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Sunday, August 14, 2011
ACROSTIC, Puzzle by Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon
Edited by Will Shortz
This Sunday's acrostic draws a quotation from Microcosmos by Lynn Margulis.
A century after Darwin theorized that we descended from ape-like ancestors, science has in just the last two decades contrived an awesome description of our even more primordial development from microbes. Boston University biologist Margulis and science writer Sagan here produce a stunning, complex chronicle of those four billion years, from Hadean and Archaeon aeons when matter became "animated" and the mysteries we now call DNA and RNA became "the language of nature," to the first appearances of plant and animal life, including hominids. So immensely detailed is this elucidation of the developing microcosm (with its emphasis on natural selection and symbiosis in the bacterial world) that even advanced science readers will find the book difficult. But it is an important one, a comprehensive, popularized treatment of evolutionary microbiology spelling out a dimension that Darwin possibly never imagined, and proposing that only an understanding of the microcosm from which life sprang can make possible our ultimate leap beyond Earth into a human-devised supercosm. ~ Publishers Weekly, Amazon.com
The quotation: ANIMALS… THAT… ADAPTED TO… LAND DID SO THROUGH THE TRICK OF TAKING THEIR FORMER ENVIRONMENT WITH THEM. …NO MATTER HOW HIGH AND DRY THE MOUNTAIN TOP, NO MATTER HOW SECLUDED AND MODERN THE RETREAT, WE SWEAT AND CRY… SEAWATER.
The author’s name and the title of the work: LYNN MARGULIS, MICROCOSMOS
The defined words:
A. “LAUGHTER is an instant vacation” (Milton Berle)
B. One who knows his jib from his spinnaker, YACHTSMAN
C. Time for Papá Noel, NAVIDAD
D. Person regarded as a cipher, NONENTITY
E. Metaphorically, our source and sustenance (2 wds.), MOTHER EARTH
F. Goddess said to be born of ocean foam, APHRODITE
G. Site of colossal quake damage in 226 B.C., RHODES
H. In the shape of a droplet, GUTTATE
I. Trend contrary to the prevailing one, UNDERTOW
J. Jonathan LETHEM, author of “Gun, With Occasional Music”
K. Police tool in drawing facial composites (hyph.), IDENTI-KIT
L. King of theatre open only in the summer, STRAWHAT
M. Successor of Giscard d’Estaing, MITTERRAND
N. Experienced violent compression, IMPLODED
O. Beveled cut connecting two surfaces, CHAMFER
P. In a new draft, REWRITTEN
Q. Eightsome, OGDOAD
R. Be out of accord with Hoyle, CHEAT
S. Spangle, bauble, ORNAMENT
T. Actor William who said, “No, I’ve never had green alien sex”, SHATNER
U. Style sported by some punks, MOHAWK
V. When regulars drop by, OFTEN
W. Climactic moment in a poker game, SHOWDOWN
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Click on image to enlarge.
Puzzle available on the internet at
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