DYKOGEEK, A PUZZLE FOR DYKES TO WATCH OUT FOR FANS

Self-portrait of Alison Bechdel, from the interview with her by Anne Crémieux at TransAtlantica. © Alison Bechdel.

This was posted by me in the comments at Dykes To Watch Out For as fun for my colleagues there. I'm posting here with the answers. If you're a DTWOF fan, the answers form a familiar pattern. Go to the link above to see the original quiz, jump to after the fold for the solution.


DykoGeek, the game that combines geography, literary references, language and history for the ultimate puzzle with a Dykes To Watch Out For theme. See if you can decipher the following eleven clues (and if you can, then create another puzzle for us!):

[1] In the Stephen King Novel The Dark Half, these creatures are called “psychopomps,” creatures that carry spirits from the land of the dead to the land of the living. [Sparrows]

[2] A fictional FBI officer who was raised in a small town in West Virginia, with her father (a police officer). When she was about ten years old, her father was shot by robbers. He died a month after the incident. She was was then sent to live on a sheep farm with her uncle, where a significant incident occurred. [Clarice Starling]

[3] The edible rhizome section of a perennial plant commonly used as a spice, originating in China which continues to lead the world in its production with a global share of almost 25% followed by India, Nepal and Indonesia. [Ginger]

[4] Grandmother of Saint Timothy, this woman is noted for her piety and faith, and probably lived in Lystra, a city in what is now modern Turkey. Lystra is located south of Konya, a city previously known as Iconium. [Lois]

[5] This fortress was a military barracks built by Herod the Great in Jerusalem on the site of an earlier Hasmonean stronghold, named after Herod’s patron. It is thought that the area where the fortress was located possibly later became the site of the Praetorium. The Praetorium, or Pretorium, is thought to be the place where Jesus was taken to stand before Pilate. [Antonia Fortress, i.e., Toni]

[6] Another name for the Chinese constellation known as the Horn mansion, one of the eastern mansions of the Azure Dragon. [Jiăo constellation]

[7] Small towns of the same name, with a few hundred to approximately 14,000 people, occurring in Florida, Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Virginia. [Stuart]

[8] The most populous city in Australia, with a metropolitan area population of approximately 4.28 million, the state capital of New South Wales, and the site of the first European colony in Australia. [Sydney]

[9] The “Show Me” state. [Missouri, i.e., Mo]

[10] A Galápagos tortoise (Geochelone elephantopus porteri) who had an estimated age of 175 years at the time of her death in Australia. She was reportedly collected by Charles Darwin during his 1835 visit to the Galápagos Islands as part of his round-the-world survey expedition, transported to England, and then brought to her final home, Australia, by a retiring captain of the Beagle. [Harriet]

[11] An Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance, usually known by his first name, celebrated for the perfection and grace of his paintings and drawings. His career falls naturally into three phases and three styles: his early years in Umbria, then a period of about four years absorbing the artistic traditions of Florence, followed by his last hectic and triumphant twelve years in Rome, working for two Popes and their close associates. [Raphael, i.e., Raffi]