Who Am I and What Have I Done?
HOW TO PLAY In this
sample puzzle, your goal
is to discover the name of
a famous person, plus
something this person
wrote. (If you don’t know
some of the answers it’s
perfectly okay to look
them up.) (1) To find the
person, keep track of the
four clues that contain a
factual error, write the
answers to those clues
off to one side, then
pronounce the four words
in order (as they appear in
the grid, starting at the
top and moving
downward). (2) To find
what the person wrote,
just scan the completed
grid for a 12-letter word.
(It’s a little tricky, but it’s
there.) NOTE: Every
letter of the alphabet will
appear at least once in the
grid. (However, it’s not
necessary to solve the
entire puzzle. As long as
you have the answers to
Questions 1 and 2, you’re
basically done.) So ...
who is the person and
what did he or she write?
(For the answers, see
page 2 of this document.)
ACROSS
1Rikki who sang “It
Must Be Him”
4The lowest part of
the brain, the ___
oblongata
9Musical instrument
in which each letter
appears twice except
the “k”
1
2
3
a sample puzzle by Merl Reagle
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
15
14
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
33
11Safari sight
12“Shampoo” actress
(and Oscar-winner)
whose name is made
up of two famous
Revolutionary War
generals, ___ Grant
13Pond croakers
14Home where the deer
and the antelope play
15Hebrew letter that’s
hidden in “solipsistic”
16Anagram of “no
raid,” although it
actually is a raid
18Take a hike
21These are the good
old days
23Early stage of
development
24Cruise-Nicholson
film, “A Few Decent
___”
32
34
26Caper, prank, or any
bit of tomfoolery
28Backyard barbecue
spot
29Michael Caine
comedy, “Blame It
on ___”
30Board of inquiry?
31Cold advice: Drink
plenty of these
33Trees that anagram
into Boston’s river
34Really big show
7Find the product of
(two or more
numbers)
8Weather ___ (winddirection instrument)
10Stitch together
17Parthenon’s locale
19Blanche DuBois’s
dependence: “the ___
of strangers”
20Fashionable little shop
22Courtroom do-over
25Finger-shaped
cream-filled pastry
DOWN
26Splitting it releases
2Kwik-E-Mart
energy
proprietor on “The 27Vex, or three-fourths
Simpsons”
of Michael Douglas’s
3Artificial eloquence
dad’s first name
4Powerful whirlpool 32Little mischief maker
5Gecko or iguana
6Tirana is its capital © 2011 by M. Reagle
C A R
M
P
U K U L
L
T
F R
I
P S I
L
Y O R E
E
A N T I
T
R
O U I J
M
A
L A
R
M E D
H
A
E L E
S
T
L E E
OG S
W
R
T
I N R O A
C
O
C
E M B R
E
O
C
I
P
L
R I O
A
K
L
I
I
R C H E S
U L
I
Z
A
R
D
D
B
Y O
U
A T
I
I Q
U
E
L A
L
V
E B R A
A
N
A N G E
I
WA L K
I
M E N
D
I O
N
E
U I D S
M
S
X P O
Solution to “Who Am I and What Have I Done?”
The three incorrect clues are:
1 Across -- “Rikki” should be “Vikki.”
Answer: CARR.
12 Across -- “Revolutionary” War should be “Civil” War.
Answer: LEE
15 Across -- “Hebrew” should be “Greek.”
Answer: PSI
24 Across -- “Decent” should be “Good.”
Answer: MEN
The four words, CARR, LEE, PSI, MEN, when pronounced
together, sound like CARLY SIMON. And her Top 20 song
of 1971, “ANTICIPATION,” can be seen spanning the grid,
starting at 26 Across. (The song was famously used in Heinz
Ketchup commercials in the 1970s and ’80s to underscore
how slowly the ketchup poured.) I hope “anticipation” also
describes what most solvers will feel about the National
Brain Game Challenge!
Extra Features
The large black shapes in the grid show a C and an S twice
(one is upside-down), and those are Carly’s initials.
Another song of hers is lurking in the grid, “You’re So Vain”
(YORE, SEW, VANE), but that song title is not “a 12-letter
word,” as the instructions state, so it’s simply a red herring.
The clue to YORE, “These are the good old days,” is the
closing lyric to “Anticipation.” It is sung seven times before
the song ends.
By the way, in addition to fostering “anticipation” of the
contest I thought that a Carly Simon puzzle was appropriate
for another reason -- her family’s connection to crosswords.
Carly’s father Richard Simon was the co-founder of Simon
& Schuster, and the company’s very first book, published in
1924, was the first-ever crossword book. --MR