Down a Rabbit Hole
Constructing this week’s acrostic reminded us of the many hares and rabbits that grace the pages of our stories, from Aesop’s fable of the tortoise and the hare to Beatrix Potter’s tales to Lewis Carroll’s imaginings. Then there is Harvey, the six-foot pooka in the form of a rabbit that befriends Elwood P. Dowd in the lovely 1950 film that bears the pooka’s name.
These creatures also figure prominently in two recent memoirs that we recommend. One is Raising Hare, by Chloe Dalton, in which we found the quotation for this puzzle. Largely homebound during the Covid pandemic, the author brings an injured wild young hare (a leveret) into her home in Britain. Her book, published in 2024, captures the remarkable ways in which this act and her ensuing relationship with the hare changed her life.
The other memoir, an extraordinary multigenerational family history touching down in Odessa, Paris, Vienna, Tokyo and London, is The Hare with Amber Eyes, published by Edmund de Waal in 2010. The hare in this case is not a live animal but rather one piece in a set of miniature hand-carved Japanese sculptures known as netsuke. Dave and his sister, Ruth, had a chance to see the collection a few years ago when it came to the Jewish Museum in New York City.
If you’ve never seen Harvey, or otherwise require some elucidation as to the ways of pookas, perhaps this will help:
Magical Acrostic. Nicely done.
Hadn’t given much thought to the number of rabbits and hares in literature until this puzzle. There are quite a lot. I liked clue U, March (Hare). I had heard of this memoir. Thanks for all the theme related clues and words. Great fun.
Ha. I didn’t catch the March hare connection.
Really fun acrostic. My wife and I love watching the rabbits that come to our yard to graze. TIL that a leveret is a young hare. I was briefly tripped up by thinking Peter and Mr. McGregor were enemies rather than NEMESES, and resisting SYNESTHETE because I thought it was spelt synaesthete. I loved being reminded of Harvey and Elwood P. Dowd, one of the great Jimmy Stewart’s quirkiest roles. Every other Sunday is always my favorite puzzling day, thanks to these beautifully crafted acrostics.
The magazine was missing from my home delivery today. Arggh!! Is there anywhere to get a PDF copy, or any format?
Hi Laura — boy, that is frustrating. Our acrostics (and much more) are available on http://www.xwordinfo.com. There’s a modest annual fee …
D&J