Safari Park
Kevin Wald
The clues can be solved as anagram clues from a Puns and Anagrams puzzle; that is, each clue is a clue for the answer, and also contains an anagram of the answer. The answers (with anagrams in parentheses) are:
ALEPH-ZERO (er hep Zola)
BENEATH NOTICE (the nice bat one)
COLUMBIAN (coin album)
DIAMOND SETTER (master I net odd)
FALSE POSITIVE (Sol I've a pest if)
GERM CELLS (GMC seller)
INTERWOVE (twine over)
LAWGIVERS (girl waves)
MULTITALENTED (melt and tile tu)
ORTHOSILICATE (It is cool Earth)
POLYGENES (peony legs)
ROCK MUSIC (sic or muck)
SPEARMINT (PR names it)
TWISTIEST (twit's ties)
UTILITIES ('til I use it)
VALVE STEM (Val vets 'em)
Each word must be entered in the grid, with its first letter on a pig's head and continuing in the shape of the corresponding symbol in the pigpen cipher (hinted at by the reference to "sty-dwelling brethren"). There is only one way to do this:
##MUSIC#E#### ##K#S#OV#S#O# ##C#r#L#OHTRO RWOVEAu#SLLEC E#R#VTMBIAnZM T###IGWALEPHR NMULTI#IICATE ITIVET#BSENEG S##t#ARETTECY OP##IL#NI#sIL PDETNEIE##DTO ESLAFMSATHNOP ####RTDIAMO##
(Note: There are two common variants of the pigpen cipher, depending on whether X-without-dot comes before or after #-with-dot. This puzzle uses the variant where it comes after, hence the note at the bottom.)
Five of the cipher symbols used (L, M, O, P and R) have a dot; assuming these dots are centered, the letters where the dots would fall (shown in lowercase in the grid above) give, top to bottom, the answer: RUNTS.