01.15.12 — Dust Tracks on a Road — the Acrostic




Zora Neale Hurston, Florida, 1935,
Alan Lomax, photographer, Library of Congress.

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Sunday, January 15, 2012

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


This Sunday‘s acrostic draws a quotation from Dust Tracks on a Road: An Autobiography by Zora Neale Hurston.


First published in 1942 at the crest of her popularity, this is Zora Neale Hurston's unrestrained account of her rise from childhood poverty in the rural South to prominence among the leading artists and intellectuals of the Harlem Renaissance. Full of wit and wisdom, and audaciously spirited, "Dust Tracks on a Road" offers a rare, poignant glimpse of the life -- public and private -- of a premier African-American writer, artist, anthropologist and champion of the black heritage."Warm, witty, imaginative, and down-to-earth by turns, this is a rich and winning book by one of our genuine, Grade A, folk writers." ~ The New Yorker

The quotation: ROME, THE ETERNAL CITY, MEANT TWO DIFFERENT THINGS TO MY PARENTS. TO MAMA,… YOU MUST BUILD IT TODAY SO IT COULD LAST THROUGH ETERNITY. TO PAPA,… YOU HA TO LAY SOME BRICKS TODAY AND YOU HAVE THE REST OF ETERNITY TO FINISH IT.

The author’s name an the title of the work: HURSTON, DUST TRACKS ON A ROAD


The defined words:


A. Place affording a panoramic view, HILLTOP
B. Jerky; irregular; erratic, UNSTEADY
C. Old colony of southern Africa, RHODESIA
D. Workplace in a Longfellow poem, SMITHY
E. Goddess of witchcraft equivalent to Hecate, TRIVIA
F. Singer at the 1963 March on Washington, ODETTA
G. “I am not aware that I have deserved any NOTORIETY, and I have no taste for its buzz” (Alfred Nobel)
H. World War II infantry soldier, DOGFACE
I. Diacritic in many a heavy-metal band name, UMLAUT
J. Largest city east of Tokyo and west of Mexico City, SYDNEY
K. Key in using muscle memory (hyph.), TOUCH-TYPE
L. Engine valve that regulates intake, THROTTLE
M. “The wretched REFUSE of your teeming shore” (words on the Statue of Liberty)
N. Subject to interpretation, AMBIGUOUS
O. Valve train component, CAMSHAFT
R. Site of the Ernest Hemingway House (2 wds.), KEY WEST
Q. Fez-wearing club member, SHRINER
R. Field involving a lot of spectacles, OPTOMETRY
S. The longest interstate highway, NINETY
T. Fundamentally, in reality (2 wds.), AT BOTTOM
U. Capital with more than 4,000 mosques, RIYADH
V. Tuffet, pouffe or hassock, OTTOMAN
W. Still viable, as a business, AFLOAT
X. Infantile oral outbreak, DENTITION


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"I have been in Sorrow's kitchen and licked out all the pots.
Then I have stood on the peaky mountain wrapped in rainbows with a harp and a sword in my hands."


~ Zora Neale Hurston




Click on image to enlarge.

Puzzle available on the internet at

1 comment:

Loren Muse Smith said...

Unfair to have two engine questions! Always love an UMLAUT!