Location: Graveyard
Depth: 334
View Puzzle

Solution to Stay Out of the Trench

by Charles Steinhardt

Answer: KERFUFFLE

This puzzle consists of 9 dropquotes. The text of each dropquote is a passage from an anti-war poem dating from World War I. In each dropquote, there is one unused letter in each column. These letters, read from left to right, spell out words. Here, we present these words in a highlighted row at the top of each grid.

 

B
F
E
E
E
N
T
O
O
A
A
G
T
N
R
R
V
E
A
O
E
S
E
E
N
F
L
A
C
E
N
I
G
E
C
E
V
M
A
O
S
T
H
N
E
E
A
L
O
P
T
N
N
B
D
O
U
O
D
O
U
R
S
T
R
H
I
V
M
J
T
H
I
U
N
E
P
U
H
E
N
N
I
D
W
U
R
K
S
H
A
R
G
O
R

— “God! How I hate you, you young cheerful men” by Arthur Graeme West

 

F
A
D
E
T
Œ
A
G
A
N
N
O
T
S
C
D
T
O
S
E
T
H
D
T
R
I
A
F
A
E
U
H
N
R
I
S
Y
L
A
A
G
T
E
L
T
L
H
H
W
S
E
L
I
A
E
T
D
V
N
A
M
A
A
E
F
N
S
P
N
A
G
N
E
D
H
A
K
W
U
C
C
E
S
A
E
O
T
A
L
S
T
Y
M
I
I
L
E
H
F
P
N
R

— “The Night Patrol” by Arthur Graeme West

 

H
D
E
K
I
N
I
E
A
D
M
L
D
C
A
G
E
E
E
W
K
T
A
T
N
H
H
H
I
H
F
O
E
I
S
N
E
F
E
F
N
T
A
L
T
N
B
S
L
T
A
H
I
O
E
I
L
G
E
N
B
A
M
E
T
A
G
I
U
P
N
H
M
D
H
L
T
L
E
E
I
U
I
I
E
W
M
E
G
T
F
S
I
P
N
D
H
Y
I
T
N
R
O

— “Phases” by Wallace Stevens

 

L
W
V
N
E
U
E
T
I
W
G
N
H
C
I
E
C
G
S
E
T
T
D
O
E
H
O
H
L
M
A
C
R
T
U
A
L
E
Y
P
O
M
N
L
N
E
O
N
E
O
W
A
S
S
B
T
I
C
A
M
U
A
N
E
T
H
A
I
P
G
E
N
L
H
E
W
T
A
O
D
D
I
H
D

— “The Cenotaph” by Charlotte Mew

 

M
H
W
E
D
U
A
I
V
I
E
H
M
G
R
R
V
E
A
N
L
E
A
E
T
S
T
E
R
S
E
L
W
N
N
T
H
E
E
N
S
V
O
O
D
E
D
I
I
F
E
V
N
T
S
B
N
T
N
N
A
R
E
D
H
U
H
W
E
G
T
N
E
E
W
S
O
E
I
S
E
A
R
R
O
Y
F
Y
T
S
E
E
A
U
H
T
U
A
D
A
D
L
L
A
C
S
R
R
N
U
R
L
D
N
O
T
F
A
E
D
D

— “Counter-Attack” by Siegfied Sassoon

 

R
I
D
L
C
O
E
U
N
S
O
R
W
P
M
W
O
L
S
B
F
T
S
T
A
K
L
L
H
B
S
H
C
Y
I
A
E
E
E
A
E
N
N
T
S
T
T
G
D
P
W
A
H
S
E
O
E
R
M
N
E
E
R
P
E
O
A
D
E
S
P
N
W
R
L
S
I
K
I
A
I
F
E
T
O
N
R
G
I
S
H
N
O
K
H
E
E
U
T
S
S
L
B
R
R
H

— “In Flanders Fields” by John McCrae

 

S
W
D
F
I
E
S
W
A
G
W
N
L
T
H
E
W
L
E
O
A
T
A
O
N
O
R
W
N
E
R
R
L
W
E
D
R
E
T
I
S
W
E
S
V
A
L
L
E
R
O
T
D
E
W
O
O
S
C
H
A
D
V
V
L
K
E
Y
S
E
E
I
F
S
S
F
U
D
D
E
I
T
D
E
N
E
E
E
A
L
S
A
A
I
L
N
A
G
T
E
N
N
N
D
T
D
O
T
D
D
S

— “In Flanders Fields” by John McCrae

 

W
L
H
R
T
Y
N
Y
A
O
I
D
T
H
T
Y
N
C
N
A
W
S
M
O
O
W
G
O
D
R
E
A
F
I
L
I
K
L
A
R
T
T
B
U
N
V
G
C
H
B
C
R
M
G
G
E
O
H
E
A
H
I
N
R
E
T
W
T
S
T
A
M
T
D
G
T
O
I
H
S
O
H
R
L
O
S
G
E
S
N
E
I
A
E

— “At the Movies” by Florence Ripley Mastin

 

F
B
U
H
S
L
O
R
U
S
O
W
A
L
R
O
T
T
T
I
N
E
E
L
W
H
T
D
D
I
A
S
L
E
E
H
G
T
O
I
N
H
M
N
R
M
K
T
S
M
A
E
I
E
E
E
Y
N
N
L
A
O
A
A
D
A
M
N
M
C
H
S
I
N
O
E
E
R
A
E
N
D
R
O
N
A
K
S
E
J
W
S
D
D
I
F

— “Back” by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson

 

The words formed by the leftover letters are all in alphabetical order except for the final three: FRO LATRIA MORE. One letter in each of these words can be changed to get PRO PATRIA MORI, which are the final three words of the poem “Dulce et Decorum est” by Wilfred Owen, yet another WWI-era anti-war poem.

Each word obtained from the other dropquotes can be similarly modified to create a word that appears in Owen’s poem:

Bent (Sent) double, like old beggars under sacks (sOcks),
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags (haMs), we cursed through sludge,
Till (Mill) on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many (manO) had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went (Tent) lame; all blind;
Drunk (drInk)with fatigue; deaf even (Oven) to the hoots
Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.

GAS! Gas! Quick, boys (boNs)!— An ecstasy of fumbling (Rumbling),
Fitting (Hitting) the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was (waY) yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime.—
Dim, through the misty panes (Manes) and thick green light
As under a green sea (seE), I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight (sighS),
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too (Woo) could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch (wItch) the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face (facT), like a devil's sick (Hick) of sin;
If you could hear (Rear), at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs (lungE),
Obscene as cancer, bitter (Sitter) as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,—
My friend, you would not tell (Hell) with such high (hUgh) zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie (Fie): Dulce et decorum est
Pro (Fro) patria (Latria) mori (morE).

Reading all of the new letters, in poem order, spells out COMMOTION RHYMES WITH RESHUFFLE, cluing the final answer, KERFUFFLE.

A couple of notes: