14
$\begingroup$

Across

6 It's applied to the Down answers
9 An expression of mild surprise
11 Gas station fixture
12 Measure of file size
13 Eastman invention
14 A Kansan woman
16 Not bespoke

Down

1 It's applied to the Across answers
2 Mystery on high
3 Like a racetrack
4 La sequel
5 A wizard's home
6 Part of a pangram
7 Fro counterpart
8 15D's home
10 Launder
12 Central Perk, e.g.
14 A Wrinkle in Time character
15 An eponymous Lopez
16 Hi
17 A computer company started in 1939

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
1
  • $\begingroup$ My first crossword, so have mercy. :-) Seriously, I'd appreciate any feedback (perhaps in chat would be best). $\endgroup$
    – msh210
    Feb 4, 2020 at 23:19

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
9
$\begingroup$

The crossword's solution:

enter image description here

What's going on here:

1-Across and 6-Down say that something's being applied to all of the answers. It turns out that those are ROT THIRTEEN and ATBASH: each answer is encoded before entry using one of those two codes (depending on whether it is Across or Down).

Luckily, these codes are self-inverses, so if you have a letter in an Across clue, you can Atbash and then rot13 it to see what the Down clue's letter should be. And vice versa: if you have the Down letter, you can get the Across letter.

The Across and Down clue answers are shown here:

enter image description here

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
2
  • $\begingroup$ Not sure what's up with 14-down -- maybe I'm missing something? $\endgroup$
    – Deusovi ♦
    Feb 5, 2020 at 3:11
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ The Wrinkle character is IT. Dangit, did I mess up?… $\endgroup$
    – msh210
    Feb 5, 2020 at 4:18

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.