CISRA Puzzle Competition 2011 - Solutions

3A. Togetherness

There are twenty clues in each half of the puzzle, suggesting a pairing between them somehow. And indeed, after some solving and consideration of alternatives, a possible pattern emerges: Each of the top answers corresponds matches one of the bottom answers, with two letters inserted in the centre. This helps find more pairings, and refine the pattern further: One of the added letters is always 'u'.

(This solving process may be slightly aided by noting that the answers in the bottom half occur in alphabetical order.)

After finding all the answers, and laying them out in the shape of the first section, we get:

	Beru wing Bering
calculus callus	dehusk desk	jujube jube
consultant constant	oeuf of	buoy by
arouse arse	neuron neon	fluked fled
Man-U wage manage	Aleuts alts	Menu et al. mental
manure mare	Uru age urge	maturing mating
cousin coin	argument argent	visual vial
	Louise lose

At this stage, consideration of the added letters reveals words. Taking the extra letters which aren't 'u', and reading down columns, gives: "clowns / where am I / jokers".

This is a reference to a lyric from a 1972 Stealers Wheel song – probably best known for its use in the film Reservoir Dogs – whose title completes the lyric and provides the answer to the question:

Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right
Here I am, STUCK IN THE MIDDLE WITH YOU

The alternative STUCK IN THE MIDDLE WITH U, describing how the letters of the message have been hidden, is another acceptable answer.