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ACROSTIC, Puzzle by Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon
Edited by Will Shortz
This Sunday’s fine and timely acrostic draws a humorous quotation from The Fragile Species by Lewis Thomas. The author of The Lives of a Cell and The Medusa and the Snail now raises challenging questions about some of the major issues of our time--AIDS, drug abuse, and aging. With extraordinary perception, he discusses topics such as evolutionary biology, the development of language, the therapeutic aspects of medicine, and his love for his profession. ~ Google Books
The quotation: OUR WORD ‘HUMAN’ COMES FROM THE… ROOT DHGHEM, MEANING SIMPLY ‘EARTH.’ THE MOST TELLING COGNATE WORD IS ‘HUMUS,’ THE PRIMARY PRODUCT OF MICROBIAL INDUSTRY. … IT GIVES A NEW… SPIN, TO THE OLD CLICHÉ FOR AN APOLOGY: “SORRY, I’M ONLY HUMAN.”
The author's name and the title of the work: LEWIS THOMAS FRAGILE SPECIES
The defined words:
A. Feathery plant for a woodland garden (2 wds.), LADY FERN
B. Environmental subgroup, ECOTYPE
C. Maker of Hacky Sacks and Frisbees (hyph.), WHAM-O
D. Element named for its blue spectral lines, INDIUM
E. Like some bars or tennis matches, SINGLES
F. Mouse-riding Arthurian knight of lore (2 wds.), TOM THUMB
G. Gaga, overflowing with enthusiasm (hyph.), HOG-WILD
H. Classic candy bar (2 wds), OH HENRY
I. Halfway point in a presidential election cycle, MIDTERM
J. O.K. to fly, AIRWORTHY
K. Leave in the lurch; thread or fiber, STRAND
L. Loud alternative to a lighthouse, FOGHORN
M. Concern for certain banks (2 wds.), RH FACTOR
N. Hatred, hostility, loathing, ANIMUS
O. Benjamin Franklin wh founded a rubber company, GOODRICH
P. “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” genre, IMPROV
Q. Filled with light, brilliant, LUMINOUS
R. Fungal cause of St. Anthony’s fire, ERGOT
S. Throw in the towel (2 wds.), SAY UNCLE
T. Greek author of “Parallel Lives”, PLUTARCH
U. What someone with alexithymia can’t express, EMOTION
V. Active in sports, business or evolution, COMPETING
W. Line connecting equal values on a map, ISOPLETH
X. Atlanta campus boasting many a “green” building, EMORY
Y. Much of the atmosphere’s particulate matter (2 wds.), SEA SALT
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The full quotation: I cannot get this out of my head. It has become, for the moment, the most important thing I know, the obligatory beginning of any memoir, the long-buried source of language. We derive from a lineage of bacteria, and a very long line at that. Never mind our embarrassed indignation when we were first told, last century, that we came from a family of apes and had chimps as near cousins. That was relatively easy to accommodate, having at least the distant look of a set of relatives. But this new connection, already fixed by recent science beyond any hope of disowning the parentage, is something else again. At first encounter, the news must come as a kind of humiliation. Humble origins, indeed.
But then it is some comfort to acknowledge that we’ve had an etymological hunch about such an origin since the start of our language. Our word “human” comes from the prot-Indo-European root dhghem, meaning simply “earth.” The most telling cognate word is “humus,” the primary product of microbial industry. Also, for what is worth, “humble.” Also “humane.” It gives a new sort of English, in the sense of a strange spin, to the old cliché for an apology: “Sorry, I’m only human.” ~ The Fragile Species
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Puzzle available on the internet at
1 comment:
What a great site. I had to check to be sure that I had the "word" dhghem right. And isopleth--never heard of that. Can someone explain to me why the acrostics are always constructed by Cox and Rathvon?
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