What did I misunderstand?

[rhu]

The black and white dots serve as MasterMind-style indicators, right? So:

Summer 1: JACKS = 0+0
Summer 2: SHARK = 1+1 but we can eliminate S, A, and K from JACKS so H and R are in the answer
Winter 1: SKATE = 1+1 but we can eliminate S, K, and A from JACKS so T and E are in the answer
Spring 1: BREAD = 0+1 but we already believe that both R and E are in the answer....

Do I have a word wrong, or am I misunderstanding the dots?

Thanks.


ETA: It seems that there is a misprint in the dead-tree edition of the puzzle, which makes it unsolvable. The online version appears to be different but contains a second error.

Comments

[ericberlin.livejournal.com]

I skipped the designers puzzle entirely -- the meta is perfectly solvable without it. And I'm no fan of cryptograms, yet breezed through this list. Fear not!

[530nm330hz.livejournal.com]

So I ate my cake and had it too. We enjoyed the lovely afternoon, walked down to the local pond for a bit, and I returned to the puzzle this evening and finished it without further frustration. Thanks for the encouragement.