Vocabulary Building Blocks: (34 Down) abate (VERB) 1. Become less in amount, degree, value, force or intensity. Synonyms: die away, let up, slack, slack off. 2. Make less active or intense. Synonyms: slack, slake. Similar words to abate are: decrease, diminish, fall, lessen, minify. 3. (Law) To fail; become void. To do away with; annul a writ. [Derived from French: abatre to beat down.

Did You Know? (43 Across) A palindrome is a word, phrase, or sentence that reads the same backward as forward. Arguably the best know example of a palindrome is "Madam, I'm Adam". Other commonly known examples of palindrome phrases include: "live not on evil; no lemon no melon; and rise to vote sir". A sentence that is an example of a palindrome is: "Was it a car or a cat I saw?"

The word palindrome is derived from two Greek words, palin again plus dromos run.