January saw a significant number of new subscribers and solution-senders at Anagrams Around Eve, and a record 170 correct solutions were submitted, accounting for a total of 415 wine jugs earned over the month. I am delighted to see ever more word-lovers join in for the amusement, puzzlement, and friendly competition.
On that note, I ask that you please do continue to help spread the word about our puzzle series: share favorite puzzles (current or from past months) on social media posts, especially ones you find particularly amusing and the more approachable offerings, such as today’s; mention the site to family and friends who would love to learn that these puzzles are out there; mention it to the stranger at the bar who is working on a crossword, or to your Words With Friends friends; write a short and sweet email to those contacts of yours that would probably enjoy a daily bit of cost-free and boringness-free wordplay in their lives. I know a number of you have already helped in this regard — for these and all future efforts, I and logophiles the English-speaking world over are deeply appreciative.
I make this entreaty now partly because I’d like to build momentum toward an exciting development on the horizon: print books of Anagrams Around Eve puzzles. I’m still in the research/numbers-crunching stage but inching closer to launching a crowd-sourced campaign to fund their publication, an endeavour for which I will need your support. Details to follow, but the more folks we can direct to the site in the next several weeks, the better the position we will be in at launch, and the more likely a handsome puzzle book will soon sit on your coffee table.
On to the January winners. A number of solvers both new and regular made strong showings last month, but none quite strong enough to outdo our first repeat winner — and now our first three-peat winner — MISS SORTED of Delran, NJ. Three cheers! for MISS SORTED, who strung together back-to-back perfect weeks in the middle of the month (a challenging stretch which included the especially tricky “Vehicles that are driven when everyone else is taking a walk?”, a puzzle solved only by our eventual winner). In addition to an Anagrams Around Eve notepad, MISS SORTED will receive a custom-made word puzzle of her choosing.
The winners of the notepad giveaway, chosen via a random lottery in which one’s odds of winning are directly proportional to one’s wine jug total, are:
Loving Solving (Brooklyn, NY)
darren.whorton (Brooklyn, NY)
barose98 (Burnsville, NC)
AlyssaAnn (Haddonfield, NJ)
Lbirdsey (New York, NY)
Congratulations to all of these deft practitioners of the ARS MAGNA.
A spoiler is ahead, for anyone who has yet to zip up the “Number one cause of destruction” . . .
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A conversation between me and Kegaunt, beginning with his correct submission:
“URINATION RUINATION. Dammit, Dom.”
“I love this one. Might be my number one of all time. You’re only the second person to get it, by the way. Or should I say number two?”
“Really? ‘Number one’? You just had to go there.”
“Nice. Takes a real whiz to pun like that.”
“Your analysis is correct.”
“I would say the analysis is spot-on, but I wouldn’t want such a thing to leak.”
ANAGRAMS AROUND EVE 