Saturday, October 1, 2011

Saturday, October 1, 2011 - Tea For Six

Introduction

Updated: Friday, October 7, 2011

I am home - for a very brief stay - from a week and a half of touring Ireland. While you were sampling several varieties of tea in this puzzle from Cox and Rathvon, I was visiting Irish pubs enjoying the music and partaking of other libations - ones that go by names such as Guinness, Kilkenny, Beamish, Murphy's, and Smithwick's.

I will be on the road again tomorrow, off to spend the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend with relatives - so postings will likely continue to be somewhat erratic.

Finally, a big thank you to Matt Mitchell for stepping in to provide a solution to the puzzle (see Comments section) in my absence.

Signing off for today - Falcon

2 comments:

  1. Hi Falcon!
    Enjoy your vacation - hope it is relaxing as well as interesting.

    And, of course, hurry back!

    Cheers,
    MG

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  2. Falcon's on vacation? Time for the guest blogger to make an appearance.

    Saturday, October 1: Tea for Six

    Six theme answers this week (1a, 11a, 14a, 20a, 26a, 29a: symmetric), all of which are varieties of tea. Gunpowder tea is not a specific kind of leaf like pekoe or Assam: it’s a tea whose leaves have been rolled into tiny pellets. Darjeeling is a very famous black or oolong tea. Earl Grey is a variety of tea that is distinctively flavored with rind or oil from bergamot oranges. Hibiscus and chamomile flowers, and peppermint leaves, are used to make herbal teas.

    Themework: easy to pick up, average creativity, might have included some tea references in the cluing

    Difficulty (by standards of the Nat Post weekly): average

    Across
    1a H (IBIS) CUS< — “Ibis” (bird) contained in (among) “such” (similar things) reversed (turned)
    5a U (SAGE) S — “Us” (our group) containing (adopting) “sage” (pundit)
    10a <STRAP< — Reversal (read the wrong way) of “parts” (pieces)
    11a CH (A | MOM) ILE — “Chile” (South American land) containing (around) “a” and “dam” (mother). Note nice pairing with 28a!
    12a *LET SLIP* — Anagram (wretched) of “pest I’ll”
    13a EX | POSED — “Ex” (former spouse) + “posed” (worked as a model)
    14a DARJEELING — Anagram (all about) of “read jingle”
    17a <SNAP< — Reversal (retracted) of “pans” (bad reviews)
    19a VEDA — contained in (covering) interpretiVE DAnce
    20a PEP | PER | MINT — “Pep” (enthusiasm) + “per” (for every) + “mint” (brand new)
    23a *SOLARIA* — Anagram (roaming) of “a sailor”
    24a SU (BUN) IT — “Bun” (roll) contained in (into) “suit” (executive)
    26a *GUNPOWDER* — Anagram (playing) of “Don grew up”
    27a NAVAL~ — Homonym (in the sound) of “navel”
    28a S (AT) IRE — “Sire” (father) containing (grasping) “at” (literal)
    29a EARL (<GRE<) Y — “Erg” (bit of work) reversed (brought back) and contained in (in) “early” (ahead of time)

    Down
    1d HAS | SLED — “Has” (keeps) + “sled” (Iditarod entrant). The Itidarod is a famous dogsled race in Alaska
    2d BE (RE) T — “Re” (note) contained in (kept in) “bet” (hazard)
    3d SUPP (L | I) ED — “L” (litre) + “I” (myself) containing (outside) “supped” (ate)
    4d *UNCAP* — Anagram (messily) of “up can”
    6d STOOPS — Double definition
    7d *GLISSANDI* — Anagram (fluid) of “sliding as.” Glissando is the run through all the notes of a scale, typically heard in music for piano or harp.
    8d <SPEED | UP< — Reversal (reversing) “Pu” (plutonium) + “deeps” (low levels)
    9d *TAKE A NAP* — Anagram (unusual) of “at peak an”
    15d *RED PLANET* — Anagram (ruined) of “lander pet.” One could easily be misled by the clue and try for a “Mars lander” like the Viking and Phoenix probes.
    16d LEE (WAR) DS — “Leeds” (Yorkshire town) containing (holding) “war” (contest). The Leeward Islands are the northern half of the Antilles: they include the Virgin Islands, Saint Martin, Antigua, Montserrat, and Guadeloupe, among many others.
    18d T (RIB) UNA | L — “Tuna” (fish) + “L” (left) containing (outside) “rib” (mock)
    19d VI (SAG) ES — “Sag” (sink) contained in (in) “vies” (fights).
    21d TOT | ALLY — “Tot” (kid) + “ally” (friend)
    22d A(R_omantic_) MOUR — “Amour” (love affair) containing (involving) first letter of (piece of) “romantic.” This was the last answer I got, because of the British/Canadian spelling.
    24d <S | YRIA< — Reversal (backward) of “airy” (breezy) + “S” (small)
    25d *VERNE* — Anagram (novel) of “Verne”

    Matt Mitchell

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