON
John of Barton Fink GOODMAN

Match each answer to the print advertisement containing that answer word (e.g., "Absolut Edinburgh") -- one online archive is here: http://www.absolutad.com. Then, resize and rotate the advertisement so that the base of the neck of the depicted bottle coincides with the two dots in the puzzle. When this is done appropriately, one letter will be exactly framed by the rectangle appearing above the clue (this fit can help with the appropriate resizing and orientation as well). Arrange those letters in order of their associated clues (which start with A-J), to get the solution phrase: GRETA GARBO.