The Christmas Crostic Challenge

[MikeyG]

PDF

Hello, puzzlers! ‘Tis the season to be solving…another conundrum by yours truly! If you feel like decking the halls with a wild enigmatic ride, then read on!

This year’s challenge is a crostic (sometimes called an anacrostic), which you can see depicted on the above PDF. If you know all about crostics, fine, skip all of this – but if you want some guidance on how they work, the premise is simple (the premise, not the puzzle itself!): there are a series of [CLUES] that you will answer (similar to those of a crossword). When you answer a clue, place one letter in each of the appropriate spaces in the [ANSWERS] region (thus, you know the length of all of the 30 answers already). Then, you will transfer these letters to the corresponding spaces in the [GRID] (note that the spaces in the grid are both numbered and also labeled with the letter corresponding to the clue to make cross-referencing your work simpler). When you have finished, the final question, instruction, or directive will be spelled out in the grid. Its answer is this year’s solution.

If you are new to crostics, there are several things to note:

1. As you solve the clues, you might find that you can decipher some of the words in the grid and might want to fill those out, transferring your new letters back to the answers of the clues. That’s good! Part of the strategy in solving a crostic is working back and forth between the grid and the clues.

2. In the [GRID] region, only black spaces (and NOT line breaks) separate words. For example, in this one, spaces 64 through 67 in the grid correspond to one single four-letter word, since no black square follows 64 (even though a line break does). Other parts of the crostic behave accordingly.

3. In a typical crostic (this is where the name comes from), the first letters of each of the answers to the clues – in order from first to last – will spell out the source and the origin of the quotation used in the grid. For this crostic, I am the source, so instead, what will be spelled out is a quip. Knowing this is an additional clue to help you in solving.

And even if you are NOT new to crostics, there are still several things to note about this one:

1. Many of the 30 clues (“A” through “DD”) that correspond to this crostic require a lot of outside information to solve. Obviously, you should use the Internet and other resources liberally if you attempt to crack this conundrum!

2. Many of the clues cross-reference each other; each time a clue is cross-referenced in an additional clue, it will be typeset like this: [Clue A]

3. Also scattered throughout the clues are eight numeric variables, defined as [A] through [H], that are the same value every time they appear. (Once you ascertain what the value of, say, [A] is, you can substitute that every time you see it referenced.)

When you think you have the answer, you may e-mail me at mrgraczyk at gmail dot com OR use the form here. Winners will be rewarded via a gift card and a donation made to a charity of their choice; there will also be a grand prize and a runner-up drawing this year, so stay tuned for that! The deadline is Monday, March 7, 2022, when visiting the same link will give the answer and solution guide. (I know, I still need to write up last year’s!!)

If you have any questions or clarifications, feel free to reach out via e-mail, and I will do my best to give you some slight guidance without sacrificing the essence of the solving experience.

Best of luck, and warm wishes for a happy holiday season!

Mike

[FrankieHeck]

Hold up, @MikeyG ...I think you accidentally sent out a link to a PhD qualifying exam...

[boharr]

It's for benchin71 for sure.

[madhatter5]

@Hector You haven't solved this yet? I'm disappointed

[Laura M]

This is indeed quite a journey, not to mention a masterwork creation! Thanks and kudos to @MikeyG!

[oldjudge]

Solved this evening—wonderful puzzle! Confirmed—thanks Mike.

[hoover]

Just found this! I'll download and find a way to print it out so I don't have to use Preview's "annotate" feature.

[rjy]

Bumping this... very cool puzzle, still solving, I've been doing a little each evening, but it's quite a piece of work. @FrankieHeck was spot on with his comment above!

[Al Sisti]

Loved this!

[whimsy]

I expect to be loving this for quite some time.

[hoover]

I think I submitted an answer late Saturday night / early Sunday morning, but it was in the wee hours and it was from my tablet, so I'm not sure I submitted successfully.

[MikeyG]

Hold up, @MikeyG ...I think you accidentally sent out a link to a PhD qualifying exam...

I kept the calculus to a minimum!

[hoover]

Hold up, @MikeyG ...I think you accidentally sent out a link to a PhD qualifying exam...

I kept the calculus to a minimum!

Oh man, I think I accidentally took the third derivative instead of the fourth. Oops!

This was an amazing puzzle. Several times while working on it I exclaimed aloud, "how do these people even MAKE these things??!" I tried reading one of the questions to my spouse, but she shook her head and covered her ears. At least two of the answers I got only through backfilling from the grid, and I backsolved them to check my work.

[Laura M]

At least two of the answers I got only through backfilling from the grid, and I backsolved them to check my work.

You're way ahead of me! I solved the right way for as many as I could, which turned out to be 17, though one was incorrect because I misunderstood the instructions. 8 more were either just crossword-style clues that I wasn't sure of, or I got to the last step and just couldn't think of the right synonym or whatever, and those became clear (and I also fixed my mistake) as I filled in the other letters. But the remaining 5 I still don't completely understand, even though I powered through to (what I'm pretty sure is) the right solution!

[Homer Buckle]

This took a long time to do, but was very satisfying to arrive at the answer. Thank you for posting this!

[whimsy]

Whoopie! So excited! I just finished it off after all!
I despaired when I first looked at all the clues but then it turned out to be like a rolling stone going down hill. The more I got, the easier it got.
I did manage to avoid most of the math; relied instead on words (and perhaps trying to think like Mike?) Hope that doesn't disqualify me! Wondering if now that I've got it I should go back and backsolve for all those I didn't actually get through the clues ---- Hmmm -- Nah! -- Well, maybe save that for another day...

And oh, yeah -- just an amazing puzzle! I probably will go back in order to thoroughly appreciate all its nooks and crannies!

[BrennerTJ]

Finished! Part 2 will be the back-solving... A most excellent puzzle!!

[MikeyG]

I'm actually a huge fan of reverse-engineering crostics, and I think part of it is figuring out, "Okay, where can I enter into this, and what would be my best path to starting the ball rolling down the hill?" Honestly, there's some of that in crosswords as well. Several have been back-solving and, in my book, that's part of the point!

Hope your holiday season is merry and bright so far!

Mikey G

[benchen71]

This puzzle is fiendishly difficult! I have 5 answers after an hour or so of work. I have 2 of the variables, and a few of the mystery items, but I've hit the wall. And it's the short clues that I'm finding most frustrating - I'm looking at you B, D, E, N, W and X!

I guess I'll get back into it at some stage over the Christmas break and see if I can chip away a bit more, knowing that if I can get a couple more answers I might be able to start doing some back-solving. But well done, @MikeyG for putting this thing together!

[MikeM000]

I'm digging into this now (maybe I'll come out of hiding in 3-17 weeks) but seeing clue A I'm all...Imogene Herdman? Hang on....

My wife's grandmother bought a cottage on Cape Cod in 1946; my in-laws met there, my wife and her sister spent time there each Summer growing up, and now we do the same with our kids. We have a postage-stamp sized plot 1/4 mile from the beach. But the very nice house on our street that is right up against the Atlantic Ocean was owned by a very nice older lady (now passed away) who, on her morning walk each day, would stop by our front porch and chat with our (then-) little girl and interact with her for a minute or 2 each day just in the name of pleasantness and good tidings.

That sweet old lady was Imogene Herdman's creator, enjoying her later years (she passed away maybe 5 years ago?) in a beautiful house on the beach, having profited in a lovely fashion from entertaining generations with Imogene and her crew.