Marc Chagall Abraham and Sarah 1956
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Sunday, May 9, 2010
ACROSTIC, Puzzle by Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon, edited by Will Shortz
This Sunday’s acrostic draws its quotation from The Joys of Yiddish, a book containing the lexicon of common words and phrases in the Yiddish language, primarily focusing on those words that had become known to speakers of American English due to the influence of American Jews. It was originally published in 1968 and written by Leo Rosten.
The quotation: A NEIGHBOR WAS SO FIERCE IN HER MATERNAL AFFECTIONS THAT WHEN HER NO-GOODNIK SON WAS ARRESTED FOR SOME INFRACTION SHE RETURNED FROM VISITING HIM TO ANNOUNCE YOU NEVER SAW SUCH A BEAUTIFUL JAIL AS MY MORRIS IS IN
The author’s name and the title of the work: LEO ROSTEN THE JOYS OF YIDDISH
The defined words:
A. Offspring that don’t resemble their parents, LARVAE
B. Related on the mother’s side, ENATE
C. In more than one sense, being too much of a mother?, OVERBEARING
D. Abba’s lyric “Mamma mia, here I go again …,” e.g., REFRAIN
E. Science concerning the sense of smell, OSMICS
F. One who begs, in slang, SCHNORRER
G. City whose airport is named after Mother Teresa, TIRANA
H. Mother of kings Henry, Richard and John, ELEANOR
I. Like mother-of-pearl, NACREOUS
J. City where Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin convened in 1943, TEHRAN
K. Challenging for Luddites (hyph.), HI-TECH
L. Murray Hill’s slice of the Big Apple ( wds.), EAST SIDE
M. New World settlement that Lord De La Warr governed, JAMESTOWN
N. Guy with a well-earned income?, OILMAN
O. Site of a Pulitzer Prize-winning Neil Simon play, YONKERS
P. Pint-size, cut short (hyph.), SAWN-OFF
Q. Volume of reprinted works, OMNIBUS
R. Loud vendor in London’s old Billingsgate market, FISHWIFE
S. Milk curdled by the action of cultures, YOGURT
T. Intense blaze, INFERNO
U. One whose bulb burns none too bright, DIMWIT
V. Thingamabob, doohickey, DINGUS
W. Keeping abreast of one another (2 wds.), IN TOUCH
X. Gumshoe, private eye, SHAMUS
Y. Get there by “shoe leather express” (2 wds.), HOOF IT
Kinder — Pronounced KIN*der, to rhyme with “tinder.” German: “children.”
But how little does “children” convey that bursting sentiment, naches, and pride with which Jews say “kinder.”
Sometimes this parental feeling is carried to startling extremes. My wife remembers a neighbor who was so fierce in her maternal affections that when her no-goodnik son was arrested for some petty infraction of the law, she returned from visiting him in jail to announce, “You never saw such a beautiful jail as my Morris is in!”
Click on image to enlarge.
Puzzle available on the internet at
THE NEW YORK TIMES — Crossword Puzzles and Games.
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