# Explain this crossword answer to me **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 9, 2005, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-crossword-answer-to-me/330189 "2005-11-09T08:00:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tiltypig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dbc845/32.png) [@tiltypig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiltypig)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-crossword-answer-to-me/330189/1 "2005-11-09T08:00:26Z")
I have a book of crossword puzzles, and I just finished a crossword that I completely don’t understand. Usually I can figure out where they’re going with the “theme clues,” but after filling in this puzzle, I still don’t get it. Can someone explain the theme to me? If you have the New York Times Sunday Crossword Tribute to Eugene T. Maleska book, it’s puzzle #76. The title of the puzzle is “Put them all together…” The pattern may not be relevant, but there are six theme clues–three on the top of the puzzle, three on the bottom. They are numbered as shown below: …2…4…6 1…3…5 The answers are: 1. ACHREE 2. GOSE 3. ERESA 4. TONGU 5. EART 6. OFPEAL If you put them all together in order, they read: ACHREEGOSEERESATONGUEARTOFPEAL …which almost makes sense to me, but not quite. I have the feeling I’m being very dim about something here. Are the words scrambled? Am I reading them in the wrong order? The clues themselves just say “Theme answer #x,” so no help there. Thanks in advance for your help–this is driving me crazy, since obviously the back of the book gives the answers for the grid but doesn’t explain the wordplay. ---
**Author:** ![Tevildo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Tevildo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tevildo)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-crossword-answer-to-me/330189/2 "2005-11-09T08:30:05Z")
Well, “AC HR EEG OS EE RE SA” are all common abbreviations, and “TONGUE ART OF PEAL” is more or less comprehensible. Does this help? Perhaps “SAT” is another abbreviation, but I can’t extract any more from the rest of the letters. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-crossword-answer-to-me/330189/3 "2005-11-09T10:32:12Z")
Mother! ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-crossword-answer-to-me/330189/4 "2005-11-09T10:34:28Z")
Actually, Mother plus another letter: 1)ACHREE 2) GOSE 3) ERESA 4) TONGU 5) EART 6) OFPEAL 1. Mother Machree 2. Mother Goose 3. Mother Teresa 4. Mother Tongue 5. Mother Earth 6. Mother of Pearl ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-crossword-answer-to-me/330189/5 "2005-11-09T10:35:44Z")
Maybe I just should have said: _ucker_ ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-crossword-answer-to-me/330189/6 "2005-11-09T10:48:51Z")
And the extra letters spell out MOTHER (well, MOTEHR in the order given) ---
**Author:** ![tiltypig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dbc845/32.png) [@tiltypig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiltypig)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-crossword-answer-to-me/330189/7 "2005-11-09T17:16:48Z")
THANK YOU!! If only “Mother Machree” had meant something to me, maybe I would have been able to figure this out. ---
**Author:** ![emacknight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ec8ea/32.png) [@emacknight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emacknight)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-crossword-answer-to-me/330189/8 "2005-11-09T17:48:33Z")
That is the most complicated thing I have ever seen in my life! Did somebody actually figure that out on their own? And if son, how? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-crossword-answer-to-me/330189/9 "2005-11-09T18:03:47Z")
> [@emacknight](#): > > That is the most complicated thing I have ever seen in my life! Did somebody actually figure that out on their own? And if son, how? If you think that’s tough, have a look at some cryptic crosswords sometime. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-crossword-answer-to-me/330189/10 "2005-11-09T18:21:11Z")
I saw a really great clue the other day from a crossword writer who was really phoning it in. 7D: An anapest. (Seven letters, ends with “T”.) Anapest 😛 ---
**Author:** ![shelbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@shelbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shelbo)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-crossword-answer-to-me/330189/11 "2005-11-09T19:27:52Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > I saw a really great clue the other day from a crossword writer who was really phoning it in. > > 7D: An anapest. > > (Seven letters, ends with “T”.) > > Anapest > > 😛 I think that is illegal, and that particular crossword writer should be suspended or fined! ( **twixter?!** ) ---
**Author:** ![UncaStuart](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncastuart/32/404_2.png) [@UncaStuart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncaStuart)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-crossword-answer-to-me/330189/12 "2005-11-09T19:29:27Z")
> [@tiltypig](#): > > The title of the puzzle is “Put them all together…” I expect that this is riffing on the 1915 tune “M-O-T-H-E-R” by Howard Johnson and Theodore Morse, which has the often-parodied spell-out lyrics: > [@](#): > > “M” is for the million things she gave me > “O” means only that she’s growing old > “T” is for the tears she shed to save me > “H” is for her heart of purest gold > “E” is for her eyes with love-light shining > “R” means right and right she’ll always be > Put them all together they spell MOTHER, > a word that means the world to me. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-crossword-answer-to-me/330189/13 "2005-11-09T20:17:02Z")
> [@shelbo](#): > > I think that is illegal, and that particular crossword writer should be suspended or fined! ( **twixter?!** ) Yeah, someone was definitely not paying attention. We’ve all done it – but usually it gets caught before it makes it into print. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Bobbio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b487fb/32.png) [@Bobbio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobbio)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2020, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-crossword-answer-to-me/330189/14 "2020-11-22T15:24:07Z")
A web search brought me here (fifteen years after the original post). Thanks from the future! ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2020, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-crossword-answer-to-me/330189/15 "2020-11-22T16:51:15Z")
Wait, but the word “anapest” is a dactyl at best, (Stress-unstressed-unstressed) though I’d more likely scan it as stress-unstress-stress (secondary)l. (Or am I missing something?) Why I didn’t respond fifteen years ago, I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-crossword-answer-to-me/330189/16 "2020-11-23T06:29:24Z")
Upon reading that post, it took me all of 7 unstressed seconds to guess that the word was “ANAPEST”. All the more ironic if I did so by misunderstanding what an anapest is. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-crossword-answer-to-me/330189/17 "2020-11-23T11:34:12Z")
I had never before today heard of the word ‘anapest’ but on looking it up, I agree with @pulykamell that it would normally be pronounced with a stress on the first syllable, which would mean the word ‘anapest’ is not in itself an anapest (which is obviously what the clue-writer was going for and presumably felt justified in breaking the usual rule that the answer to the clue must not appear in the clue). By contrast, I think the capital of Hungary, Budapest, would usually be pronounced as an anapest. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-crossword-answer-to-me/330189/18 "2020-11-23T12:18:54Z")
Budapest is typically pronounced with the stress in the first syllable. Wiktionary only shows that pronunciation (four different variants, but all with initial stress) but [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com) does show one variant with terminal stress. A word like “interrupt” is a good example, though you can put a lighter stress on the first syllable if you wanted to. “‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house/ not a creature was stirring not even a mouse” is one anapest after another (across different words.) ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-crossword-answer-to-me/330189/19 "2020-11-23T12:50:46Z")
Thanks, again - great example. I think for me, Budapest is not strongly stressed on any syllable, but I do kind of ‘hear’ it most on the last syllable. I can certainly accept that this pronunciation is not the best or even incorrect. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-crossword-answer-to-me/330189/20 "2020-11-23T14:06:59Z")
In reply to the OZ (original zombie): I’d be willing to bet the original puzzle appeared on a Mother’s Day… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-crossword-answer-to-me/330189.md?page=2)