06.17.12 — Thinking in Pictures — the Acrostic



Sunday, June 17, 2012

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

This Sunday’s acrostic draws a quotation from Thinking in Pictures: and Other Reports from My Life with Autism by Temple Grandin.

Temple Grandin, Ph.D., is a gifted animal scientist who has designed one third of all the livestock-handling facilities in the United States. She also lectures widely on autism because she is autistic, a woman who thinks, feels, and experiences the world in ways that are incomprehensible to the rest of us. In this unprecedented book, Grandin writes from the dual perspectives of a scientist and an autistic person. She tells us how she managed to breach the boundaries of autism to function in the outside world. What emerges is the document of an extraordinary human being, one who gracefully bridges the gulf between her condition and our own while shedding light on our common identity. ~ Amazon.com

The quotation: THE LORD’S PRAYER WAS INCOMPREHENSIBLE UNTIL I BROKE IT DOWN INTO… IMAGES. THE POWER AND THE GLORY WERE REPRESENTED BY A… RAINBOW AND AN ELECTRICAL TOWER. … WHEN I THINK ABOUT [WILL], I IMAGINE GOD THROWING A LIGHTNING BOLT.

The author’s name and the title of the work: GRANDIN, THINKING IN PICTURES

The defined words:

A. Sparkle like snow in the sun, GLISTEN
B. Lady RANDOLPH, Winston Churchill’s mother
C. Greeting on Talk Like a Pirate Day (2 wds.), AHOY THERE
D. Supernova remnant, maybe, NEBULA
E. Etch A Sketch output, DRAWING
F. Isolated rock hill or mountain rising abruptly from the surrounding terrain, INSELBERG
G. “I’m NOBODY! Who are you?” (poem by Emily Dicksinson)
H. Metaphorical place for a person in a difficult position, TIGHTROPE
I. Where Piccadilly Line passengers may be going, HEATHROW
J. Significance, gravity, weight, IMPORT
K. Nincompoop, bonehead, sap, NITWIT
L. Wisconsin birthplace of Orson Welles, KENOSHA
M. Place to practice curling (2 wds.), ICE RINK
N. App that’s free to try, but with prompts to pay, NAGWARE
O. Part of an ensemble, GARMENT
P. Bill IRWIN, clown who played Mr. Noodle on “Sesame Street”
O. Guest on a game show hosted by Bob Eubanks, NEWLYWED
R. Key figure in boogie-woogie music, PIANIST
S. Neither here nor there (2 wds.), IN LIMBO
T. Gaelic dance party, CÉILIDH
U. Apple iPad or Kindle Fire, TABLET
V. Like acoustic instruments or Luddites, UNWIRED
W. Sam Seaborn portrayer on “The West Wing” (2 wds.), ROB LOWE
X. Nestling prone to fratricide, EAGLET
Y. Honda Ruckus or Yamaha Zuma, SCOOTER

The complete paragraph of the quotation: "The Lord’s Prayer was incomprehensible until I broke it down into specific visual images. The power and the glory were represented by a semicircular rainbow and an electrical tower. These childhood visual images are still triggered every time I hear the Lord’s Prayer. The words “thy will be done” had no meaning when I was a child, and today the meaning is still vague. Will is a hard concept to visualize. When I think about it, I imagine God throwing a lightning bolt. Another adult with autism wrote that he visualized “Thou art in heaven” as God with an easel above the clouds. “Trespassing” was pictured as black and orange NO TRESPASSING signs. The word “Amen” at the end of the prayer was a mystery: a man at the end made no sense." ~ Temple Grandin, Thinking in Pictures

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Puzzle available on the internet at

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