Free Crossword by Alan Bricklin

reaching the gardens moments later, and entered through an ornate iron
gate spanning fifty feet, interrupted by an open doorway of more human
proportions, the whole extending upward for almost thirty feet. "Look at
that, will you," said Julian, pointing at the expanse of metal work.
"You don't see this kind of workmanship much these days." From close
up, the metal rods that composed the gate seemed to run in every direction, a
haphazard array, some round, some flattened, others twisted and still others
having the cross section of a perfect square. Looks, however, were deceiving,
and like the order induced by nature, some effort in observation was required
to discern a pattern. In this case, one had only to step back twenty paces to
appreciate the symmetry in design and how one part flowed into another. The
changing shapes of the rods, rather than separating and defining individual
sections, imparted a movement to the whole structure that effortlessly guided
the eyes on a prescribed course. Graceful curves of metal enclosed intricately
wrought animals and designs, here the ursine symbol of Bern flanking the
massive lock and gate handles, over the opening a motif of alpine scenes and
scattered throughout assorted seemingly abstract designs.
    Julian, having backed up, stood hands akimbo, smiling at
Kent and then swept his left arm across the expanse of the gate, looking for
all the world like a master of ceremonies begging applause from a reluctant
audience. Let's hear it folks for the wonderful Stromboli sisters and their
dancing elephants. When Kent stood poised at the entranceway, unmoving, he
motioned him to step back and appreciate the view. Reluctantly, Mallory walked
back to Julian and turned to face the object of his partner's fascination.
"Look at that," said Julian again. "What do you think?"
    "It's beautiful."
    "No, tell me what you see."
    "Julian, I'm just not in the mood for an Art and Architecture
lecture right now. Let's get going." He started to move off towards the
entrance in the gate.
    Julian's right arm shot out and grabbed his coat sleeve, the
jovial ringmaster gone from his face and ice in his voice as he whispered,
"When I have something to say, you listen. Hear me, junior partner?"
Before Kent could react, the smile returned to Julian's face and to his voice.
"This is important. Consider it espionage 101," the latter barely
audible. "When you look at this gate, what you see depends on where you
see it from. Remember that. Also, that there are many points of view and you
may not even know all of them, and the one that you don't think of may be the
very one from which your enemy sees the situation." Here, he pointed to
the figure next to the huge lock. "See that rung running out from the bear
at forty five degrees? It starts with rounded edges to more easily blend in
with the workmanship of the bear, and where it ends, way up in that corner,
it's also round. But look at the intervening portion. First square, then
twisted, then square again before returning to round. The origin can tell you a
lot about the finish, but in between, that's often a mystery. Now look at the
other side of the gate, to the left of the doorway. See the rod that begins at
that figure about five feet above the bear. It runs straight up to merge with
that figure near the top. Notice the pattern. Round where it leaves the
whatever the hell that animal's supposed to be, then square, twisted, square
and finally round again where it blends into the eagle. There's an ordered
sequence here. People tend to follow patterns, and patterns, even complicated
ones, can be figured out. This is a distance from the arrangement we just
looked at on the other side, but the sequence is similar. From one we can infer
information about the other. This rung here could be in plain sight in
Switzerland and the other could be largely hidden, say, in Nazi Germany, but,
if the same hand is involved in both, one can tell us about the other. You just
need to know