Saturday, May 12, 2012 - Happy Mother's Day

Introduction

Today's puzzle from Cox and Rathvon is a salute to mothers who will be celebrating their special day tomorrow.













Solution to Today's Puzzle

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

Across

1a   P(RIO)RESS - PRESS (journalists) containing (going around) RIO (Brazilian resort)

5a   RE(DC)AP - REAP (gather) containing (around) DC (Washington; District of Columbia)

British readers may not be aware that redcap^[5] is a North American term for a railway porter. In Britain, it is an informal name for a member of the military police.

9a   MET|A|L - MET (encountered) + A (†) + L (right angle)

I think this is the first time I have encountered L being clued as "right angle".

10a   NECESSITY - {NE (northeastern) + CITY (hub)} containing (holds) ESS (curve)

From the old aphorism "Necessity is the mother of invention".

12a   DOROTHY* - anagram (changing) of HOOD TRY

American actress Judy Garland played the role of Dorothy Gale in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.

13a   VOL(CAN)O - {VOL (volume) + O (nothing)} containing CAN (fire; dismiss)

14a   {STORM PETREL}* - anagram (jumping about) of REPORT SMELT

Mother Carey's chicken^[5] is an old-fashioned term for storm petrel^[5], a small seabird of the open ocean, typically having blackish plumage and a white rump, and formerly believed to be a harbinger of bad weather. [Family Hydrobatidae: several genera and many species, e.g. Hydrobates pelagicus of the NE Atlantic and Mediterranean]

In the surface reading, I expect that "smelt" is intended to mean the fish.

19a   {COMMON SENSE}* - anagram (mistaken) of MENS COME ONS

22a   PER|SON|A - PER (for every) + SON (boy) + A(†)

24a   COR(O)NET - O (ring) contained in (covered [by]) CORNET (brass; musical instrument)

25a   CAN(TONES)E - TONES ([musical] notes) contained in (inside) CANE (support; stem)

My first thought on reading this clue was that there appears to be a missing anagram indicator. In took a long time before I realised that tones is not only an anagram of notes but also a synonym. I have long known that I am tone-deaf, now I find out that I also seem to be tone-blind.

26a   BEG|IN - BEG (appeal) + IN (at the office)

27a   S(AH)ARA - AH (I see) contained in (described by) SARA (Teasdale)

Sara Teasdale^[7] (1884 – 1933), was an American poet.

The use of "describe" as a containment indicator is a common cryptic crossword convention. This device relies on describe^[3] being used in the sense of to trace the form or outline of • describe a circle with a compass. Thus, in today's clue, we have SARA containing (describing) AH with the rationale for the wordplay being that the container (SARA) forms an outline around the contained entity (AH) in a similar manner to the circumference of a circle forming an outline around the circular area contained within it. 

28a   HOMELAND* - anagram (rum) of HAD LEMON

Rum^[5] is an informal and dated British term meaning odd or peculiar.

Down

1d   PO(MAD)E - POE (writer of macabre stories) containing (about) MAD (crazy)

Edgar Allan Poe^[7] (1809 – 1849) was an American writer who is best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre.

2d   INTERN~ - sounds like (when audited) IN TURN (one by one)

3d   {RELATES TO}* - anagram (surprisingly) of TOLERATES

4d   S|ANDY - S (singular; as a grammatical term) + ANDY (Warhol)

Andy Warhol^[7] (1928 – 1987) was an American artist who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art.

6d   EASE|L - EASE (comfort) + L (Liberal)

7d   CH(IV)ALRY* - IV ([Roman numeral for] four) contained in (breaking) an anagram (devious) of ARCHLY

8d   P(AYR)OLLS - POLLS (votes) containing (about) AYR (Scottish town)

Ayr^[7] is a town and port situated on the Firth of Clyde in south-west Scotland.

11d   CAVEMAN< - reversal (regressive) of {NAME (call) + VAC (sweeper; vacuum cleaner)}

15d   ON(STAG)E - STAG (buck; male deer) contained in ONE (somebody)

16d   E(X)ECRABLE - anagram (confused) of LACE BEER containing (about) X (poison symbol)

I was unable to find a dictionary entry listing X as a poison symbol. However, I presume that the clue may be referring to the scull and crossbones symbol.

17d   ICE PACKS - anagram (agitated) of PICK CASE

18d   _AMA|RAN|TH_ - hidden in melodrAMA RAN THrough

Pigweed^[7] is the name for at least a couple of different plants. This clue would seem to refer to a coarse North American amaranthaceous weed of the genus Amaranthus, especially A. retroflexus, having hairy leaves and green flowers. The pigweed with which I am familiar, which is also known as lamb's quarter, is a plant of of the genus Chenopodium and is closely related to spinach and chard. As a child, I recall gathering this plant in the spring (when it was young and tender) to be eaten as a steamed green.

20d   ENIGMA* - anagram (playing) of GAME IN

21d   A|TONED - A (†) + TONED (fit; in good physical condition)

23d   O|DOUR - O (love; a score of nil in tennis) + DOUR (gloomy)

24d   C|REDO - C (Conservative) + REDO (overhaul)

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)

Happy Mother's Day - Falcon