Puzzle 1

German waterway connecting North and Baltic seas

Uselessly tangled, intricate

Greek astronomer who created the Julian calendar

Key architectural feature of etchings by Escher

A government run by only a few, often the wealthy

Plant lasting for more than two growing seasons

__ Day suitably falls on Shakespeare's birthday

Consecutive

Anagram of pichardos or charopids

Women on the Verge of a Nervous __: Almodóvar

Jain Tirtha pilgrimmage site in India

Fluttering springtime flashers

The P and V in PVC, __ chloride

Series of Van Gogh's paintings featured these trees

Cocktail made from pastis, mint syrup

Piercings

Member of Kurdish military organization in Iraq