01.17.10 -- To Think of Tea! -- the Acrostic

The Mad Hatters Tea Party, illustration to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll -- Arthur Rackham, 1907

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Sunday, January 17, 2010

ACROSTIC, Puzzle by Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon, edited by Will Shortz

This Sunday’s acrostic draws its’ quotation from To Think of Tea! (1931) by Agnes Repplier, a historical glimpse of Britain's beloved national drink and a social history of the tea-drinker in England, from its introduction in 1660 to the early 20th century.

The quotation:  DATES ARE WORSE THAN ELUSIVE THEY ARE PERVERSE EVENTS DO NOT HAPPEN AT THE RIGHT TIME NOR IN PROPER SEQUENCE THAT SENSE OF HARMONY WITH PLACE AND SEASON SO STRONG IN THE HISTORIAN IS LAMENTABLY LACKING IN HISTORY

The author's name and the title of the work:  AGNES REPPLIER TO THINK OF TEA

The defined words:

A. Like many a treasured heirloom, ANTIQUE;

B. Tumbler associated with bars?, GYMNAST;
C. Two-time U.S. poet laureate Howard NEMEROV;

D. Have a magical effect on, ENCHANT;

E. Cause for palatopharyngoplasty, SNORING;

F. Play again from the top, REPRISE;

G. Like a gallipot or pipkin in makeup, EARTHEN;

H. Neuron-to-neuron chain, e.g., PATHWAY;

I. “PICASSO is a communist, neither am I” (Salvador Dali);

J. Like Harrison’s Inaugural Address or the Hundred Years War, LENGTHY;

K. Up the creek, high and dry (3 wds.), IN A SPOT;

J. Form into a cord by spinning, ENTWINE;

K. New Jersey river that empties into a bay near Staten Island, RARITAN;

L. Purchase for a rock climber, TOEHOLD;

M. Notice, remark, celebrate, OBSERVE;

N. Branch of art or scene of action, THEATER;

O. 1979 Billy Joel hit with the lyric “But I don’t want some pretty face to tell me pretty lies”, HONESTY;

P. Moliere’s Argan, as self-imagined, INVALID;

Q. Bad balance? (2 wds.), NET LOSS;

R. Disputed Asian region, KASHMIR;

S. In a port and off a boat, ONSHORE;

T. Cinema that’s seen better days, FLEAPIT;

U. Foot of “Hiawatha”?, TROCHEE;

V. Anatolian site o f the Temple of Artemis, EPHESUS;

W. Spanning; on both sides of, ASTRIDE.

The full quotation:  “Anyone, however, who has had dealings with dates knows that they are worse than elusive, they are perverse. Events do not happen at the right time, nor in their proper sequence. That sense of harmony with place and season which is so strong in the historian -- if he be a readable historian -- is lamentably lacking in history, which takes no pains to verify his most convincing statements.”

Click on image to enlarge.

Puzzle available on the internet at

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