Saturday, March 31, 2012 - World Leaders

Introduction

Today's puzzle from Cox and Rathvon presents a group of government leaders - past and present - from around the world.












Solution to Today's Puzzle

Legend:	"*" anagram; "~" sounds like; "<" letters reversed
	"( )" letters inserted; "_" letters deleted; "†" explicit in the clue

Across

1a   Z(A|PAT)ERO - ZERO (cipher) containing (involving) {A (†) + PAT (facile)}

Don José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero^[7] served two terms as Prime Minister of Spain from 2004 to 2011.

5a   CHI(RA)C - RA (radium) contained in (acquired by) CHIC (smart)

Jacques Chirac^[7] is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 (making him the only person to hold the position of Prime Minister twice under the Fifth Republic), and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.

9a   DIRTIER* - anagram (rough) of IRT RIDE

The Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT)^[7] was the private operator of the original underground New York City Subway line that opened in 1904, as well as earlier elevated railways and additional rapid transit lines in New York City. The IRT was purchased by the City in June 1940. The former IRT lines (the numbered lines in the current subway system) are now the A Division or IRT Division of the Subway.

10a   MI(N)STER - MISTER (guy's address) containing (around) N (north)

Minster^[5] is a British term for a large or important church, typically one of cathedral status in the north of England that was built as part of a monastery • York Minster.

11a   AS|SAD - AS (for example) + SAD (pathetic)

Al-Assad family^[7] has ruled Syria, since Hafez al-Assad^[7] became Syrian President in 1971 and established an authoritarian regime under the control of the Baath party. After his death in 2000, his son Bashar al-Assad^[7] succeeded him.

Given recent events in Syria, this could well be viewed as a semi & lit. clue.

15a   MUSH|ARR|AF - {ARR (arrived) + (with) AF (Air Force) } following (after) MUSH (dogsled ride)

Pervez Musharraf ^[7] is a retired four-star general who headed an administrative military government in Pakistan from 1999 till 2007. He ruled Pakistan as Chief Executive from 1999–2001 and as President from 2001-08. In the face of impeachment, he opted to resign in 2008.

American (but seemingly not British) dictionaries show arr. as an abbreviation for arrived^[3,9] (as opposed to variants of the word such as arrives or arrival^[2,5,10]). The American Heritage Dictionary gives AF^[3] as an abbreviation for air force (as a generic term), while the Collins English Dictionary says that AF^[4] is an abbreviation for Air Force in Canada.

18a   HOW|A|RD - HOW (the way) + A (†) + RD (road)

John Howard^[7] was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 1996 to 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies.

19a   NEILL~ - sounds like (aloud) KNEEL (prepare to pray)

Sam Neill^[7] is a New Zealand actor who is well known for his starring role as paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant in Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III.

22a   RASMUSSEN* - anagram (out) of MUSES RUN

Lars Løkke Rasmussen^[7] is a Danish politician who served as Prime Minister of Denmark from 2009 to 2011.

24a   PUT|IN - double definition; "install" & "Yeltsin's successor"

Boris Yeltsin^[7] (1931 – 2007) was the first President of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999. He was succeeded by Vladimir Putin^[7] who held the office of President until 2008, at which time he became Prime Minister of Russia. As of the 2012 election, Putin is the President-elect, and will re-assume that office in May 2012.

25a   INVITES* - anagram (busted) of VET IS IN

26a   DORM|I(C)E - DORM (student housing) + {IE (that is; id est) containing (is infiltrated by) C (cold)}

27a   HAR|PER - HAR (big laugh) + PER (for each)

Stephen Harper^[7] is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party.

28a   BACHELET* -  anagram (rerouted) of THE CABLE

Michelle Bachelet^[7] is a Social Democrat politician who was President of Chile from 2006 to 2010. She was the first female president of her country.

Down

1d   {ZOD|I}<|A|CAL - {reversal (backed) of I ([Roman numeral for] one) + DOZ (dozen)} + {A (†) + CAL (California)}

2d   PAR(A)SITE - {PAR (average) + SITE (place)} containing A (†)

3d   {_T|RIA|D_}< - hidden (held ... in) and reversed (back) in LockheeD AIR Terminal

4d   R(ORE)M - ORE (rocks) containing in (in) RM (room)

Ned Rorem^[7] is a Pulitzer prize-winning American composer and diarist.

6d   H(ANK A)ARON< - reversal (returned) of NORAH (†) containing (embracing) ANKA (Canadian crooner [Paul Anka]^[7])

Hank Aaron^[7], nicknamed "Hammer," or "Hammerin' Hank," is a retired American baseball right fielder who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1954 through 1976. Aaron is considered to be one of the greatest baseball players of all time. In 1999, The Sporting News ranked Aaron fifth on their "100 Greatest Baseball Players" list.

His most notable achievement was breaking the career home run record set by Babe Ruth. During his career, Aaron performed at a consistently high level for an extended period of time. He hit 24 or more home runs every year from 1955 through 1973, and is the only player to hit 30 or more home runs in a season at least fifteen times.

Aaron made the All-Star team every year from 1955 through 1975 and won three Gold Glove Awards. In 1957, he won the NL Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award, while that same year, he helped his team, the Milwaukee Braves, win the World Series. Aaron's consistency helped him to establish a number of important hitting records. He holds the MLB records for the most career runs batted in (RBI) (2,297) and the most career extra base hits (1,477). Aaron is also in the top five for career hits with 3,771 (third) and runs with 2,174, which is tied for fourth with Babe Ruth. He is one of only four players to have at least seventeen seasons with 150 or more hits. He also is in second place in home runs (755) and at-bats (12,364), and in third place in games played (3,298).

7d   RE(TAR)D - TAR (sailor) contained in (caught by) RED (radical)

8d   C(A|R)AFE - CAFE (sidewalk eatery) contains (keeps) {A (†) + R (restricted; movie rating}

10d   M(IS)USED - MUSED (thought) containing (about) IS (lives; as a verb, not a noun)

14d   C(R)OQUETTE - COQUETTE (minx) containing (eating) R (last [letter] of leftoveR)

15d   CHAS|SIS - CHAS (Charles) + (and) SIS (sibling)

16d   MIST|RIAL - MIST (spray) + RIAL (coin of Iran)

17d   B(LAND)EST - LAND (country) contained in (among) BEST (highest in ratings)

20d   WRA(I)TH - I (interest) contained in (in) WRATH (rage)

22d   A|S EVER - A (†) + SEVER (cut)

23d   _N|A|DIA_ - hidden (partly) in iN A DIAgram

Nadia Comăneci^[7] is a Romanian gymnast, who was the darling of the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal where she won three gold medals and became the first female gymnast ever to be awarded a perfect score of 10 in an Olympic gymnastic event. She is also the winner of two gold medals at the 1980 Summer Olympics.

24d   PERCH - double definition; "resting place for a bird" & "fish"

Key to Reference Sources: 

^[1]   - The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition
^[2]   - Search Chambers - (Chambers 21st Century Dictionary)
^[3]   - TheFreeDictionary.com (American Heritage Dictionary)
^[4]   - TheFreeDictionary.com (Collins English Dictionary)
^[5]   - Oxford Dictionaries (Oxford Dictionary of English)
^[6]   - Oxford Dictionaries (Oxford American Dictionary)
^[7]   - Wikipedia
^[8]   - Reverso Online Dictionary (Collins French-English Dictionary)
^[9]   - Infoplease (Random House Unabridged Dictionary)
^[10] - CollinsDictionary.com (Collins English Dictionary)

Signing off for today - Falcon