08.01.10 — Mostly Harmless — the Acrostic

“The history of the Galaxy has got a little muddled, for a number of reasons…“

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Sunday, August 1, 2010

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

This Sunday's delightful acrostic gets an oh-so-true quotation from Mostly Harmless a novel by Douglas Adams, the fifth book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series.  The title derives from a joke early in the series, when Arthur Dent discovers that the entry for Earth in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy consists, in its entirety, of the word "Harmless." — A review states:  "an interesting hotchpotch of action (and cutting between various cliff-hanger scenes), philosophy, stand-up comic perspectives of the everyday, domestic sit-com, satirical SF, and Douglas' own pleasure in blithely hurling his characters through six impossible things before breakfast. The plot is surprisingly coherent although occasionally incidental..."
 — Amazon.com
 
The quotation:  THE MAJOR DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A THING THAT MIGHT GO WRONG AND A THING THAT CANNOT POSSIBLY GO WRONG IS THAT WHEN A THING THAT CANNOT POSSIBLY GO WRONG GOES WRONG IT TURNS OUT TO BE IMPOSSIBLE TO GET AT OR REPAIR.

The author's name and the title of the work:  DOUGLAS ADAMS MOSTLY HARMLESS

The defined words:

A. Epic with stanzas in the form a-b-a-b-a-b-c-c (2 wds.), DON JUAN
B. Potentially, a decking combo (hyph.), ONE-TWO
C. Early Stevie Wonder hit subtitled “Everything’s Alright”, UPTIGHT
D. Author with an abecedarian series, GRAFTON
E. Bitten apple, for example, LOGO
F. One asked to referee, ARBITER
G. Without any change in the original melody, STRAIGHT
H. Producer of honeydew, ANT COW
I. Pain inflicted by a pointer, perhaps (2 wds.), DOG BITE
J. Man who knew Who was on first, ABBOTT
K. Delicate or dainty, to a butcher, MIGNON
L. Mouse, SHINER
M. “Too much of a good thing can be wonderful” speaker (2 wds.), MAE WEST
N. Too blue for you to view, say, OBSCENE
O. Someone who minds, SITTER
P. Tom Sawyer’s sweetheart Becky, THATCHER
Q. Intended to thwart ballooning (hyph.), LOW-FAT
R. Swift savages, YAHOOS
S. Shorts made popular by Mary Quant (2 wds.), HOT PANTS
T. Impassiveness; indifference, APATHY
U. Without a moment’s dawdling (2 wds.), RIGHT NOW
V. When an aubade is played, MORNING
W. Able to move supply, LITHE
X. Creamy glassful that might include rum, EGGNOG
Y. Worried, fretting, STEWING
Z. Elastic storer of mechanical energy, SPRING

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Puzzle available on the internet at

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