Saturday, December 25, 2010 - Merry Christmas

Introduction

In today's puzzle, Cox and Rathvon give us a Christmas present containing many of the symbols commonly associated with this festive season.

Today's Glossary

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

Appearing in Solutions:

Fargo - largest city in the U.S. state of North Dakota.

Solution to Today's Puzzle

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

Across

1a {SANTA CLAUS}* - anagram (reconsidered) of A CLASS A NUT

6a O|PAL - O (love) + PAL (friend)

9a DOWN PAT - DOWN (fluffy stuff) + PAT (Patrick)

10a COWERED~ - sounds like (sounded) COWARD (chicken)

12a MA(GI)C - MAC (raincoat) containing (worn by) GI (soldier)

13a STOCK|INGS* - STOCK (cattle) + an anagram (off) of SIGN

14a FI(REPLAC*)E - FIE (shame) containing (about) an anagram (damaged) of PARCEL

16a FAR|GO - GO (travel) after (east of) FAR (distant)

17a ROMEO* - anagram (played) of MOORE

19a MIST|LE(TO)E - MIST (spray) + {LEE (sheltered side) containing (admitting) TO}

22a NOR|TH (POL)E - {NOR (and not) + THE} containing (accepting) POL (politician)

[Note that I have unscrambled the inverted sentence structure employed by the setters]

23a THREW~ - sounds like (talking) THROUGH (finished)

25a GALA|TEA - GALA (festive; as an adjective) + TEA (social occasion)

26a KIN|KING - KIN (family) + KING (ruler)

27a TIDE~ - sounds like (heard) TIED (even)

28a DECORATION* - anagram (fresh) of CO-ORDINATE

Down
1d _SED|UM_ - hidden in (covering) uSED UMbrella

2d NE|W AGER - NE (neon; chemical symbol) + WAGER (hazard; as in, "I'd hazard [a guess] that it won't happen.")

3d AS|PIC - AS (seeing that) + PIC (movie)

4d {LA TOSCA}* - anagram (revised) of ACT ALSO

5d UNCL(OS)E - OS (bagels; since a bagel is shaped like the letter O) contained in (picked up by) UNCLE (mom's brother)

7d {PAR|TNER}< - reversal (backing) of {RENT (pay to use) + RAP (hip-hop)}

8d L|ODES|TO|NE - L (fifty; Roman numeral) + ODES (poems) + TO (in honour of) + NE (northeastern)

11d WAKEFUL* - anagram of (all about) of AUK FLEW

14d FOR|T(N)IGHT - N (name) contained in (put in) {FOR + TIGHT (fast)}

15d PROPHET~ - sounds like (audited) PROFIT (net gain)

18d MAR|BLED - MAR (hurt) + (and) BLED (drained)

19d MOO|RAGE - MOO (low; sound made by cattle) + RAGE (fashion)

20d {SPEAK TO}* - anagram (new) of TOPEKAS

21d _TERMINI_ - hidden in (partially) deTERMINIng

23d TO(N)GA - N (nation's leader; i.e., first letter, or leader, of "nation") contained in (wearing) TOGA (senatorial robe)

24d WAG|ON - WAG (joker) + ON (atop)

Signing off for today - Falcon