The Official Scrabble(R) Players Dictionary, that arbitrary collection of English words revered (and cursed) by game enthusiasts, is the source for this year's puzzle. Below are some cryptic phrases whose letters may be shoved left or right (maintaining original order, ignoring punctuation) to form other words. For instance, the phrase:
Start with a glance.can be arranged:
STAR (celebrity) TWIT (idiot) HAG (witch) LANCE (spear)Of course the words in the solutions are, for the most part, more obscure. To lighten your burden, terse synonyms associated with the solution parts appear in alphabetic order to the right of each phrase. All answers are cited by the OSPD, 1978 edition.
| Bolivian opals cut both our images. | (cactus, fabric, larva, maiden, tail, wizards) |
|---|---|
| Don't risk elemental harm in tramping. | (alkaloid, figure, nuts, sound, streetcar, wear) |
| Down a tan tavern ale, David. | (declare, eager, insecticide, prosper, swimming) |
| Fresh ether makes trellis termites tired, draggy. | (arachnids, cereal, falcon, order, overflow, plow, statue, tone) |
| Haughty, poor child Inga peeks out here, spies. | (error, meadow, mammal, sees, vertically, villain, wind) |
| How frazzled gypsy llamas seem! | (deride, haunt, letter, louse, shot, terraced) |
| I'm Pavi... do read the ticket, chump! | (arbitrary, boat, brave, judge, nymph) |
| Lose lamb, obey the war senate. | (compound, muscle, nobody, pulpit, ruler) |
| Low, serene gado-gado I'd sauce staidly. | (basket, currency, fish, lazily, loose, traitor) |
| Soprano sang strains of Arab yeomen. | (bone, detector, dread, melted, pay, precipitation, sign, soak) |