01.29.12 — Curiouser and Curiouser! — the Acrostic

Flamingo Croquet by Anne Bachelier 

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Sunday, January 29, 2012

ACROSTIC, Puzzle by Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon

Edited by Will Shortz

This Sunday’s delightful acrostic draws a quotation from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.

When it was released Alice in Wonderland received little attention; the book failed to be named in an 1888 poll of the most popular children’s stories. Generally it received poor reviews with reviewers giving more credit to Tenniel's illustrations than to Carroll’s story. At the release of Through the Looking-Glass, the first Alice tale gained in popularity and by the end of the 19th century Sir Walter Besant wrote that Alice in Wonderland "was a book of that extremely rare kind which will belong to all the generations to come until the language becomes obsolete". ~ Wikipedia

The quotation: …SHE HAD NEVER SEEN SUCH A CURIOUS CROQUET-GROUND…; IT WAS ALL RIDGES AND FURROWS; THE BALLS WERE LIVE HEDGEHOGS, THE MALLETS LIVE FLAMINGOES, AND… SOLDIERS HAD TO DOUBLE THEMSELVES UP… ON HANDS AND FEET, TO MAKE THE ARCHES.

The author’s name and the title of the work: CARROLL ALICE IN WONDERLAND

Jessie Willcox Smith's illustration of Alice surrounded by the characters of Wonderland. (1923)

The defined words:

A. English county home to the River Dee, CHESHIRE

B. Like a pen name, ASSUMED

C. "Why is a raven like a writing-desk?,” e.g., RIDDLE

D. Knockabout behavior (2 wds.), ROUGH STUFF

E. Sort of bellowed and whistled, with a kind of sneeze in the middle, OUTGRABE

F. Site of ongoing crypto zoological inquiry (2 wds.), LOCH NESS

G. Actor Charles who said “I have a face that would stop a sundial”, LAUGHTON

H. Going new places, seeing new things, etc., ADVENTURES

I. Spot-checking rule? (2 wds.), LEASH LAW

J. Measurer of sharpness (2 wds.), IQ TEST

K. Eight-by-eight setting, CHESSBOARD

L. “But four young Oysters hurried up, / All EAGER for the treat” (“The Walrus and the Carpenter”)

M. Tale in which Sir Wilfred weds Rowena, “IVANHOE”

N. Refuse to be found after Christmas?, NEEDLES

O. Car, in slang, WHEELS
P. Resembling a celebrated wall-sitter, OVIFORM
Q. Confection that may be crunchy, NOUGAT
R. Antagonist of the Queen of Hearts, DUCHESS
S. Taken to a higher plane, ELEVATED
T. 1950 Crime film with shifting points of view, “RASHOMON”
U. Surname of the girl who inspired the subject of this puzzle, LIDDELL
V. After a long wait (2 wds.), AT LAST
W. Benvolio, to Lord Montague, NEPHEW
X. Label on the neck of a potable’s bottle (2 wds.), “DRINK ME”

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The complete paragraph of the quotation and the paragraph following: `Get to your places!' shouted the Queen in a voice of thunder, and people began running about in all directions, tumbling up against each other; however, they got settled down in a minute or two, and the game began. Alice thought she had never seen such a curious croquet-ground in her life; it was all ridges and furrows; the balls were live hedgehogs, the mallets live flamingoes, and the soldiers had to double themselves up and to stand on their hands and feet, to make the arches.

The chief difficulty Alice found at first was in managing her flamingo: she succeeded in getting its body tucked away, comfortably enough, under her arm, with its legs hanging down, but generally, just as she had got its neck nicely straightened out, and was going to give the hedgehog a blow with its head, it would twist itself round and look up in her face, with such a puzzled expression that she could not help bursting out laughing: and when she had got its head down, and was going to begin again, it was very provoking to find that the hedgehog had unrolled itself, and was in the act of crawling away: besides all this, there was generally a ridge or furrow in the way wherever she wanted to send the hedgehog to, and, as the doubled-up soldiers were always getting up and walking off to other parts of the ground, Alice soon came to the conclusion that it was a very difficult game indeed. ~ Alice in Wonderland, Chapter IV. The Queen's Croquet-Ground.

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Click on image to enlarge.

Puzzle available on the internet at

THE NEW YORK TIMES — Crossword Puzzles and Games.