Saturday, March 26, 2011 - Three of a Kind

Introduction

We find four pretty good poker hands in today's puzzle from Cox and Rathvon. Following the miracle of the loaves and fishes, we receive one of the world's most prestigious awards, and finally celebrate at a rock concert.








Solution to Today's Puzzle

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

Across

1a   {GREAT WHITE SHARK}* - anagram (developed) of RATHER WEAK SIGHT

9a   DO(PIES)T - PIES (desserts) contained in (eaten by) DOT (Dorothy)

10a   ERE|MITE - ERE (before) + MITE (arachnid)

11a   {WHOLE WHEAT BREAD}* - anagram (cooked) of HAL WHO BREWED TEA

12a   B(ON)USES - BUSES (public transportation) containing (taking) ON (aboard)

14a   TA(S)TE - TATE (London Art Gallery) (containing) S (small)

*Tate Gallery - a national museum of art at Millbank, London [England], founded in 1897 by the sugar manufacturer Sir Henry Tate (1819–99) to house his collection of modern British paintings, as a nucleus for a permanent national collection of modern art. It was renamed Tate Britain in 2000, when the new Tate Modern gallery opened.

17a   REAL|M - REAL (concrete) + M (mass; Physics unit)

19a   ALSATIA* - anagram (mistakenly) of AAA LIST

Alsatia - Latin Roman name for Alsace, a region of NE France, on the borders with Germany and Switzerland. Alsace was annexed by Prussia, along with part of Lorraine (forming Alsace - Lorraine), after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1, and restored to France after the First World War.

22a   {NOBEL PEACE PRIZE}* - anagram (reshaped) of PALE BRONZE PIECE

25a   ILL| W|ILL - ILL (I shall; I'll) + W (win; abbreviation found in the sports pages) + ILL (I shall; I'll)

26a   _MINE|RAL_ - hidden in (partly) exaMINE RALph

27a   {HEAVY METAL MUSIC}* - anagram (dancing) of MAY MATCH ELUSIVE

Down

1d   GO D|OWN - OWN (have) (following) GOD (deity)

Note: for effect, the setter reverses the natural order of the elements.

2d   EUPHOR(B)IA - B (bee) contained in (goes into) EUPHORIA (ecstasy)

euphorbia - noun a plant of a genus that comprises the spurges. Genus Euphorbia, family Euphorbiaceae

3d   T(HERE)IN - HERE (present) contained in (put inside) TIN (can)

4d   HATCH - double definition; "conceive" (e.g., a plan or a plot) & "an opening in a deck"

5d   THE M(ASS)ES - ASS (fool) contained in (in) THEMES (essays)

Note: once again, the setter reverses the natural order of the elements.

6d   S(HERB)ET - HERB (seasoning) contained in (in) SET (gelled)

7d   A|LICE - LICE (bugs) following (going after) A

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (commonly shortened to Alice in Wonderland) is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world (the Wonderland of the title) populated by peculiar and anthropomorphic creatures.

8d   K(NEE-D)EEP - KEEP (stay; as in the expression "stay dry") containing (outside of) NEED (necessity)

13d   {SLATE BLUE}* - anagram (changing) of SUBTLE ALE

15d   SPAN(IARD*)S - SPANS (bridges) containing an anagram (ground; past tense of grind) of ARID

16d   BRAN|DISH - BRAN (cereal) + DISH (bowl)

18d   MOLL(IF)Y - MOLLY containing (has) IF (provided)

20d   TO(PONY)M - PONY (horse) contained in (is sheltered by) TOM (Thomas)

21d   BELL|OC< - BELL (inventor; Alexander Graham Bell) + a reversal (turned) of CO (company)

Hilaire Belloc - (1870–1953), French-born British writer, historian, and poet remembered chiefly for Cautionary Tales (1907); full name Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc.

23d   BALS|A< - reversal (backing) of {A + SLAB (thick chunk)}

24d   CO(M)MA - M (em) contained in COMA (stupor)

Signing off for today - Falcon