03.15.09 -- Are You Somebody? -- the Acrostic
Child’s Eyes, Sean Cloutier, 1998
----------------- Sunday, March 15, 2009 ACROSTIC, Puzzle by Emily Cox & Henry Rathvon, edited by Will Shortz Today’s acrostic is drawn from Are You Somebody by Nuala O’Faolain.
"…when I walked around Dublin as a child I knew nothing, except what I noted with my own eyes, like a spy behind enemy lines. I would walk along Summerhill, which was a canyon of Georgian tenements then, with women sitting on the worn an beautiful front steps al the day long. I’d read the writing on statues. I liked NE PLUS ULTRA on the Parnell one, though I did not know what it meant. I would go into the Protestant cathedrals and go down the quays, and around behind the distillery in Smithfield, and stop to look at anything: a horse and cart backing into a yard, a woman calling down from a window, a butcher emptying a basin of pink water into the gutter. No one sees a child watching." The quotation as it appears in the acrostic: I WALKED AROUND DUBLN LIKE A SPY BEHIND ENEMY LINES I WOULD STOP TO LOOK AT A HORSE AND CART A WOMAN CALLING DOWN FROM A WINDOW A BUTCHER EMPTYING A BASIN OF PINK WATER INTO THE GUTTER NO ONE SEES A CHILD WATCHING The author’s name and the title of the work: N O’FAOLAIN ARE YOU SOMEBODY The defined words: A. Early TV cop show with Lt. Dan Muldoon, NAKED CITY; B. Word of gratitude, often said after “much”, OBLIGED; C. Airline self-labeled “a whole different animal”, FRONTIER; D. Francophone farewell, A BIENTOT; E. Artistic decoration with piercings or gaps, OPENWORK; F. Novel inspiring films of 1962 an 1997, LOLITA; G. Oscar Wilde, in relation to Trinity College, ALUMNUS; H. Secured, according to a cliché, IN THE BANK; I. Seinfeld’s “sworn enemy”, NEWMAN; J. Asian “tree of heaven” with foul-smelling flowers, AILANTHUS; K. Healing process after a disaster, REGROWTH; L. Term like pompom or murmur, ECHO WORD; M. Urban neighbor of Ann Arbor, Mich., YPSILANTI; N. Get around, militarily, OUTFLANK; O. Into the teeth of the gale, at sea, UPWIND; P. Carelessly, with little heed paid, SLAPDASH; Q. Daughter of Tethys, in myth, OCEANID; R. Tug of baseball who said “Ya gotta believe”, MCGRAW; S. Format, as electronic data, ENCODE; T. Ancient home to Hesiod and Pindar, BOEOTIA; U. V = IR, in physics, OHMS LAW; V. Bound, DESTINED; W. Motion tracked by a gyroscope, YAWING. The following is a quotation from Amazon in reference to Are You Somebody -- "Self-preservation did not come instinctually to Irish journalist Nuala O'Faolain. One of 9 children--her mother had 13 pregnancies in all--she grew up in the 1940s and '50s in a defeated Dublin household. Her reporter father seems to have spent his time and money, and even love, elsewhere--and as the family grew more isolated and unable to cope, alcohol became her mother's only way out. "One of the stories of my life has been the working out in it of her powerful and damaging example in everything," the author admits, "Nothing mattered to her except passion." Some of O'Faolain's siblings emphatically didn't make it, but she was lucky to find refuge in books. They have been a defense, a comfort, and a delight." -- for the full review, Editorial Reviews, Amazon.com. 
Click on image to enlarge. Puzzle available on the internet at THE NEW YORK TIMES -- Crossword Puzzles and Games
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Child’s Eyes, Sean Cloutier, 1998 
"…when I walked around Dublin as a child I knew nothing, except what I noted with my own eyes, like a spy behind enemy lines. I would walk along Summerhill, which was a canyon of Georgian tenements then, with women sitting on the worn an beautiful front steps al the day long. I’d read the writing on statues. I liked NE PLUS ULTRA on the Parnell one, though I did not know what it meant. I would go into the Protestant cathedrals and go down the quays, and around behind the distillery in Smithfield, and stop to look at anything: a horse and cart backing into a yard, a woman calling down from a window, a butcher emptying a basin of pink water into the gutter. No one sees a child watching." The quotation as it appears in the acrostic: I WALKED AROUND DUBLN LIKE A SPY BEHIND ENEMY LINES I WOULD STOP TO LOOK AT A HORSE AND CART A WOMAN CALLING DOWN FROM A WINDOW A BUTCHER EMPTYING A BASIN OF PINK WATER INTO THE GUTTER NO ONE SEES A CHILD WATCHING The author’s name and the title of the work: N O’FAOLAIN ARE YOU SOMEBODY The defined words: A. Early TV cop show with Lt. Dan Muldoon, NAKED CITY; B. Word of gratitude, often said after “much”, OBLIGED; C. Airline self-labeled “a whole different animal”, FRONTIER; D. Francophone farewell, A BIENTOT; E. Artistic decoration with piercings or gaps, OPENWORK; F. Novel inspiring films of 1962 an 1997, LOLITA; G. Oscar Wilde, in relation to Trinity College, ALUMNUS; H. Secured, according to a cliché, IN THE BANK; I. Seinfeld’s “sworn enemy”, NEWMAN; J. Asian “tree of heaven” with foul-smelling flowers, AILANTHUS; K. Healing process after a disaster, REGROWTH; L. Term like pompom or murmur, ECHO WORD; M. Urban neighbor of Ann Arbor, Mich., YPSILANTI; N. Get around, militarily, OUTFLANK; O. Into the teeth of the gale, at sea, UPWIND; P. Carelessly, with little heed paid, SLAPDASH; Q. Daughter of Tethys, in myth, OCEANID; R. Tug of baseball who said “Ya gotta believe”, MCGRAW; S. Format, as electronic data, ENCODE; T. Ancient home to Hesiod and Pindar, BOEOTIA; U. V = IR, in physics, OHMS LAW; V. Bound, DESTINED; W. Motion tracked by a gyroscope, YAWING. The following is a quotation from Amazon in reference to Are You Somebody -- "Self-preservation did not come instinctually to Irish journalist Nuala O'Faolain. One of 9 children--her mother had 13 pregnancies in all--she grew up in the 1940s and '50s in a defeated Dublin household. Her reporter father seems to have spent his time and money, and even love, elsewhere--and as the family grew more isolated and unable to cope, alcohol became her mother's only way out. "One of the stories of my life has been the working out in it of her powerful and damaging example in everything," the author admits, "Nothing mattered to her except passion." Some of O'Faolain's siblings emphatically didn't make it, but she was lucky to find refuge in books. They have been a defense, a comfort, and a delight." -- for the full review, Editorial Reviews, Amazon.com. 
Click on image to enlarge. Puzzle available on the internet at THE NEW YORK TIMES -- Crossword Puzzles and Games
Thanks for the write-up. I will have to read this book.
ReplyDeleteHere's the Parnell Monument with NE PLUS ULTRA.
Sláinte! - "To Your Health!"