Saturday, July 18, 2009 - Song and Dance

Introduction

Today's puzzle by Cox and Rathvon pays homage to American composer George Gershwin as well as subtly raising a glass to the Fète Nationale of France.

Today's Glossary

Some possibly unfamiliar abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle

House of Atreus - the lineage of Atreus, a king of Mycenae in Greek mythology

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

20d Pronounced words to get a stooge's attention in loft (6)

The loft is a HAYMOW. If one pronounces the words forming "haymow" (i.e., "hay" and "mow"), making "mow" rhyme with "know" rather than "now" (thereby also taking on a different meaning), the result sounds like "Hey, Moe!" (who together with Larry and Curly make up The Three Stooges").

21d Uris has one use for support (4,2)

This clue parses as:

21d [LE^ON] Uris {has (containment indicator)} one [AN] /\ use for support [LE(AN) ON] (4,2)

Solution to Today's Puzzle

Legend:	"CD" Cryptic Definition; "DD" Double Definition
	"*" anagram; "~" sounds like; "<" letters reversed
	"( )" letters inserted; "_" letters deleted

Across

1ac {RHAPSODY IN BLUE}* - wild {RUSH LED BY PIANO}*

8ac CURT|AILED - Curt Schilling: former Major League Baseball pitcher

9ac TOLLS - DD

11ac PLUM|BED

12ac C(RIMS)ON - keeps (containment indicator)

13ac REBUT* - awful BRUTE*

15ac GUEST~ - sounds like (aloud) GUESSED

18ac SNAFU* - {AS FUN}* is ruined

19ac _ANDRE_ - appearing in grAND REunion

22ac LATCHES* - new SATCHEL*

23ac C(OUR)AGE - actor Nicolas Cage; adopts (containment indicator)

24ac S(ALS)A - actor Al Pacino; into (containment indicator)

25ac REP|AIRMAN

26ac {GEORGE GERSHWIN}* - {GO WHERE GINGER'S}* dancing

Down

1d RECIPE* - PIERCE* developed

2d ATREUS* - SEURAT* designed

3d SCAR|BO|ROUGH| FAIR - actress Bo Derek

4d DO|LED - DO: musical note, as in Do Re Mi ...

5d INDIC(A)TED - held (containment indicator)

6d B|A|THING| BEAU|TIES

7d UNLISTED* - {DUEL ISN'T}* relocated

10d SON|AT|A

14d BRASS|ERIE

16d PS|ALMS

17d B(A|STILL)E - outside (containment indicator)

20d HAYMOW~ - sounds like (pronounced words) HEY MOE (see Commentary section above)

21d LE(AN) ON - writer Leon Uris; has (containment indicator)

23d COPSE~ - sounds like (heard) COPS

Signing off for today - Falcon