Fantastic Fours
When it's your turn, it's 90°.
The dam has burst — sure, the 120-word instructions for today's puzzle aren't a lot by Rackenfracking standards, but we're going to be devoting this post to additional instructive filigrees.
There's a personality quiz before you even start today's puzzle, with the paper experience being different than the online experience and, lo, there's also more than one paper experience.
We were inspired by Richard Maltby, Jr., for this one, and his instructions when he did it (New York Magazine, 1974) were also a little overwhelming. (The phrase "Got it? Okay." appears three times.) So the first PDF has instructions similar to his, where you're asked to literally rotate the paper to complete the puzzle, because there are multiple grids that "point" in different directions. If you play along, however, you will have grids that are full of words.
If you'd rather dispense with that, the second PDF has instructions that simplify matters by telling you when you might need to write some words backwards. From a solving perspective, it works equally well, but then you have some grids that are full of backwards non-words, though also a reduced chance of vertigo.
(No harm in solvers looking at both PDFs to decide on their preferred approach; nothing will be spoiled. Beware the online version, however, including the one at the end of this page …:)
For online solvers, we have rotated the grids for you (a shame, we agree), so that you neither have to pivot your monitor nor enter words backwards in order to get grids full of words. The other essential complication of not knowing which clues belong with which grid, however, has been maintained. (No, we hadn't mentioned that yet, nor the other other essential complication you're going to love, but that's because these are not the instructions.)
One of the big driving forces behind The Rackenfracker is that we've gotten so much joy from so many variety cryptic forms. When we see one from the past that we think needs to be freshened up and brought forward to the 2020s, we like to start the ball rolling and hope that others get caught up in its momentum. For instance, skaldskaparmal made a cryptic version of Patrick Berry's "Some Assembly Required" shortly after we did ours, and we were so excited to solve it and see others enjoy it.
Thanks to test solvers Andy Stilp and John Sams and editor Andy Yingst, as well as to Mr. Maltby. The link to the Maltby puzzle above goes to Google Books, which, let's hope that link lasts forever, but there's also always Dan Chall's invaluable Cryptics Sources, which is where we first found the puzzle. Thanks to Dan, too.