Picket fence (puzzle no. 1,111)

We have puzzle 3,333 coming up next week, so yesterday I posted 2,222 and today we get 1,111 (PDF formatted for printing here).  This was originally published in the June 21, 1965 issue of The Nation.

Since we solved another puzzle from this era a few weeks ago, this one looks a little less unfamiliar.  There’s less wordplay and more definition, with the playfulness worked into the definitions.  Solving it is closer to a mental pentathlon than to an exercise in clue decoding and solving.  

Back with the solution Monday.  Join us this weekend and every weekend for Sunday brunch, with more cryptics both simple and complex.