11.07.10 — Packing for Mars — the Acrostic





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Sunday, November 7, 2010

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

The fascinating publication, Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach provides the quotation for this challenging Sunday acrostic.

Despite all the high-tech science that has resulted in space shuttles and moonwalks, the most crippling hurdles of cosmic travel are our most primordial human qualities: eating, going to the bathroom, having sex and bathing, and not dying in reentry. Readers learn that throwing up in a space helmet could be life-threatening, that Japanese astronaut candidates must fold a thousand origami paper cranes to test perseverance and attention to detail, and that cadavers are gaining popularity over crash dummies when studying landings. ~ Publishers Weekly

The quotation:  YURI GAGARIN RECALLED THAT AS HE WALKED THE RED CARPET BEFORE THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY AND A CHEERING CROWD OF THOUSANDS HE NOTICED THAT HIS SHOELACE WAS UNDONE AND COULD THINK OF NOTHING ELSE

The author's name and the title of the work:  MARY ROACH PACKING FOR MARS

The defined words:

A. A million joules per second, MEGAWATT
B. Literally, “hug around the neck”, ACCOLADE
C. Not acting in a natural, human way, ROBOTIC
D. “Get what I’m saying?” (2 wds.), YOU KNOW
E. Guy in a director’s seat, RITCHIE
F. Applauder of a Zen master? (2 wds.), ONE HAND
G. Magazine of the National Space Society (2 wds.), AD ASTRA
H. Session with Viswanathan Anand (2 wds.), CHESS MATCH
I. Centesimal or centenary, HUNDREDTH
J. Substitute (hyph.), PINCH-HIT
K. Deep-sea diver’s lifeline (2 wds.), AIR HOSE
L. Instrument whose name means “heavenly”, CELESTA
M. Eponym of a space center, KENNEDY
N. Poverty-stricken, needing alms, INDIGENT
O. Impossible to locate, NOWHERE
P. Powerful Stratego piece, GENERAL
Q. Pulled from left field (hyph.), FAR-FETCHED
R. Unavailable until later, oblivious (3 wds.), OUT TO LUNCH
S. Godzilla’s fellow monster and ally, RODAN
T. Zero for making audiences laugh?, MOSTEL
U. Fashionable (3 wds.), A LA MODE
V. Essential qualities for success (2 wds.), RIGHT STUFF
W. Unintended home for bats and pigeons, STEEPLE


The full paragraph of the quotation: Welcome to space. Not the parts you see on TV, the triumphs and the tragedies, but the stuff in between — the small comedies and everyday victories. What drew me to the topic of space exploration was not the heroics and adventure stories, but the very human and sometimes absurd struggles behind them. The Apollo astronaut who worried that he, personally, was about to lose the moon race for the United States by throwing up on the morning of his spacewalk, causing talk of tabling it. Or the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, recalling that as he walked the red carpet before the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and a cheering crowd of thousands, he noticed that his shoelace was undone and could think of nothing else. ~ Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach

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Puzzle available on the internet at

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