The sentence discusses the "correspondents" being late with replies. This indicates a back and forth in communication, and an "epistle" is a letter. Since the recipients are being criticized, or "lambasted," both words fit the sentence.

For the first blank, we need a verb that means something like stopped. Either "impeded" (delayed; prevented; hindered) or "obstructed" (blocked) could work. For the second blank, we need a noun that describes a person who does something different from the rest of a group. Between "maverick" (an independent individual who does follow the rest of a group) and "zealot" (fanatic or radical), "maverick" is the better choice, so the answer is "impeded . . . maverick."

The key phrase is in the second sentence is "unforseen events." This does not necessarily imply negativity, therefore weakening the case for "vexations . . . jaundicing" and "disasters . . . ruining." Even "delays . . . unsettling" is a bit negative, and if nothing else duplicates content found in the second sentence. Although "factors" might be tempting, the sense of "contingencies" is closest to "unforseen events"—at least insofar as such events rely upon any number of contingent factors. Although "souring" might seem informal, it does capture the necessary sense for the second sentence and there is acceptable. The correct answer is thus "contingencies . . . souring."

In this case, the question requires us to strech the meaning a bit, but the sense remains. The man's words have a predictive character to them, so it is fair to say that they "portend" future events. The word comes from the combination of the prefix "por," which is related to "fore" and is derived from the Latin "tendere," meaning to stretch. Portending events point toward future events. We can consider the man's words themselves as portending future events.

The dictator's rule is marked by doing things unexpectedly and preumably without much express reason. In his old age, it is shown by the verbal oddities that he desired to impose on the people. "Offering" partially fits the second blank, but its correlated "treachery" really is too far from the needed meaning. Likewise, "defining" only partially fulfills our purposes and "mania" is only a remote possibility. "Inconsistency" and "fabricating" are perhaps more tempting, and understandably should be placed on our "short list"; however, the best fit is "fiat" and "stipulating." To rule by fiat means to rule by mere declaration. Likewise, to "stipulate" means to assign or specify. A stipulative definition is one that assigns a meaning to an already existing term, perhaps in contradiction to the existing definition.

The media coverage is by expert opinion-givers, or "pundits." Nothing in the sentence says for sure that the coverage is done by "partisans," or people strongly on one side of an issue. "Eschew" means to avoid, which seems to be suggested for the second choice.

For the first blank, we're looking for an adjective that describes the student's inappropriate lightheartedness; either "levity" (lightheartedness, especially in a situation in which it is inappropriate) or "frivolity" (lack of seriousness) could work. For the second blank, we need a verb that means something like "supported"; in choosing between "ameliorated," (improve) and "advocated" (supported publicly), "advocated" is the better choice, so the answer is "levity . . . advocated."

Let's start with the second blank. We're looking for a word that means take or steal, and knowing that, we can eliminate the choices that include "waylay," "attenuate," and "annex." This leaves us with "escape with" and "abscond with," and two choices for the first blank: "bombast" and "chicanery." Since "bombast" means fancy but mostly meaningless language and "chicanery" means trickery, the correct answer is "chicanery . . . abscond with."

We can tell from the context of the sentence that for the first blank, we're looking for a verb that means something like "praising." Of the available choices, either "describing" or "extolling" ("praising enthusiastically")  could work. For the second blank, we need a noun that describes something that is supposedly able to cure lots of problems. Either "cure-all" or "panacea" ("a solution or remedy for all difficulties or diseases") could be correct. Of the possible words that we've identified as potentially correct for each blank, only "extolling" and "panacea" appear in the same answer choice, so the correct answer is "extolling . . . panacea."

For the first blank, we need to pick out a word that means something like leave, because the sentence is describing what students do relative to a building during a fire drill. Either "vacate" (leave a location) or "exit" could be correct. For the second blank, we need to pick out a word that means something like chaos, so either "disorder" or "tumult" could be correct. Of the possible words that we've identified as potentially correct for each blank, only "vacate" and "tumult" appear in the same answer choice, so the correct answer is "vacate . . . tumult."