09.23.12 — Tutankhamen — the Acrostic

 

Mask of Tutankhamun's mummy,

the popular icon for ancient Egypt at The Egyptian Museum.

 

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Sunday, September 23, 2012

 

ACROSTIC, Puzzle by Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon

Edited by Will Shortz

 

This Sunday’s challenging acrostic draws a quotation from Tutankhamen, The Search for an Egyptian King by Joyce Tyldesley.

 

The discovery of King Tutankhamen’s tomb in 1922 was perhaps the world’s most important archaeological find. The only near-intact royal tomb to be preserved in the Valley of the Kings, it has supplied an astonishing wealth of artifacts, spurred a global fascination with ancient Egypt, and inspired folklore that continues to evolve today. Despite the tomb’s prominence, however, precious little has been revealed about Tutankhamen himself. In Tutankhamen, acclaimed Egyptologist Joyce Tyldesley unshrouds the enigmatic king. She explores his life and legacy as never before, and offers a compelling new window onto the world in which he lived. ~ Amazon.com

 

The quotation: THE EGYPTIANS OMITTED VOWELS FROM THEIR HIEROGLYPHIC TEXTS; LIKE MODERN EMAILERS AND… (TXTRS), THEY SAW NO NEED TO WASTE TIME… AND SPACE…WRITING SOUNDS AND SOMETIMES EVEN WORDS THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN OBVIOUS TO EVERYONE. LOL.

 
The author’s name and the title of the work: TYLDESLEY, TUTANKHAMEN
 
The defined words:
 
A. Ideal amount for some gamblers (hyph.), TWENTY-ONE
B. Body colored by windblown Gobi Desert sand (2 wds.), YELLOW SEA
C. What Daedalus made for Minos, LABYRINTH
D. Mentally or manually agile, DEXTEROUS
E. Birthplace of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, EDINBURGH
F. Guys who like outdoorsy games, SPORTSMEN
G. Union driven by passion (2 wds.), LOVE MATCH
H. Harvard dropout who invented the Polaroid camera (2 wds.), EDWIN LAND
I. Chant of sailors hauling together (hyph.), YO-HEAVE-HO
J. Fitted out like a brigantine (hyph.), TWO-MASTED
K. Machine favored by Faulkner and Fitzgerald, UNDERWOOD
L. Wire fasteners wrapped in plastic or paper (2 wds.), TWIST TIES
M. Forceful, in-your-face, ASSERTIVE
N. Fan-shaped region including Alexandria and Zagazig (2 wds.), NILE DELTA
O. Low-growing weed with jointed stems, KNOTGRASS
P. What might get shot around the house (2 wds.), HOME MOVIE
Q. Pithy sayings that may be moralistic, APOTHEGMS
R. Copies greatly reduced in size, MICRODOTS
S. High, steep, not easy to cover, EXPENSIVE
T. Subject of a bust attributed to the sculptor Thutmose, NEFERTITI
 
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The full paragraph of the quotation and the following paragraph: The Egyptians omitted vowels from their hieroglyphic texts: like modern emailers and texters (txtrs), they saw no need to waste time, energy and space writing sounds – and sometimes even words – that would have been obvious to everyone. Lol.

 

Tutankhamun from the back of his gold throne
 

Unfortunately, ancient Egyptian is now a long-dead language, and the missing sounds are far from obvious to modern readers. Egyptologists therefore have to guess which vowel goes where. Generally, we insert ‘e’ as the vowel of choice, but this may not be the vowel that the Egyptians used, and we might not insert it in the correct place. As a result, all but the shortest Egyptian words have several variant English spellings, all equally acceptable. Throughout this book I use the spelling Tutankhamen, and I refer to Tutankhamen’s god as Amen. In so doing, I follow the precedent set by Howard Carter. I have taken the liberty of extending this preferred spelling to all quotes within the text. Others prefer the spelling Tutankhamun (and Amun) or Tut-ankhamon (Amon); more exotic variants – Touatânkhamanou, Tut.ankh.Amen, Tutenchamun, etc. – will be found in the older literature. All refer to the same man. ~ Tutankhamen, Joyce Tyldesley

 

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Click on image to enlarge.

 

Puzzle available on the internet at

THE NEW YORK TIMES — Crossword Puzzles and Games.