Saturday, July 21, 2012 - Final Stage

Introduction

We have a very timely puzzle from Cox and Rathvon today, given that I am writing this on Sunday and earlier today British racer Bradley Wiggins won the Tour de France bicycle race.

This is the second of two Cox and Rathvon puzzles published in the National Post this weekend. My review of the other one – the missing puzzle from last weekend – may be found here.

Solution to Today's Puzzle

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

Across

1a   YELL|{OW JERSEY}* - anagram (dashed) of JOYS WERE following (after) YELL (call)

British racer Bradley Wiggins is the winner of the 2012 Tour de France

The general classification in the Tour de France^[7] is the most important classification, the one by which the winner of the Tour de France is determined. Since 1919, the leader of the general classification wears the yellow jersey.

9a   TIGHTEN~ - sounds like (at hearing) TITAN (giant)

In Greek mythology, the Titans^[5] are the older gods who preceded the Olympians and were the children of Uranus (Heaven) and Gaia (Earth). Led by Cronus, they overthrew Uranus; Cronus' son, Zeus, then rebelled against his father and eventually defeated the Titans. The term titan today means a person or thing of very great strength, intellect, or importance • a titan of American industry.

10a   CELESTA* - anagram (new) of SELECT A

11a   SERIF< - reversal (back) of FIRES (shoots)

12a   BREAK|A|WAY - sounds like (upon hearing) {BRAKE (slow down) + A (†) + WEIGH (measure)}

A breakaway is a manoeuvre in a bicycle race whereby one or more racers surge ahead of the pack with which they have been travelling.

13a   DRA(FT|IN)G - DRAG (trail) containing (holding) {FT (foot) + IN (†)}

Drafting is a tactic in a bicycle race whereby a rider takes up a position close behind another rider so as to take advantage of the slipstream created by the forward rider.

15a   ANGORA* - anagram (playing) of ORGAN A

17a   PO(TAG)E - TAG (label) contained in (penned by) POE (mystery writer [Edgar Allan Poe^[7]])

19a   {TEN-SPEED}< - reversal (in reverse) of {DEEPS (low spots) + NET (catch)}

A ten-speed may conveniently fit the crossword puzzle grid but might not be found competing in the Tour de France. While I had difficulty finding information on Tour de France bicycles, one source from three years ago states "All pro racing bikes have two chainrings in the front. That is paired with 10 cogs in the back for Shimano and SRAM, or 11 cogs for Campagnolo (as of today's latest technology). So Shimano and SRAM bikes have 20 speeds, and Campy bikes have 22 speeds."

22a   {TIME TRIAL}* - anagram (limiting) of LIMIT RATE

Riders in an individual time trial^[7] compete individually against the clock, each starting at a different time. The first stage in modern Tours is often a short trial, a prologue, to decide who wears the yellow jersey on the opening day. There are usually two or three time trials in the Tour de France. One may be a team time trial^[7] (a race against the clock in which each team rides alone, with the time being that of the fifth rider of each team). The final time trial has sometimes been the final stage, more recently often the penultimate stage.

23a   DEPOT< - reversal (back) of TOPED (drank to excess)

26a   CAN(I)NES - I ([Roman numeral for] one) contained in (among) CANNES (Riviera town^[7])

27a   OR|BITER - OR (†) + BITER (something that nips)

28a   T(OUR| DE F)RANCE - TRANCE (reverie) containing (about) {OUR (†) + DEF (excellent)}

Def^[5] is slang meaning excellent • a truly def tattoo.

Down

1d   YET|IS - YET (still) + IS (lives)

A yeti^[5] is a large hairy creature resembling a human or bear, said to live in the highest part of the Himalayas. Bigfoot^[5] is a large, hairy apelike creature resembling a yeti, supposedly found in NW America.

2d   LUGER - double definition; "downhill racer" & "weapon"

Note: While the 's indicates the possessive in the surface reading, it becomes a contraction for is in the cryptic analysis and serves as a link word expressing equality between the two definitions.

3d   OUT (O)F IT - O (operator; from a telephone dialler or keypad) containing (donning) OUTFIT (costume)

4d   JUNK| BOND - BOND (007; Ian Fleming's fictional hero James Bond^[7], Agent 007) + following (†) JUNK (Chinese boat)

5d   RACKET - double definition; "squash equipment" & "noise"

6d   E(ELS)KIN< - reversal (sent back) of NIKE containing (worn by) ELS ([South African] golfer Ernie [Els]^[7])

7d   A|S A W|HOLE - a cryptic definition (signalled by the question mark) of A () + SAW (shop tool) + HOLE (circle cut out)

Note: read the entire phrase "a saw hole" as meaning "a circle cut out with a shop tool".

8d   MAR|YLAND* - MAR (hurt) + an anagram (badly) of  DYLAN

Bob Dylan^[7] (born Robert Allen Zimmerman) is an American singer-songwriter, musician and artist whose self-chosen name is based on that of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas^[7].

13d   DIPSTICK* - anagram (wrecked) of IT PC DISK

14d   AN(TIMON)Y - TIMON (Shakespeare's Athenian; The Life of Timon of Athens^[7] being a play by William Shakespeare) contained in ANY (†)

16d   WE(LL) D|ONE - LL (Mr. Bean) contained in (in) {WED (married) + (and) ONE (single)}

Mr. Bean^[7] is not the maladroit character created by British actor Rowan Atkinson, but rather Leon Leonwood Bean^[7], founder of American mail-order and online retailer L.L.Bean which specializes in the sale of clothing and outdoor recreation equipment.

18d   GO(T INT)O - GOO (sticky stuff) containing (injected with) TINT (colour)

20d   SIDEBAR - anagram (flying around) of SEABIRD

In a court of law, a sidebar^[5] (or sidebar conference) is a discussion between the lawyers and the judge held out of earshot of the jury.

21d   H(IS|S)ER - HER (that woman) containing (outside) {IS (†) + S (second)}

24d   PUT|IN - double definition; "Russian president [Vladimir Putin]" & "entered a harbour"

Note: Given that the solution to the second definition is two words, this clue may not be a double definition in the strictest sense of the term – but, if not, it certainly comes close.

25d   TO(R)TE - R (right) contained in (in) TOTE (bag)

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