Racing Against Time
One thing we all have in common is that we are older than we were yesterday. Author Atul Gawande, a surgeon, provides a roadmap for grappling with the aging process and end-of-life quandaries. People we know in the medical field revere Being Mortal as a humane and essential resource for patients and their families as they confront the choices our mortality brings. Gawande offers wisdom of many kinds, with a focus on prioritizing quality of life over longevity at all costs.
In developing this acrostic, we had at our disposal innumerable works of literature that also consider questions of mortality, from the Old Testament (Methuselah) to Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire (Lestat de Lioncourt). But our favorite reference is to Oscar Wilde, whose The Picture of Dorian Gray remains compelling and frightening.
As for “60 is the new 40” — we recently saw a birthday card with those words prominently displayed. Underneath, a traffic cop was saying to a motorist he had pulled over, “Who the hell told you that?”
Which themed clues/answers did you most enjoy?
“In time, if not on time” is a poetic clue for EVENTUALLY. The best acrostics bring engaging quotes into view, but I most enjoy the pleasure of the clever clues. The pleasure of the clever? See, I can be poetic, too. 🙂
As a definite senior citizen who was taught by a brilliant boyfriend to do acrostics in the Saturday Review many, many moons ago, I was fearful that no new editors could match Cox/Rathvon. Au contraire!! These puzzles are the best ever with wonderful, clever theme matches between the quote and clues. Thank you so much for this fortnightly treat:-)
I was only going to start this acrostic, but found I couldn’t put it down until I was finished… too much fun. Got Oscar Wilde right away. The 1945 film has stayed in my memory for decades. Also got Doctor Who quickly. I eventually got bucket list, which was my favorite clue/word. A couple of trial and errors; Algeria to Nigeria before Namibia. Smiled about sixty being the new forty… not in my experience, although my body was sure moving along with the athletes as I sat in my chair watching the Olympics. 🤣
As my beautiful partner of forty-five years likes to say, “Tempus fugit; non comebackibus.”
That was a timely Acrostic in many ways.
This one took a while, even though I started to get the theme early with THENEWFORTY…With an E and an I in “Senescent,” I’m afraid I had DECREPIT for a very long time. It fit the theme! Maybe not the spirit, though…
Took a bit longer, but that just prolonged the enjoyment. A wonderful (and wise) quotation, revealed through elegant, clever clueing. Thanks again!
This was one of my favorites! I love acrostics where at first I only have the answer to one clue (my starter today was “Methuselah”), but then I get to use all the possible ways to solve the puzzle – not just the given clues, but the first letters of the name and title as they begin to take shape, seeing that some of the clues themselves are reflecting a theme, making guesses when I have part of a word filled in, and by context and grammar. That’s why I love acrostics and wish they were not the step-child of the crossword puzzle, but were at least weekly! Apropos to today’s puzzle, on off weeks I go back and do one from the archives , since as a “senior,” I don’t remember the answers from when I did them a decade ago! Acrostics work the way figuring out problems in life in general works – not from one route, but from many working together.
This one was pretty tough! probably a 7.5/10. Like Joanne, I didn’t solve many clues at all on the first pass, which made the solve pretty daunting. And I didn’t catch the full impact of the old age theme until embarrassingly long into it. I’d say “the new forty” was my favorite clue, as well as the one for “senior project”.
solving video: https://studio.youtube.com/video/SpuuWVXHgzc/edit
My solving partner & I love your acrostics!
We love words, so we especially love learning a new word (today for both of us, that was “gerontic”).
(The more new and interesting words, the better!)
We also love the hand-curated quotes these puzzles are based on, and provide us with as a reward for solving them.
Another winner, with a fine quote from a wonderful book. Although I’ve read the book, it took me until almost the end to recognize the source. I only had a couple of other clues beyond METHUSELAH and OSCARWILDE to start, but EVENTUALLY I got a few more, and the was able to spot miracles, biological and fantasy in the grid. I was helped by the fact that I did the Monday crossword before tackling the acrostic and Namib was one of the answers in the crossword. Please keep these gems coming. I look forward to the biweekly acrostic romp.
“Geriatic” is not a word! The word is “geriatric”! Just try typing “geriatic” into the Google search bar and see what you come up with. IDIOTIC.
Dear Friends,
Although we know quite a few twenty-somethings who enjoy doing acrostics, we also guessed that Gawande’s quote might resonate with a few of our solvers 😉
As for “geriatic,” we agree that is certainly not a word! We don’t know whether the completed puzzle would yield a cogent quote using those letters in those spaces (if so, how wild!!), but the actual solution to Clue P. is “gerontic,” which is a legit, if not commonly known, word.
As for Methusaleh, we thought of cluing it with reference to the world’s oldest living aquarium fish, who goes by that name, but clues like that can become inaccurate over time!
Hey, just want to thank you for including GERONTIC, as for others my learned word for that day.