Saturday, October 27, 2012 - Autumn Leaves

Introduction

We are well into the season of autumn leaves. Many have already fallen, but there are still plenty to be seen — including a fine display in today's puzzle from Cox and Rathvon.

Solution to Today's Puzzle

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

Across

1a   PERMISSIONS* — anagram (after changing) of IMPRESSIONS

7a   DEW~ — sounds like (sounds) DO (make)

9a   PLUM|PER — PLUM (fruit) + (before) PER (a pop; each)

10a   HO|RATIO — HO (laughter; à la Santa Claus) + RATIO (share)

Note: The cryptic definition really only becomes effective when it and its solution are each read as phrases, with 'HO RATIO' equating to "share of laughter".

Horatio^[7] is a character from William Shakespeare's play Hamlet. An acquaintance of Prince Hamlet from university, he is often not identified as having any specific court position, but simply as "friend to Hamlet."

11a   RINGS — double definition; "calls" & "wedding necessities"

12a   STRAP<|PIN|G — reversal (turning) of PARTS (leaves) + PIN (sticker) + G (green)

13a   VA(MOO)SES — VASES (urns) containing (filled with) MOO (low; sound made by cattle)

15a   MEDIUM — double definition; "average" & "psychic"

18a   RECIPE* — anagram (misread) of PIERCE

20a   RAM|PAGES — RAM (batter) + PAGES (leaves)

23a   LI(BERT|I)ES — {BERT (†) + I (†)} contained in (put in) LIES (stories)

24a   NEVER* — anagram (novel) of VERNE

Jules Verne^[7] (1828 – 1905) was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870), Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), and Around the World in Eighty Days (1873). Verne wrote about space, air, and underwater travels before air travel and practical submarines were invented, and before practical means of space travel had been devised. [However, to the best of my knowledge, he never wrote about flying pigs.]

The phrase "when pigs fly"^[7] is an adynaton—a figure of speech so hyperbolic that it describes an impossibility. Here are a couple of interesting examples of its usage.

• American author John Steinbeck was told by his professor that he would be an author when pigs flew. When he eventually became a novelist, he started to print every book he wrote with the insignia "Ad astra per alia porci" (to the stars on the wings of a pig).
• In the UK BBC One series called ShakespeaRe-Told adaptation of Macbeth, the character Joe Macbeth's monologue "Is that a [police] helicopter? Is it landing on this building? Pigs will fly! Pigs will fly!" It is the film's translation of "The Birnam Wood" reference to the warning given to Macbeth in the Shakespeare play of the same name, in which he is warned that "Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be until / Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill / Shall come against him."

26a   CHECKER — double definition; "examiner" & "plaid"

Note: The clue might also — and perhaps more appropriately — be categorized as a cryptic definition (as the question mark would seem to indicate). However, as such, it would still utilize the elements of the double definition as shown above.

For British readers, checker^[3,4] is the US spelling of chequer^[3,4], a pattern consisting of squares of different colours, textures, or materials.

27a   LI(A|IS)ON — {A (article) + IS (†)} contained in (going into) LION (Detroit player)

Seeing that Detroit is currently engaged in a showdown with San Francisco in the World Series, one might be tempted to think of a Tiger. However, it is a different jungle beast that we need to focus on.

The Detroit Lions^[7] are a professional US football team based in Detroit, Michigan that plays in the National Football League (NFL).

28a   DA|Y — DA (in Moscow — yes; Russian word meaning yes) + Y (yes)

29a   SABBATICAL* — anagram (scattered) of A BASIC BLAST

Down

1d   P(APE)R OVER — APE (†) contained in PROVER (shower; someone that shows — not a light rain)

2d   ROUE|N — ROUE (rake; libertine) + N {back (final letter) of lawN}

Rouen^[7], situated in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie (Upper Normandy) region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe, it was here that Joan of Arc was executed in 1431.

3d   IMP|AS|TO — IMP (little rascal) + AS TO (regarding)

4d   STRESSED< — reversal (in return) of DESSERTS (sweet dishes)

5d   O(THE)RS — ORS (hospital rooms; operating rooms) containing (admitting) THE (†)

6d   STROP|HE — HE (†) preceded by (started with) STROP (barbershop band)

7d   DET|AILING — reversal (turning) of TED + AILING (sick)

Note: the definition is "explaining all about". The reversal indicator is "turning" and not "about".

8d   W|RON|G_ — W (with) + RON (†) + G {Goldman's head (first letter)}

Wrong — as in miscarriage of justic. Ron Goldman^[7] (1968 – 1994) was an American murder victim. He was killed along with Nicole Brown Simpson allegedly by her former husband O.J. Simpson, an actor and retired American football player. The subsequent criminal investigation and trial against O. J. Simpson was described as the "trial of the century." Although he was later held liable for Goldman's death and that of his ex-wife in a 1997 civil trial, Simpson was acquitted of the murders in the previous criminal trial.

14d   MACABRELY* — anagram (snapped) of ARMY CABLE

16d   MI|SPRINTS — MI ([Roman numeral for] 1001) + SPRINTS (runs)

17d   M(AU|SOLE)A — MA (mom) contains (keeps) {AU ([symbol for the chemical element] gold) + SOLE (fish)}

19d   PER(UK)ES — UK (Britain; United Kingdom) contained in (acquired by) PERES (Israel's Shimon)

Shimon Peres^[7] is the ninth and current President of the State of Israel.

21d   PUN|JAB|I — PUN (joke) + JAB (poke) + I ([Roman numeral for] one)

The Punjab^[7] comprises vast territories of eastern Pakistan and northern India. It includes Punjab province in Pakistan and the states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and some northern parts of the National Capital Territory of Delhi in India.

22d   {MI|DRIB}< — reversal (returning) of {BIRD (flyer) + IM (I'm)}

23d   LACED< — reversal (from the back) of DECAL (picture you can transfer)

25d   _VE|STA_ — hidden in (visible amid) fiVE STArs

If Venus is "the goddess pencils" (as I recall her being identified in an old Wayne and Shuster^[7] comedy sketch), then Vesta^[7] must surely be the goddess of matches (in the UK, at least).

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