Acrostic X-9
ACROSTIC X MINUS SEVEN
Joanne Schott
(In Looking Glass Land, things go in reverse.
The next acrostic, should there be one, will be X minus eight.)
You will need to print the acrostic in order to solve it. When the diagram is filled in, it will contain a quotation from a published work. Numbered squares in the diagram correspond to the numbered blanks to be filled in with the answers to the clues. The first letters of each answer, when read downwards, will spell the name of the author and the title of the work from which the quotation comes. The letter following the number in each square indicates the clue whose answer includes the letter to be entered in that square. Nearly all the clues have something to do with children's literature. You do not need to know more than about 8 (some say 6) answers to begin. As skeletons of words begin to form in the diagram and some initial letters of author and title are in place, work back and forth. Soon the parts of the puzzle will solve one another. Answers will be posted on the site on August 2, 2002.
Note: Depending upon your printer and page setup options, some of the right hand columns of the acrostic may not print. If the printed version does not match what you see on your screen, try going into the print setup menu and change the page orientation from Portrait to Landscape. If your printer supports output scaling (and your eyesight is good!) you can instead try reducing the output scale from 100% (try 90% to start) until all of the columns appear on the printed copy.
1S | 2E | 3L | 4A | 5B | 6T | 7C | 8M | 9F | 10X | 11AA | 12J | 13G | 14I | 15P | 16A | ||||
17X | 18H | 19W | 20Q | 21R | 22S | 23J | 24H | 25O | 26X | 27AA | 28L | 29T | 30M | 31S | 32H | 33D | |||
34P | 35O | 36B | 37W | 38U | 39A | 40W | 41Y | 42H | 43S | 44R | 45I | 46P | 47X | 48L | 49W | 50H | |||
51A | 52G | 53N | 54P | 55I | 56O | 57L | 58K | 59H | 60BB | 61D | 62C | 63Y | 64AA | 65J | 66X | ||||
67U | 68P | 69L | 70Z | 71E | 72R | 73K | 74W | 75AA | 76H | 77D | 78Q | 79F | 80W | 81T | 82X | 83I | 84Y | ||
85W | 86B | 87C | 88J | 89O | 90AA | 91A | 92L | 93F | 94M | 95BB | 96P | 97W | 98R | 99Z | |||||
100G | 101T | 102R | 103AA | 104H | 105R | 106O | 107U | 108X | 109A | 110J | 111P | 112BB | 113L | 114I | 115G | 116H | |||
117S | 118G | 119A | 120U | 121B | 122Y | 123V | 124W | 125H | 126AA | 127C | 128A | 129O | 130T | 131BB | |||||
132K | 133H | 134X | 135Z | 136B | 137W | 138C | 139Q | 140V | 141E | 142R | 143AA | 144L | 145D | 146K | 147X | 148G | |||
149U | 150R | 151H | 152O | 153AA | 154F | 155W | 156A | 157L | 158D | 159P | 160W | 161O | 162R | 163I | 164H | 165T | |||
166C | 167W | 168B | 169X | 170AA | 171H | 172J | 173L | 174T | 175G | 176Q | 177D | 178V | 179P | 180O | 181X | 182N | |||
183A | 184B | 185H | 186J | 187BB | 188T | 189I | 190X | 191T | 192AA | 193B | 194C | 195J | 196H | 197Y | |||||
198BB | 199D | 200P | 201AA | 202B | 203V | 204Z | 205L | 206T | 207J | 208O | 209G | 210E | 211U | 212B | 213R | 214V | |||
215T | 216M | 217H | 218A | 219P | 220C | 221T | 222W | 223L | 224E | 225X | 226H | 227I | 228S | 229R | 230V | ||||
231G | 232Y | 233A | 234O | 235V | 236M | 237S | 238AA | 239W | 240X | 241J | 242E | 243R | 244M | 245T | 246A | ||||
247I | 248B | 249G | 250L | 251Q | 252C | 253T | 254O | 255F | 256H | 257I | 258AA | 259J | 260W | 261Y | > | 262D | |||
263L | 264M | 265A | 266F | 267X | 268G | 269C | 270E | 271H | 272K | 273N | 274D |
A ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ 119 183 265 51 91 4 128 218 246 156 109 16 233 39
R.M. Ballantyne's simple parody of John Bunyan's classic; The (2 wds)
B ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ 121 168 136 212 36 193 202 184 248 5 86
and Cousin Cramchild, Kingsley's satire of Peter Parley, found in The Water Babies (2 wds)
C ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ 138 62 252 269 7 87 166 127 220 194
"Wash me and comb me and lay me down softly" said the of the Well (English folk tale) (2 wds)
D ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ 274 158 262 61 77 199 33 145 177
Horatio Alger's books presumably showed poor boys (3 wds)
E ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ 210 224 2 71 242 141 270
Forest, Sussex, setting of Barbara Willard's Mantlemass novels
F ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ 266 9 255 154 79 93
Field, Isadora or Pye
G ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ 118 52 231 148 268 209 175 13 249 115 100
Meteorological comment by R. Briggs's Father Christmas as he prepares for Christmas Eve
H ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ 50 271 18 164 116 24 217 185 125 226 32 42 171 196 59 104 256 133 76 151
Last item in the Jumblies' shopping spree (5 wds)
I ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ 189 227 257 163 247 14 114 83 55 45
Victorian artist, noted painter of birds, whose other work appears often in these acrostics, including this one (2 wds)
J ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ 241 207 88 65 259 23 172 12 110 186 195
Mainstay of the curious and charming family in Tove Jansson's fantasies
K ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ 132 272 58 146 73
Creator of Max and Moritz, mischievous comic characters in German popular literature
L ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ 28 223 263 92 205 144 48 69 157 3 57 173 113 250
What her dog was doing when Mother Hubbard returned from the cobbler's (3 wds)
M ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ 216 30 94 264 244 236 8
Surname of brother and sister residing in Great Camomile Street (Opie)
N ___ ___ ___ 273 53 182<
Boys' weekly paper founded 1910, featured the adventures of Tom Merry
O ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ 35 180 234 106 56 208 161 129 89 254 152 25
Margery Fisher's one-woman reviewing journal (2 wds)
P ___ ___ ___ A ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ 200 219 54 179 46 34 96 159 111 68 15
Occupation for Curly Locks (3 wds plus the given article) (3 wds)
Q ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ 139 251 78 176 20
Bob , Canadian TV's Friendly Giant, who read books to children on every show
R ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ 105 162 150 213 21 142 98 72 243 44 102 229
Los Angeles historic site celebrated in Leo Politi's book about Pedro (2 wds)
S ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
31 117 22 1 228 237 43
Ben
, hero of Philippa Pearce's A Dog So Small
T ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ 191 130 206 221 81 101 253 245 215 165 6 29 188 174
British writer of adventure stories for girls, more than 125 between 1894 and her death in 1941 (2 wds)
U ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ 149 107 38 120 211 67
The son who seldom won a princess or defeated a villain
V ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ 235 140 230 123 214 203 178
and Fairies, sequel to Puck of Pook's Hill
W ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ 137 239 37 260 155 167 19 49 160 222 124 85 74 40 97 80
When not making tea in his hat, the Old Man on the Border did this (4 wds)
X ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ 190 181 267 10 134 26 17 108 82 169 225 47 66 147 240
American children's magazine, 1827-1929 (2 wds)
Y ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ 197 41 122 261 63 232 84
Owner of the Cheshire cat
Z ___ ___ ___ ___ 135 99 70 204
Could apply in different ways to tea or cake
AA ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ 103 258 126 64 170 90 75 192 11 201 143 153 27 238
A possible definition for Befana (2 wds)
BB ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ 95 187 198 112 131 60
Title of Peter Sis's book about the largest monitor lizard, the dragon
Volume 4, Issue 2, The Looking Glass, 2000
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"Acrostic X-7" ©Joanne Schott, 2000
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