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Sunday, January 16, 2011
ACROSTIC, Puzzle by Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon, edited by Will Shortz
This Sunday’s challenging acrostic draws a quotation from The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell.
Gladwell defines a tipping point as "the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point." The book seeks to explain and describe the "mysterious" sociological changes that mark everyday life. As Gladwell states, "Ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread like viruses do." ~ Wikipedia
The quotation: YAWNING IS INCREDIBLY CONTAGIOUS I MADE SOME OF YOU READING THIS YAWN SIMPLY BY WRITING THE WORD YAWN THE PEOPLE WHO YAWNED WHEN THEY SAW YOU YAWN WERE INFECTED BY THE SIGHT OF YOU YAWNING A SECOND KIND OF CONTAGION
With the edited quote's punctuation: Yawning is incredibly contagious. I made some of you reading this yawn simply by writing the word "yawn." The people who yawned when they saw you yawn... were infected by the sight of you yawning --... a second kind of contagion.
The author’s name and the title of the work: GLADWELL THE TIPPING POINT
A. Protagonist in H. G. Wells’s “The Invisible Man”, GRIFFIN
B. Article drawn by Robin Hood, LONGBOW
C. Protection from prosecution, AMNESTY
D. Routine; for the nonce (hyph.), DAY-TO-DAY
E. Host for certain worms or viruses, WINDOWS
F. Iron Age dweller in what is now Jordan, EDOMITE
G. “Same here”, LIKEWISE
H. Ally McBeal, by trade, LAWYER
I. Snooze-inducing, TEDIOUS
J. Lulu, doozy, crackerjack, HUMDINGER
K. Person who’s superficially attractive (2 wds.), EYE CANDY
L. Like many bushes and problems, THORNY
M. Region once controlled by France, INDOCHINA
N. Mythical beauty persecuted by Venus, PSYCHE
O. Small coin formerly used in Louisiana, PICAYUNE
P. Sport that may involve an auger (2 wds.), ICE FISHING
Q. Fit to print or pass along, NEWSWORTHY
R. Measures of storage capacity, GIGABYTES
S. Noisy ceremony with feasting and costumed dancing, POWWOW
T. Process of development for an individual, ONTOGENY
U. Large-scale data-delivery medium, INFOBAHN
V. Prime minister who attended M.I.T. and Harvard, NETANYAHU
W. Coming and going (hyph.) TWO-WAY
The full paragraph of the quotation: Yawning is incredibly contagious. I made some of you reading this yawn simply by writing the word “yawn.” The people who yawned when they saw you yawn, meanwhile, were infected by the sight of you yawning—which is a second kind of contagion. They might even have yawned if they only heard you yawn, because yawning is also aurally contagious: if you play an audiotape of a yawn to blind people, they’ll yawn too. And finally, if you yawned as you read this, did the thought cross your mind—however unconsciously and fleetingly—that you might be tired? I suspect that for some of you it did, which means that yawns can also be emotionally contagious. Simply by writing the word, I can plant a feeling in your mind. Can the flu virus do that? Contagiousness, in other words, is an unexpected property of all kinds of things, and we have to remember that, if we are to recognize and diagnose epidemic change.
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Puzzle available on the internet at
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