Opposites Attract
Before his death in 2018, Stephen Hawking occupied the same endowed chair in Cambridge University that Isaac Newton held more than three centuries earlier. How’s that for scientific pedigree? And like Newton before him, Hawking strove to make advances in scientific understanding accessible to people who lack an in-depth education in the sciences. Hawking’s 1988 book A Brief History of Time – and its 2005 sequel A Briefer History of Time – sought to do just that.
The title of the first book made us believe that we could easily find a workable quotation from it on which to base an acrostic for The New York Times. We were mistaken. The concepts at the heart of the book – e.g., general relativity and quantum mechanics, and the relationship between them – turn out to be difficult to present in short, pithy sentences. Even for Stephen Hawking.
But we persevered and eventually found the quote in this week’s puzzle, a quote that likely resonates with people interested in both science and science fiction. For example, Star Trek fans may recall that the engines of the Enterprise used matter-antimatter reactions to power the starship’s capacity to attain warp speed. A 1975 episode of Doctor Who featured an “antimatter universe” whose inhabitants interact catastrophically with normal matter.
Back here on Earth, we also liked this quotation because it introduces the analogous theme of contronyms – words that have two meanings that are contradictory or at least point in opposite directions. Answer C., for example (“WEATHER”) is such a word. Answer P. (“SANCTION”) is another. How many others did you spy?
Clue/Answer I., harkening back to Bette Davis’s much-quoted line from All About Eve, sadly doesn’t imply opposite meanings. But it has this going for it: The American Film Institute ranks it #9 on its list of famous movie quotes. And the scene in question also includes a young Marilyn Monroe in one of her first film roles.
Enjoyed the quote immensely (laughed out loud) and the contronyms, HANDICAP, TRIM, etc. My solve was a bit bumpy, until I gave in and entered all the “anti”s in the quote. BETTE was the first word I got. I’m a great admirer of Stephen Hawking, and Star Trek and Doctor Who.
Stephen Hawking’s book “A Brief History of Time” was once called “the most unread book of all time,” which is surely what prompted its sequel “A Briefer History of Time.” In fact, a prominent US mathematician whimsically created “The Hawking Index.” Quoting from its Wikipedia page, it is “a mock mathematical measure on how far people will, on average, read through a book before giving up.”
The Wikipedia entry also includes other well-known titles with low completion rates. Here’s a link if anyone is interested:
– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawking_Index
At first glance I thought I had a slim chance of finishing but soon realized it was a fat chance.
I only had to look one or two things up, and was happy and proud of myself for finishing anyway. I hope you allow yourself that indulgence for the pleasure of completing the puzzle. I can’t always do it!
Godel, Escher, Bach belongs in any discussion of such works. Maybe Atlas Shrugged?
Just as my self patted my antiself on the back for solving this fantastic Acrostic, well, you can imagine what happened.
That is so clever!!
Wow. Just, wow.
A treat this week, as always.
My favorite part of these acrostics has been how they highlight dissimilar definitions for the same word. I always feel like they flex my brain. They keep me coming back. Great job on this one!
I finish about 4 out of 5 of your Acrostics and always look forward to them. I could not finish this one but I just had to contact you about it. I thought hoi polloi was the people and missed oversight although I’ve always been amazed that that word means one thing and also its opposite. Those are just details: what I really want to stress is how brilliant you are to make up a puzzle of contrenyms and then to reveal that absolutely charming, funny Hawkings quote that exemplifies them. Thank you!!
Really clever puzzle. I am amazed you fit so many contronyms into the answers to the clues. This one really made me think.