Saturday, February 26, 2011 - Coming of Age

Introduction

Warning: after solving today's puzzle from Cox and Rathvon, you may be feeling your age.

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

20a   Wager on a Greek character (4)

The definition is "Greek character" which happens to be BETA. The wordplay is BET (wager) + (on) A.

This wordplay violates the convention generally respected by British setters that, in an across clue, 'B on A' signifies 'A + B'. The rationale for this is that in order for B to be added to A, A must have been written first, and since English is written from left to right, this implies that the sequence must be 'A + B'. According to this convention, "wager on a" would be interpreted as 'A + BET = ABET'.

In a down clue, in addition to the former clue construction, we also frequently see 'B on A' signifying 'B + A', with the reasoning being that 'B on A' could mean 'B on top of A' (which obviously only applies in a down clue). A fair number of British solvers hold that the latter construction should be the only one permitted in down clues. However, it would appear that setters generally do not support this view, and the reality is that we often see both of these constructions in down clues.

And now we see, that in Cox and Rathvon puzzles, we can also have either construction in across clues.

Solution to Today's Puzzle

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

Across

1a   B(RIG)ANDAGE - RIG (gear) contained in (in) BANDAGE (protective wrap)

6a   FAIR - double definition; "cricket" & "exhibition"

9a   UPTIMES* - anagram (strange) of IMPETUS

10a   THRIVED* - anagram (cast) of HIRED TV

12a   B(ARK)EEPER - BEEPER (pager) containing (worn by) ARK (old boat)

13a   BING|O - BING (Crosby) + (and) O (Hope's second; i.e., the second letter of "Hope")

Bing Crosby (1903 – 1977), an American singer and actor, and Bob Hope (1903 – 2003), a British-born American comedian and actor appeared together in seven Road to musical comedy films.

14a   RAPT~ - sounds like (to listeners) RAPPED (performed hip-hop)

16a   PERS(I|FLAG)E - {I FLAG (tire)} contained in (amid) PERSE (blue)

19a   DISC|OUR|AGE - DISC (record) + OUR AGE (the years we've lived)

20a   BET|A - BET (wager) + (on) A

23a   VIOLA_ - extracted (through the first half) from VIOLA[TIONS]

I would describe this is a curtailment type clue in which we are told which part of the fodder to keep rather than which part to discard.

24a   QUA(LIFIE*)D - {an anagram (odd) of FILE I} contained in (found in) QUAD (college courtyard)

26a   DRA(CH)MA - DRAMA (serious play) containing (about) CH (church)

27a   MACE|DON - MACE (club) + DON (teacher at Oxford)

28a   STEW< - reversal of (when sent back) WETS (gets moister)

29a   PL|UNDERAGE - PL (couple of plums; i.e., the first two letters of "plums") + UNDERAGE (too young)

Down

1d   BLU(BB)ER - BLUER (more depressed) containing (about) BB (air rifle pellet)

2d   INTER* - anagram (convertible) of I RENT

3d   AR(MI)ES - ARES (war god) containing (possesses) MI (Roman numeral for 1001)

4d   DIS|A|P|PEAR - DIS (Di's; short for Diana's) + A + (&) P + PEAR (fruit)

A&P - marketing banner and common name for The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, a U.S. supermarket chain, as well as its former subsidiary A&P Canada (now having been purchased and rebranded by Metro Inc.).

5d   GATOR~ - sounds like (audience's) GAITER (protection from splattering)

7d   ADVANTAGE* - an anagram (shot) of GAVE TAD AN

8d   RED(B)ONE - B ([musical] note) contained in (held by) REDONE (newly decorated)

Leon Redbone (born Dickran Gobalian) - singer and guitarist specializing in interpretations of early 20th-century music, including jazz and blues standards and Tin Pan Alley classics.

11d   REBUFF - double definition; "polish again" & "setback"

15d   P(ASTOR)AGE - PAGE (part of a book) containing (about) ASTOR (John Jacob [Astor])

John Jacob Astor (1763 – 1848), born Johann Jakob Astor, was the first prominent member of the Astor family and the first multi-millionaire in the United States. He was the creator of the first trust in America, from which he made his fortune in fur trading, real estate and opium.

17d   SIGNALMEN* - anagram (trashed) of ME IN SLANG

18d   POT|ASH - POT (shoot) + ASH (tree)

19d   DIV(ID)ES - ID (I'd) contained in (encountered in) DIVES (seedy bars)

21d   AN|DANTE - AN + DANTE (Italian poet)

Dante Alighieri - Durante degli Alighieri (c.1265 – 1321), commonly known as Dante, was a major Italian poet of the Middle Ages. His Divine Comedy, originally called Commedia and later called Divina by Boccaccio, is considered the greatest literary work composed in the Italian language and a masterpiece of world literature.

22d   CIRC(L)E - CIRCE (sorceress) contains (keeps) L (large)

In Greek mythology, Circe (from the Greek Kírkē "falcon") is a minor goddess of magic (or sometimes a nymph, witch, enchantress or sorceress) living on the island of Aeaea, famous for her part in the adventures of Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey.

24d   QU(A)IL_ - QUIL[T] (quilt mostly; i.e., all but the final letter of "quilt") containing (covering) A

25d   _IN|DIA_ - hidden in (amid) plaIN DIAgrams

Signing off for today - Falcon