He is as strong a character as they come, it's true; his songbook is one of the most acerbic and offhandedly wise in the business.

Q Magazine states that "even at their most acerbic or delicately downplayed extremes, Incubus are compelling."

"It's very common," said Tavleen Singh, one of the country's most acerbic columnists.

Mr. Ladd, raspy-voiced and confident, articulated some of the most acerbic material himself.

Yet the laidback feel is counterbalanced with some of his most acerbic, politically charged and socially conscious lyrics to date.

That year, some of his most acerbic lines were quoted in publications like Newsweek and The New York Times.

There was none of the overt negative stereotyping found in the most acerbic Punch cartoons.

"It's time the people stood up and said we're not going to take it anymore," Mr. Fernandez said in one of his most acerbic remarks.

Mr. Tansey has quietly painted some of the most acerbic art criticism of the last decade.