Introduction
I haven't been able to discern the theme of today's offering from Cox and Rathvon. I had a suspicion that the names Pat (1a) and Tony (29a) might factor into it, but could not seem to make that lead to anything conclusive. The last time this happened, a sharp-eyed reader was able to find a theme that had escaped me. Perhaps that will be the case again today.
Today's Glossary
Some possibly unfamiliar abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle
Used in Clues:
King Arthur - legendary Briton king whose most famous castle and court was known as Camelot
Used in Solutions:
Saint Alban - the first British Christian martyr
Mark Antony - Roman politician and general, a character in two of William Shakespeare's plays, Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra
Camelot - the most famous castle and court associated with the legendary King Arthur
Cheyenne - a Native American people of the Great Plains, who are of the Algonquian language family
Ossie Davis (1917-2005) - an African-American film actor, director, poet, playwright, writer and social activist
Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996) - an American jazz and song vocalist
Mel Gibson - an American actor, film director, producer and screenwriter
Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette - a French aristocrat and military officer who was a general in the American Revolutionary War and a leader of the Garde Nationale during the French Revolution
Anne Murray - a Canadian singer
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) - an American writer, poet, editor and literary critic
Saturnalia - noun [treated as singular or plural]
- the ancient Roman festival of Saturn in December, a period of general merrymaking and the predecessor of Christmas
- an occasion of wild revelry or indulgence: a saturnalia of shopping
Commentary on Today's Puzzle
1a Stroke Ms. Fitzgerald's kneecaps (8)
The definition is "kneecaps" and the wordplay is PAT (stroke) + ELLAS (Ms. [Ella] Fitzgerald's) producing the solution PATELLAS. Dictionaries are divided on the spelling of the plural form of the word patella, with some (American Heritage, Cambridge, Collins, and Oxford) sticking solely to the classical spelling patellae, others (Chambers, Encarta, Merriam-Webster, Random House) accepting both patellae and patellas, and one (Macmillan Dictionary) listing only patellas. Thus it would appear that the British dictionaries (with the exception of Chambers) hold to the "classical spelling only" school of thought, while the American dictionaries (with the exception of American Heritage) appear to accept also the Americanized (?) spelling. Macmillan is unique in not including the classical spelling at all.
By the way, Macmillan was founded as a British publisher. It established an American presence which was later sold off and became a separate entity. The two companies were subsequently both bought up by the German media giant, Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group.
27a Relax with Dad, eating one's candies (9)
The definition is "candies" and the wordplay is {LOLL (relax) + POPS (Dad)} containing I (one). While some solvers might have been tempted to suppose that Dad = POP and that the final S comes from the word "one's", this interpretation is not supported by the wordplay. In the surface reading, the 's indicates a possessive (one's candies). However, in the cryptic reading, the 's is a contraction for the word "is" and serves as a link word between the wordplay and the definition (with the structure of the clue being "the wordplay is the definition"). Thus, for the purpose of cryptic analysis, the clue can be expanded to read "Relax with Dad, eating one /is\ candies".
Note: For reader's unfamiliar with the notation above, the symbol "/\" (called a fulcrum) is inserted in a cryptic crossword clue for illustrative purposes to indicate the division between the wordplay and the definition. In this case, we have an explicit fulcrum (a clue in which there are link word(s) joining the wordplay to the definition). In such cases, the link word(s) are written within the fulcrum symbol, as shown above. In other cases, such as clue 30a in today's puzzle the fulcrum is implicit (i.e., there are no link word(s) in the clue) and the clue would be written as "Press /\ feathers on a grizzly?".21d Choose a low voiced woodwind (7)
The definition is "woodwind" and the wordplay tells us that we are looking for a word that sounds like (voiced) something that would be equivalent to "choose a low". The solution is PICCOLO which sounds like PICK (choose) A LOW. There is a nice bit of misdirection in the wordplay, as a piccolo is actually a rather high voiced instrument.
Solution to Today's Puzzle
| Legend: | "CD" Cryptic Definition; "DD" Double Definition |
| "*" anagram; "~" sounds like; "<" letters reversed | |
| "( )" letters inserted; "_" letters deleted |
1a PAT|ELLAS - PAT (stroke) + ELLAS (Ms. [Ella] Fitzgerald's)
5a WRECKS~ - sounds like (in speech) REX (Latin [word meaning] king)
10a SERIF< - reversal (back) of FIRES (shoots)
11a BROWNOUTS* - anagram (terribly) of WONT ROB US
12a CHEYENNE~ - sounds like (listened to) SHY ANNE (bashful Ms. [Anne] Murray)
13a SOLVE* - anagram (dotty) of LOVES
15a A|S|SET - A + S (society) + SET (group)
16a DIAGNOSED* - anagram (travelling) of AS IN DODGE
18a UNCLE|A|RED - UNCLE (family member) + A + RED (radical)
20a _UP|PER_ - hidden in (portion of) soUP PERhaps
22a NO|MAD - NO (nary a) + MAD (wild)
24a TOO T|HICK - HICK (hayseed) following (after) TOOT (bender)
27a LOLL|I|POPS - {LOLL (relax) + POPS (Dad)} containing I (one)
28a IRON|Y - IRON (metal) + Y (fork; the letter "Y" looks like a fork as in a tree branch, for example)
29a AN|TONY - AN + TONY (actor's award)
30a BEAR DOWN - DOWN (feathers) following (on) BEAR (a grizzly) [Note: the clue is most effective when the cryptic definition in the wordplay is read as a complete phrase with "feathers on a grizzly?" equating to "bear down"]
Down
1d POSE - sounds like (the sound of) [Edgar Allan] POE'S
2d _T|ORCHES_ - hidden (in) in thaT ORCHEStra
3d LA(FA)YETTE - FA (note; i.e., musical note, as in do, re, mi, ...) contained in (in) LAYETTE (baby's outfit)
4d A|LB|AN - A (one) LB (pound) AN (article)
6d RUN(G)S - RUNS (jogs) containing (around) G (grand; mobster slang for one thousand)
7d COUPLES* - anagram (dancing) of CLOSEUP
8d SU<|SPENDERS - reversal (returning) of US + SPENDERS (buyers)
9d BONEYARD* - anagram (lunatic) of ANY ROBED
14d SATURNALIA* - anagram (wild) of AUSTRALIAN
16d DU|RATION - DU (of the French; i.e., French word meaning "of the") + RATION (share)
17d NAUGHTIER* - anagram (shot) of THE AIR GUN
19d C(A|MEL)OT - {A + MEL (Gibson)} contained in (in) COT (bed)
21d PICCOLO~ - sounds like (voiced) PICK A LOW (choose a low)
23d DEIGN - sounds like (heard) DANE (European)
25d _OSSIE_ - Ossie [Davis] is hidden in (appears in) dOSSIErs
26d HYMN~ - sounds like (vocalized) HIM (that guy)
Signing off for today - Falcon
The theme is "parts of the human head," which are found in these Across answers: BROWnouts, ChEYEnne, diagNOSEd, unclEARed, TOO THick, and lolLIPops.
ReplyDeleteHi Patrick,
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the blog and congratulations to you for solving the mystery. Obviously, I definitely must have been 24a on Saturday.
Falcon
I knew that 1a and 30a had to play a role in the theme, and on second look (actually third or fourth look), I now see PATE and BEARD.
ReplyDeleteI also see that I may have handicapped myself in picking up the theme by writing 'CHEYANNE' in the grid, although I managed to spell it correctly in the blog.
Falcon