Saturday, December 12, 2009 - Colours of the Season

Introduction

Today's puzzle by Cox and Rathvon gives us a few holiday themed clues, highlighted in rich tones of red, green, ruby and plum.

Today's Glossary

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

Ty Cobb - legendary Detroit Tiger, nicknamed "the Georgia Peach", generally regarded as one of the greatest baseball players of all time

rudesby - noun 1. an uncivil, turbulent fellow

shucks - exclamation informal, chiefly N. Amer. used to express surprise, regret, etc.

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

12a Truly keeping grand (7)

This is an & lit. (or "all-in-one") clue. The clue can be read two ways. In the first reading "truly keeping grand" is a definition of REGALLY. In the second reading, the wordplay is REALLY (truly) containing (keeping) G (grand).

15d Perfume ingredient list including wonder from the east (9)

In an across clue, the phrase "from the east" is used to indicate that the letters run right to left (i.e., east to west), a reversal of their normal order. However, since this is a down clue, should not the wordplay read "wonder from the south", to indicate that the letters run from bottom to top?

Solution to Today's Puzzle

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

Across

1a P(A|BU)LUM - PLUM (fruit) containing (with ... inside) A BU (bug mostly)

5a MODICUM - ODIC (of a lyric poem) contained in (retained by) MUM (mother)

9a _SUS|HI_ - hidden word in (offered by) jeSUS HImself

10a S(EVEN)TIES - EVEN (unvarying) contained in (in) STIES (pens)

11a PERUS|A|L - PERU'S (South American country's) A (one) L (lake)

12a RE(G)ALLY - & lit. clue; REALLY (truly) containing (keeping) G (grand)

13a {RED (LET)TER DAY}* - an anagram of (awfully) RARE TEDDY containing (bears) LET (allow)

18a {GREENSLEEVES}* - an anagram of (playing) SEVEN REELS EG

21a HATCH|ET - HATCH (devise) ET (extraterrestrial)

23a WAS|SAIL - WAS SAIL (put out to sea)

25a {CONCORDAT}* - an anagram of (corrupt) DOCTOR CAN

26a WAIVE~ - sounds like (heard) WAVE (roller)

27a SP(RING)Y - RING (band) contained in (in) SPY (sight)

28a RU(DES)BY - RUBY (certain port) containing (accepting) DES (of French)

Down

1d PAS|SPORT - PA'S (dad's) SPORT (recreational activity)

2d BEST|RIDE - BEST (superlative) RIDE (transportation)

3d L|AIRS - L (left) AIRS (vents)

4d {MISTLETOE}* - an anagram of (novel) TITLE SOME

5d M|OVER - M (married) OVER (again)

6d DEN|I|GRATE - DEN (study) plus (with) I (one) GRATE (framework)

7d CHILLY~ - sounds like (by the sound of it) CHILI (bean dish)

8d MOSE(Y)S - MOSES (Hebrew prophet) containing (taking) Y (year)

14d EARTHBORN* - an anagram of (reformed) ABHORRENT

15d ROS(EWA<)TER - ROSTER (list) containing (including) EWA {reversal of (from the east) AWE (wonder)}

16d A(VIA)RIES - ARIES (ram) contains (goes around) VIA (by way of)

17d PSALTERY* - an anagram of (new) RAP STYLE

19d S|HUCKS - S (small) HUCK'S (Huckleberry (Huck) Finn, a character created by American writer Mark Twain)

20d A|TONER - A TONER (cleansing solution)

22d T(ODD)Y - TY (legendary American baseball player Ty Cobb) contains (swallows) ODD (strange)

24d SO|WED - SO (subsequently) WED (got married)

Signing off for today - Falcon