Saturday, July 4, 2009 - Geometric Geography

Introduction

Today's shapely puzzle by Cox and Rathvon covers a lot of territory. As is typical of their creations, it is not too difficult but includes some quite clever and challenging wordplay.

By the way, have you ever noticed that "quite" is really a rather strange word. As an interjection, it means "exactly" or "precisely" denoting "I am in total agreement with you." However, as an adverb its meaning is anything but precise - denoting either "completely" on one hand, or "fairly, rather, kind of" on the other. Ah, the precision and consistency of the English language!

Solution to Today's Puzzle

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

Across

9ac ENT|WINE - CD

Note: Treebeard is the oldest living member of the Ents, a fictional race of humanoid trees in J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings

10ac _P|AND/OR|A_ - group[P AND/OR A]lone

11ac {POLAR CIRCLE}* - {PRICE COLLAR}*

12ac E(A)R

13ac _INDRI_ - ma[IN DRI]ve

15ac TOP|I|ARIES

17ac {BERMUDA TRIANGLE}* - {RULE RAGTIME BAND}*

19ac C(LAUD)ETTE - cette: that in French

21ac SP(L)IT

23ac ROC_ - [ROC]k

24ac {TIMES SQUARE}* - {QUIETER MASS}*

27ac ARPANET* - {A PARENT}*

Note: The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) was the predecessor to the Internet.

28ac O(MITT)ED

Down

1d DEL(P)HI

2d S(TO)LIDER - slider: a type of pitch that a baseball pitcher might throw

3d TIER - DD

4d REGIS(T)RANT - Regis Philbin: American TV personality

5d _EPIC_ - th[E PIC]tures

6d {ANSEL ADAMS}* - {AD SALESMAN}* Ansel Adams: renowned American photographer

7d {DO-RE-MI}* - {DIME OR}*

8d {LACROSSE}* - {CLOSER AS}*

14d I(NUN)DATING

16d PER|VERSION

17d B(ACT)RIAN - Brian Mulroney: former Canadian Prime Minister

18d GALL|ANTS

20d AL (CAP)P - Al Capp: American cartoonist, creator of the comic strip L'il Abner

22d TR(END)Y

25d MATE - DD

26d QUIT_ - [QUIT]e

Happy Fourth of July to American readers - Falcon