Instructions for this variety cryptic are below. Originally published in The Enigma, the monthly magazine of the National Puzzlers' League, January 2000.
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ A B C D E F G H
Clues are listed in the order in which the blocks drop into the diagram. The first letter of each solution word tells you the leftmost column occupied by the block. The other four letters are randomly placed to form the block.
X XXX |
1 | Hot stuffing for the German restaurant (5) |
XX XX |
2 | @%!$ on strip left after Broadway opening (5) |
X X XX |
3 | Baseball catcher is good at nothing ... (5) |
X X XX |
4 | ... so long as receivers can't keep the lead (5) |
X XX X |
5 | Ideal barrier keeps river by marine terminal (5) |
X X X X |
6 | Get to the point by the end of today, darling (5) |
X X X X |
7 | Around West Coast city, turn on security device (5) |
X XX X |
8 | Desserts and bit of lemonade going into coolers (5) |
XX XX |
9 | Dog tag: John Early (5) |
X XX X |
10 | Fading thought ... Recall ... sleep state disappears (5) |
XX XX |
11 | Lincoln has nothing against heaven (5) |
X XX X |
12 | Fool pens an epic (5) |
X XX X |
13 | Sharp note at beginning of record is quiet (5) |
X XXX |
14 | Specific conclusion about hydrogen is rejected (5) [2 words] |
XX XX |
15 | Paper's retainer describes overture from Sexy Spice (5) |
XXX X |
16 | Timid people back away from guts in tropical fruit (5) |
XX X X |
17 | Naive environmentalist (5) |
XXX X |
18 | Wild conifer allows sampling (5) |
XX XX |
19 | Similar to past gossip -- not real (5) |
XXX X |
20 | Asiatic people's deities made flesh less tan, mostly (5) [NI3] |
Clues are listed in the order in which rows are completed, which is not necessarily from bottom to top. When a row is completely filled, an 8-letter word will appear and the row "clears" from the diagram and can be ignored. See instructions below for details about how blocks fall past cleared words.
| a | In all seriousness, brave (no adult) goes after fish (8) |
| b | Stay for a while about Puerto Rico with one temptress (8) |
| c | State bordered by Missouri has no island, it is an island (8) |
| d | Strauss album beginning with treble half gone is worth collecting (8) |
| e | Copywriter slammed Ponderosa, leaving nothing out (8) [RH2] |
| f | Newscaster, missing article: "Call back worker!" (8) [NI3] |
| g | Derek and I join endless TV show for panels (8) [NI3] |
| g | Loathing steadiest travels without end (8) |
| h | Louvre flyer depicts harlot (8) |
| h | Head of obstetrics overwhelmed by a viral mutated run of smallpox (8) [NI3] |
For my final project in CS class, I've written yet another Tetris clone. Here's how you play the game.
Blocks, made of four contiguous squares, drop down from the top of the board one at a time and come to rest at the bottom, sitting on top of any blocks that may be there already. If a complete, uninterrupted row is filled with squares, then those squares "clear," disappearing from the board, and any stray squares above drop down to fill in the space. The object is to go as long as you can, trying to fit the blocks in a pattern so that as few gaps are buried in lower rows as possible. If your blocks pile up in incomplete rows until they reach the top of the board, then your game is over.
In my version, each block contains four letters, taken randomly from the last four letters of the five-letter answer to the corresponding Block clue. The shape of each block is given for each clue. (As in regular Tetris, you can't flip the blocks; unlike in regular Tetris, you won't need to rotate them either.) The blocks will fall in order from 1 - 20. The first letter of each answer tells you the leftmost column, A - H, that any square from that block appears in.
When you fill an entire row with squares, forming an eight-letter word and leaving no gaps, that row "clears": it disappears from the board and any squares above it drop down to fill in the space. The squares above will not drop down to fill a gap in a row, however; letters always stay in their rows.
You may find that you sometimes have a gap, and then you end up dropping a block over it so that it's covered. The gap can't be filled until the rows with squares that cover the gap clear. You may want to shade your completed rows lightly so you know they're gone.
For example, in the diagram, the A block falls to fill the gap in the bottom row, since the row containing "COMPLETE" has cleared and can be ignored.
A AA A | | | A AA COMPLETE AXXXXXXX
The words in the row are clued, and labeled a - h, in the order in which they clear from the board. The two "g" words clear at the same time, as do the two "h" clues.
Fill in all ten rows to win the game!
Words can be found in Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, 10th Edition [10C] unless tagged. Words tagged [NI3] are in Merriam-Webster's New International, Third Edition, and words tagged [RH2] are in Random House, Second Edition.