ACROSTIC — Today’s passage is about the world’s oceans and their most feared denizens. It’s from a 2011 book called “Demon Fish” by Juliet Eilperin, who is the deputy climate and environment editor at The Washington Post. The fish in question is a shark, of course.
It’s midsummer now, and the odds are probably at their peak that your toes are somewhere near the water while you solve this acrostic (cue the John Williams music). Fear not: Eilperin’s book provides a wider perspective on how important sharks are to the balance of the marine ecosystem and informs us that only about 6 percent of sharks pose any danger to humans (and that we are far more likely to get struck by lightning than wind up in a shark’s jaws).
Speaking of teeth, this puzzle’s clue set is bristling with sharp stuff. There are several hints to the passage, some of them apparent. For example, “Portrayer of Amity Island’s Chief Brody in a 1975 Spielberg movie,” or “Where capsizing might get you tossed.” This is ROY SCHEIDER, whose hydrophobic character winds up IN THE DRINK at the very end of “Jaws.”
Others are cleverly oblique: There’s OPHELIA, the “Shakespearean drowning victim.” I racked my brain on the “Eponymous ex-con of numerous numerically named films” and didn’t think of DANNY OCEAN (I also learned that there are “Ocean’s” Twelve and Thirteen).
Finally, some were unexpected, and made me smile when I figured them out toward the end of my solve — after the passage’s topic was evident. “Spoke forcefully and persuasively,” which I thought would be “lectured” at first, was JAWBONED. The “Gelatinous, lye-cured seafood dish popular in Nordic countries” is LUTEFISK, which has so far eluded me in any ecosystem other than puzzles and also sounds a little scary.
What did you think?