04.29.07 -- SPINNING -- the Sunday Acrostic

A depiction of spinning by Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velazquez 1664-1648
ACROSTIC
Sunday, April 29, 2007
By Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon
This Sunday New York Times Acrostic covers a good bit of the cloth-making world. The final quote is an amusing one from Holly Welker’ “Satin Worship” (see the quote in puzzle form below). The quote utilizes the difference between spinning and quilting and a good half of the “words defined” are cloth related, which is a good average -- not as impressive as the Sunday, April 15th acrostic, in which all of the “defined words” were topical to the quotation -- but good enough!

As you may know, but might like a quick recap, the Acrostic asks one to “Guess the words defined and write them over their numbered dashes. Then transfer each letter to the correspondingly numbered square in the pattern. Black squares indicate word endings. The filled pattern will contain a quotation reading from left to right. The first letters of the guessed words will form an acrostic giving the author’s name and the title of the work.”
As mentioned in previous posts, this is a lot of “bookkeeping”; however, The New York Times includes the Acrostic in their Games & Puzzles site, which alleviates a lot of the tactile chore, if somewhat reducing the challenge.
“Defined words” relating in one way or another to today’s Acrostic quotation include HARLEQUIN (A. Having a pattern of brightly colored diamond shapes), LAMBSKIN (C. Fleecy pelt for a winter oat), WARP (F. Crosser at right angles of Answer Q), KNITTING (I. Craft that could be called loopy?), EMBROIDERY (J. “Home Sweet Home” location), INSTITCHES (O. Cracked up by a tailor’s joke? [2 wds.]), WOOF (Q. What goes back and forth in a shuttle), RATTAN (S. Caning material) and POLYESTER (W. Synthetic fabric that resists wrinkles).
All in all a pleasant solving experience for a rainy day.
Illustrations: Quilting Bee, Grandma Moses (Anna Mary Moses) 1950,
spinning wheel, embroidery, harlequin pattern, loom, warp and woof,
caning with rattan, knitting.
Click on any image to enlarge.

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