Solvers are presented with two alphabetized sets of 14 clues and a list of 14 names. Many of the clues are a bit odd: things like “Isthmus in the direction of,” or “The heavenly bodies,” that seem to clue only parts of prepositional phrases, or nouns with leading articles, and the like. Many of the left set of clues begin with “(The)”; none of the right set do.
(The) 1989 Transvision Vamp album | (THE) VELVETEEN |
2013 Virginia Gilbert film ___ Home | A LONG WAY FROM |
Belonging to the eldest Brontë | CHARLOTTE’S |
Belonging to the person who sired me | MY FATHER’S |
(The) Decline to raise a bet | (THE) CALL |
Estimate the extent to which I adore | GUESS HOW MUCH I LOVE |
Folk album ___ Your Window | MY SIDE OF |
(The) Hinged barrier to entry amidst | (THE) DOOR IN |
Isthmus in the direction of | BRIDGE TO |
(The) Legal drinking age in the United States | (THE) TWENTY-ONE |
Of one twelfth of an hour | FIVE MINUTES’ |
(The) Little Earthquakes tune “Happy ____” | (THE) PHANTOM |
Pal of mine | MY FRIEND |
“___ Rigby” | ELEANOR |
Album by Brad Roberts and Rob Morsberger | MIDNIGHT GARDEN |
Auditorium, in theater lingo | HOUSE |
Kin | FAMILY |
King’s heir | PRINCE |
Lasting twenty-four hours | FOR A DAY |
New name of P.W. Botha Airport | GEORGE |
Shot glasses full of water ordered from a bar | BLUE DOLPHINS |
Subsequent period of twelve months | NEXT YEAR |
Swine | PIG |
The heavenly bodies | THE STARS |
The nuisance | THE PEST |
Tropical stone fruit avenue | MANGO STREET |
Upper limit | CEILING |
Your future destinations | THE PLACES YOU’LL GO |
The left clues each give the opening portion of a title, and the right clues the closing portion. This split means that the right-hand clues never have to deal with cluing a leading “The,” while the left-hand clues sometimes do. In those cases, the article is provided en clair, in parentheses.
Many of these answers should remind solvers of well-known titles from children’s literature. The list of names may ring similar bells, but the names given are not quite the names of the people who wrote the books. Instead, they are one author’s first name and another’s surname. These names are to be used to pair up the clue answers into smushed-together book titles (capitalized portions below):
NORTON Juster | (The) PHANTOM Tollbooth |
The Man in the CEILING |
Jules FEIFFER |
RICHARD Peck | A LONG WAY FROM Chicago |
The Edge of NEXT YEAR |
Mary STOLZ |
MARGERY Williams | (The) VELVETEEN Rabbit |
The Little PRINCE |
Antoine DE SAINT-EXUPÉRY |
E. B. White | CHARLOTTE’S Web |
All-of-a-Kind FAMILY |
Sydney TAYLOR |
MARGUERITE de Angeli | (The) DOOR IN the Wall |
Number THE STARS |
Lois LOWRY |
MARY O’Hara | MY FRIEND Flicka |
Interstellar PIG |
William SLEATOR |
RUTH Stiles Gannett | MY FATHER’S Dragon |
The Napping HOUSE |
Audrey WOOD |
RAINBOW Rowell | ELEANOR & Park |
Ramona THE PEST |
Beverly CLEARY |
WILLIAM Pène du Bois | (The) TWENTY-ONE Balloons |
Island of the BLUE DOLPHINS |
Scott O’DELL |
SAM McBratney | GUESS HOW MUCH I LOVE You |
Curious GEORGE |
H. A. and Margret REY |
JEAN Craighead George | MY SIDE OF the Mountain |
The House on MANGO STREET |
Sandra CISNEROS |
JACK London | (The) CALL of the Wild |
Dog FOR A DAY |
Dick GACKENBACH |
KATHERINE Paterson | BRIDGE TO Terabithia |
Oh, THE PLACES YOU’LL GO! |
Dr. SEUSS |
JILL Murphy | FIVE MINUTES’ Peace |
Tom’s MIDNIGHT GARDEN |
Philippa PEARCE |
The title suggests what to do next: take the complement of these titles, smushing together the unused (left) portion of the clues that were presented on the right with the unused (right) portion of the clues that were presented on the left. Doing this, you obtain:
(The) Man in the | Tollbooth |
(The) Edge of | Chicago |
(The) Little | Rabbit |
All-of-a-Kind | Web |
Number | the Wall |
Interstellar | Flicka |
(The) Napping | Dragon |
Ramona | & Park |
Island of the | Balloons |
Curious | You |
(The) House on | the Mountain |
Dog | of the Wild |
Oh | Terabithia |
Tom’s | Peace |
The next step is indicated by the formatting and the flavor (“open and close”): find acrostics in the first and last letters reading MELANIN RICH DOT and HOT BLANK SUNDAE, respectively. MELANIN RICH DOT clues FRECKLE; HOT BLANK SUNDAY clues FUDGE. These are each halves of the titles of Judy Blume books: Freckle Juice and Superfudge. Repeating the use-the-complementary-part step, smush together SUPER and JUICE to obtain the puzzle answer SUPERJUICE.