“Alle Rechte vorbehalten” -- Urwald am blauen Flusse (Kelany-Ganga, Ceylon), 1905, Ernst Haeckel
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Sunday, March 14, 2010
ACROSTIC, Puzzle by Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon, edited by Will Shortz
This Sunday’s at times exotic acrostic draws its quotation from Mr. Fortune’s Maggot by Sylvia Townsend Warner.
"After a decade in one South Seas mission, a London bank-clerk-turned-minister sets his heart on serving a remote volcanic island. Fanua contains neither cannibals nor Christians, but its citizens, his superior warns, are like children—immoral children. Still, Mr. Timothy Fortune lights out for Fanua. Yet after three years, he has made only one convert, and his devotion to the boy may prove more sensual than sacred." — The New York Review of Books
The quotation: MOST ENGLISHMEN WHO VISIT THE SOUTH SEA ISLANDS ARE SHOCKED AT THE VEGETATION SUCH FECUNDITY SUCH A LARGESSE AND EXPLOSION OF LIFE ALL THIS PROFUSION UNBRIDLED AND UNTOILED FOR AND RUNNING TO WASTE DISTURBS THEM
The author’s name and the title of the work: WARNER MR FORTUNES MAGGOT
The defined words:
A. Beluga, by another name (2 wds.), WHITE WHALE
B. Growth ring on a tree trunk or fish scale, ANNULUS
C. Advice for a dividend receiver, REINVEST
D. Weapon for a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, NUNCHAKU
E. Like a document written in Braille, EMBOSSED
F. Leave posthaste (2 wds.), RUSH OFF
G. Extinct creature whose name means “nipple tooth”, MASTODON
H. Accuracy, integrity, RIGHTNESS
I. Cause for a pit stop (2 wds.), FLAT TIRE
J. Challenge that’s part of a West Point course, OBSTACLE
K. Fixed, or transfixed, RIVETED
L. Like hurricanes and many cocktails, TROPICAL
M. Moving like a hula dancer, UNDULANT
N. Tripled and then tripled again, NINEFOLD
O. Nosebleed, in medical parlance, EPISTAXIS
P. Chuck Berry hit with the line “Hail, hail rock and roll” (2 wds.) SCHOOL DAYS
Q. Natural gas, for the most part, METHANE
S. Stage occupied by an imago, ADULTHOOD
T. Soldier’s discharge, GUNSHOT
U. Displaying a bit of viridity, GREENISH
V. Made rigid and inflexible, OSSIFIED
W. Intelligence, word, news, TIDINGS
The paragraph of the quotation: "As it was with leisure, so it was with luxuriance. Most Englishmen who visit the South Sea Islands are in the depths of their hearts a little shocked at the vegetation. Such fecundity, such a largesse and explosion of life -- trees waving with ferns, dripping with creepers, as it were flaunting their vicious and exquisite parasites, fruits like an emperor’s baubles, flowers triumphantly gaudy or tricked out with the most sophisticated improbabilities of form and patterning. Al this profusion unbridled and untoiled for and running to waste disturbs them. They look on it as on some conflagration, and feel that they ought to turn the hose on it. Mr. Fortune was untroubled by any such thoughts, because he was humble. The reckless expenditure of God’s glory did not strike him as reckless, and his admiration of the bonfire was never overcast by a feeling that he ought to do something about it."
Click on image to enlarge.
Puzzle available on the internet at
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2 comments:
Thanks for the write-up. The embedded videos are great, a good complement to the terrific daily art.
Leon
Thanks. Wasn't sure about the embedded videos, but intend to use one or two sparingly, whatever summarizes the day, or perhaps gives a little solving music -- other videos will continue with a highlighted text link.
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