| VERBOSITY | "He draweth out the thread of his ____ finer than the staple of his argument" (Love's Labour's Lost) |
| RAVEL | To draw out the threads of a woven fabric |
| PYTHAGORAS | His argument's well known to be three-sided |
| EBON | "... that draweth from my snow-white pen the __-coloured ink": Shak. |
| TEACUP | Under interrogation by the Queen of Hearts, the Hatter "bit a large piece out of his ____ instead of the bread-and-butter" |
| ANCESTRY | "He who boasts of his ____ is praising the deeds of another" (Seneca) |
| CLOTHO | One of the three Fates in Greek mythology: the spinner of the thread of life |
| ONION | Bulb vegetable said to have been the staple food of Diogenes the Cynic, the Greek philosopher who lived in a wine barrel or tub according to legend (5) |
| WALKING | Petrel is derived from St. Peter and the story of his ___ on water as they appear to run on the water when they take off |
| ATROPOS | The one of the three Fates who severs the thread of life in Greek mythology (7) |
| RICE | What grain is the staple food of half the world's people? (4) |
| AJAX | He is the son of Telemon (the king of Salamis) and grandson of Aeacus. In Love Labour's Lost (act 4, scene 3), Berowne says, "This love is as mad as ___: it kills sheep; it kills me, I a sheep." |
| CORNISHPASTY | D-shaped traditional pastry with a crimped edge, once the staple diet of miners, farmers and other w |
| VEERE | City in the southwestern Netherlands that functioned as the staple port for Scotland between 1541 and 1799 |
| CAROLINA | "If I had Aladdin's lamp for only a day; I'd make a wish and here's what I'd say; Nothing could be finer than to be in ... in the morning" |
| ENEMIES | "A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his ___": Wilde |
| OWN | "He's scared of his ___ shadow" |
| LACHESIS | The Fate determining the length of the thread of life (8) |
| KENYAN | "well, obviously, a copy of his ___ birth certificate" (maz jobrani, on what will make headlines when president obama presidential library opens) |
| NORNS | In Norse mythology, the three virgin goddesses who spin the threads of fate at the foot of Yygdrasil (5) |
