04.06.14 — Madness, Rack, and Honey — the Acrostic


Sunday, April 6, 2014

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


This Sunday’s acrostic draws a quotation from Madness, Rack, and Honey by Mary Ruefle.

Mary Reufle’s world is a world of poetry.  This book is rich with her reading and experience of Poetry.  She has read and reread a wide variety of poets including those who among the anthologized classics and the contemporary less known.  She makes it clear that this absorption in the world of poetry began with her very early.  She tells many stories of interest about the life work and thought of a wide variety of poets.  She does touch and give examples of her own poetry but the real center of the work is her experiencing of the Poetry  of others.  There is not I believe an attempt to provide some overall Theory of Poetry but rather an appreciation of many different kinds of Poetry and poets. ~ Shalom Freedman, amazon.com 

The quotation:  YEARS AGO  I READ IN A MAGAZINE THAT YOU COULD HIRE AN INTERIOR DECORATOR TO COME TO YOUR HOUSE AND ARRANGE YOUR BOOKS BY COLOR IN SUCH A WAY AS TO COORDINATE WITH THE COLOR SCHEME OF THE PARTICULAR ROOM THEY WERE IN.

The author’s name and the title of the work:  RUEFLE / MADNESS, RACK, AND HONEY

The defined words:

A. Unsystematic chance, RANDOM
B. Titular 1516 coinage meaning “no place”, UTOPIA
C. Intended to generate some heat, EROTIC
D. Who said “there was too much screaming” in her role (2 wds.), FAY WRAY
E. Source of income for 44 states, LOTTERY
F. Two of seven lumped together, EURASIA
G. Profession of many a tinkered, MECHANIC
H. River crossed by dead people, ACHERON
I. Drag, DOWNER
J. Fluky changer of a tennis ball’s path (2 wds.), NET CORD
K. Caravaggio or Bosch work based on John 19:5 (2 wds.), "ECCE HOMO
L. Pious advocate of Ali, SHIITE
M. Japanese for “finger pressure”, SHIATSU
N. One backing Charles I in the English Civil War, ROYALIST
O. Gullly or wash prone to flash floods, ARROYO
P. In an Omnishambles, CHAOTIC
Q. Big cheese, honcho, heavy hitter, KAHUNA
R. Having a golden brilliance; grandiloquent, AUREATE
S. Meaning of a ref waving his arms horizontally in front of him (2 wds.), NO GOOD
T. Xerostomia (2 wds.), DRY MOUTH
U. Pianist whose U.S. debut was on 1/12/28 at Carnegie Hall, HOROWITZ
V. Beverage whose name means “black dragon”, OOLONG
W. The gender of it, NEUTER
X. Stretched parts on many Masai, EARLOBES
Y. Who said “It gets late early out there” (2 wds.), YOGI BERRA


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