Making pasta; illustration from the 15th century edition of Tacuinum Sanitatis, a Latin translation of the Arabic work Taqwīm al-sihha by Ibn Butlan.
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Sunday, January 31, 2010
ACROSTIC, Puzzle by Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon, edited by Will Shortz
Today’s excellent acrostic features a quotation from Oretta Zanini De Vita’s Encyclopedia of Pasta -- the University of California Press calls it the first book to provide a complete history of pasta in Italy, telling its long story via the extravagant variety of shapes it takes and the even greater abundance of names by which it is known. Read HERE.
The quotation: NONE OTHER THAN LEONARDO DA VINCI HAD ATTEMPTED TO INDUSTRIALIZE PASTA MAKING HE PREFERRED TO BE THOUGHT OF AS A COOK RATHER THAN A PAINTER OR A MILITARY ENGINEER EARLY IN HIS CAREER HE MANAGED A RESTAURANT PART-TIME
The author’s name and the title of the work: DE VITA ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PASTA
The defined words:
A. Role in “Shrek” with no lines, DRAGON;
B. Alternative to a parenthesis (2 wds.), EM DASH;
C. Classic using the “Hitchcock zoom”, VERTIGO;
D. Thorn in one’s side, IRRITANT;
E. Prime regarded widely with distrust, THIRTEEN;
F. By way of Spain, Arabic for “the castle”, ALCAZAR;
G. One whose nature is inscrutable, ENIGMA;
H. On whom an account depends, NARRATOR;
I. Dark passage in a Christmas story, CHIMNEY;
J. “Wuthering Heights” setting, YORKSHIRE;
K. Bar server with a big lip, CARAFE;
L. Temperate annual or tropical weed, LANTANA;
M. Reducing the fare? (3 wds.), ON A DIET;
N. Female of a sizable fowl, PEAHEN;
O. Congressional provision for approved funds, EARMARK;
P. Conductor in one direction, DIODE;
Q. Traveling from place to place, ITINERANT;
R. Potential relief or bane for a drone, AUTOMATION;
S. “Animal House” character who asks, “You guys up for a toga party?”, OTTER;
T. Occupying the cleanup slot, FOURTH;
U. Mythical Titan; moon of Saturn; tyrant flycatcher, PHOEBE;
V. Interrupter of the State of the Union address, APPLAUSE;
W. “Little strings”, SPAGHETTI;
X. Put through a combine harvester, THRESHED;
Y. Offering some resistance to being bitten (2 wds.), AL DENTE.
The full paragraph of the quotation: Economic specialization and technical progress are solidly joined. Between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, the appearance of new juridical bodies accompanied the first mechanical discoveries. The Brazilian sugar refineries made the word engenho (ingegno) fashionable to describe every device inspired by science. Gramola (kneading machine) and torchio are cited in a poem by Francesco Lemene in 1654. But Messisbugo had already mentioned an ingiegno per li maccheroni in the first half of the sixteenth century. Even earlier, none other than Leonardo da Vinci had attempted to industrialize pasta making, an aspect of his genius not as well known as it should be. The Atlantic Codex (foglio 31 R) contains the design of a gigantic machine for making lasagne, which could be reduced into “edible string,” more like noodles than spaghetti. Unfortunately, the enormous wall of pasta, subjected to pressure to attain the desired thinness, broke before it could be cut. Faced with failure, Leonard, who preferred to be thought of as a cook rather than a painter or even a military engineer (early in his career, while he was still at the workshop of Verrocchio, he managed a restaurant part-time, stubbornly did not give up. Encyclopedia of Pasta, Google Books
Click on image to enlarge.
Puzzle available on the internet at
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