LEO ROSTEN, CARNIVAL OF WIT — Groucho Marx offered to write a blurb for a book I was about to publish. ... His comment, verbatim [was]: From the moment I picked your book up till the moment I put it down, I could not stop laughing. Someday I hope to read it.
| A. | Hardly a subtle or pleasant raconteur | LOUDMOUTH |
| B. | Preserved from oblivion; kept in memory | EMBALMED |
| C. | Make even harder to grasp, as a concept | OBFUSCATE |
| D. | Samurai who has lost his lord and is forced to go wandering | RONIN |
| E. | With condition or alignment kerflooey (3 wds.) | OUTOFKILTER |
| F. | Counterscam, tricky reversal (slang) | SWITCHEROO |
| G. | Little birdie | TOMTIT |
| H. | One with a psi power, like Deanna Troi on "Star Trek: T.N.G." | EMPATH |
| I. | "It's unimportant, don't give it another thought" (2 wds.) | NOBIGGIE |
| J. | Someone who really loves to pack it away | CHOWHOUND |
| K. | Military transport that's treaded and ruddered | AMPHIBIAN |
| L. | Author of "Fer-de-Lance" (1934) and "A Family Affair" (1975) (2 wds.) | REXSTOUT |
| M. | "It'll be fine, don't concern yourself" (3 wds.) | NOTTOWORRY |
| N. | Annual sports competition that has been won five times by women | IDITAROD |
| O. | Any of the maidens attending Odin in Valhalla | VALKYRIE |
| P. | Like some angles or shortages | ACUTE |
| Q. | Indeterminate place between places | LIMBO |
| R. | Gazing at one's navel as an exercise in meditation | OMPHALOSKEPSIS |
| S. | Film for which Frances McDormand won an Oscar for Best Actress | FARGO |
| T. | Like a hippopotamus's toes | WEBBED |
| U. | Piece by Schubert or Chopin suggesting an offhand style | IMPROMPTU |
| V. | Food sold in the form of cakes | TOFU |