Saturday, November 13, 2010 - Definitely Not Duck Soup Night at the Opera

Introduction

Today's puzzle from Cox and Rathvon is themed around the Marx Brothers with Groucho and his siblings appearing in several clues as well as a couple of their films appearing as solutions. With the World Series recently wrapping up, we also get a couple of baseball related clues - one of which leads me to ponder "If an anachronism is the projection of the past into the present, what is it called when the present is projected into the past".

Today's Glossary

Selected abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions appearing in today's puzzle

Appearing in Clues:

Groucho Marx (1890 – 1977) - American comedian and film star - famed as a master of wit, especially for his rapid-fire delivery of innuendo-laden patter. He made 26 movies in total, 13 of them with his brothers Chico and Harpo - including The Cocoanuts, Animal Crackers, Monkey Business, Horse Feathers, Duck Soup, and A Night at the Opera.

Appearing in Solutions:

Denali - the name in the Athabaskan language (meaning "The High One") for Mount McKinley. This mountain, located in  Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska is the highest mountain peak in North America.

hecatomb - [Collins English Dictionary] noun

1. (in ancient Greece or Rome) any great public sacrifice and feast, originally one in which 100 oxen were sacrificed

2. a great sacrifice

Commentary on Today's Puzzle 

24d Yogi participating in November race (5)

Yogi in a November race - surely not. This appears to be an anachronism (or, more correctly, the reverse of an anachronism - whatever the word for that may be). Here, Cox and Rathvon seemingly project a current practice into the past. I am sure that Yogi Berra never participated in a "November race". Although the World Series now often drags into November (with the fifth and final game of the 2010 World Series being played on November 1), I well remember that the World Series used to take place in early to mid October - around the time of Canadian Thanksgiving. For instance, the seventh and final game of the 1965 World Series (the last year of Yogi Berra's playing career) was played on October 14, 1965. Even the 1989 World Series (the last year in which Yogi was involved in Major League Baseball, as a coach for the Houston Astros), was completed before the end of October. This was accomplished even though the four game series, between the San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics, was interrupted for ten days due to the Loma Prieta earthquake.

Solution to Today's Puzzle

Legend:	"*" anagram; "~" sounds like; "<" letters reversed
	"( )" letters inserted; "_" letters deleted

Across

1a HOMETOWN - hidden (keeping) in GroucHO MET OWNers

5a S|CORED - S (soprano) + CORED (disheartened)

9a CE(LL)O - LL (two lengths) contained in (carried by) CEO (president)

10a CHIC(AG)O|AN - AG ([chemical symbol for] silver) contained in (pocketed by) CHICO (Groucho's brother) + AN

12a TITANIA* - anagram (with alterations) of I ATTAIN

13a CA(PITA)L - CAL (California) containing (receives) PITA (some bread)

14a M(ON|KEY| BUS|IN)ESS - {ON (aboard) + KEY (important) + BUS (vehicle) + IN (chic)} contained in (amidst) MESS (chaos)

18a {ANIMAL CRACKERS}* - anagram (distributed) of NASCAR RACE MILK

22a OR(LAND)O - LAND (real estate) contained in (cutting into) ORO (Spanish [word meaning] gold)

24a BRAWLER* - anagram (turned) of WARBLER

25a HARPO|ONE|R - {ONE + R (right)} following (behind) HARPO (Groucho's brother)

26a ON C(U)E - ONCE (in the past) containing (acquiring) U ([chemical symbol for] uranium)

27a MEDI(N)A - MEDIA (sources of news) containing (about) N (northern)

28a M(A|RX)ISTS - MISTS (sprays) containing {A + RX (prescription)}

Down -

1d HE|C(AT)OMB - HE (the guy) + {COMB (curry) containing AT}

2d MELATONIN* - anagram (improved) of NO AILMENT

3d TROUNCE* - anagram (unfortunately) of NOT CURE

4d WICCA~ - sounds like WICK (something to ignite) + A

6d CRAM|P|ON -  CRAM (pack) + P (penny) + ON

7d ROO(S)T - ROOT (cheer) containing (about) S (second)

8d DEN|ALI - DEN (study) + ALI (boxer [Muhammad Ali])

11d INCISOR* - anagram (interchanged with) of COIN IS R (toddler's last; i.e., last letter of the word "toddler")

15d B(ALL)OON - ALL (everything) contained in (included in) BOON (blessing)

Note: balloon is used as a verb

16d S(HELL)ACKS - HELL (misery) contained in (on board) SACKS (bases)

Note: sack is an informal term for a base on a baseball diamond; shellack is an alternative spelling of shellac

17d USUR(P)ERS - P (piano) contained in (taken by) USURERS (loan sharks)

Note: piano (abbreviation p) is a musical notation directing that a passage is to be played 'in a soft or quiet tone'

19d M|ON|SOON - {ON (appearing) + SOON (shortly)} following (after) M (noon)

Note: M meaning 'noon' presumably comes from the expressions ante meridiem (a.m.) and post meridiem (p.m.) which mean 'before noon' and 'after noon' respectively. In Latin, meridiem is the accusative singular of meridies, meaning midday or noon.

20d CHAMO_IX - CHAMONIX (French ski resort) having no N (name)

Note: chamoix is an alternative spelling of chamois

21d GOT|HAM - GOT (understood) + HAM (melodramatic actor)

Note: Gotham is a nickname for New York City in addition to being the fictional home of Batman

23d L(UR)ID - LID (helmet) containing (found around) UR (old Iraqi city)

24d BERRA - cryptic definition of former American Major League baseball player and manager Yogi Berra

Signing off for today - Falcon