Saturday, October 8, 2016

Saturday, October 8, 2016 — Out of This World

Introduction

After solving today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon you should have had lots of time left to devote to preparing your Thanksgiving feast.

I invite you to leave a comment to let us know how you fared with the puzzle.

Solution to Today's Puzzle

Falcon's Experience
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Legend:
- solved without assistance
- incorrect prior to use of puzzle solving tools
- solved with assistance from puzzle solving tools
- solved with aid of checking letters provided by puzzle solving tools
- solved but without fully parsing the clue
- yet to be solved

Legend: "*" anagram; "~" sounds like; "<" letters reversed

"( )" letters inserted; "_" letters deleted; "†" explicit in the clue

Primary indications (definitions) are marked with a solid underline in the clue; subsidiary indications (be they wordplay or other) are marked with a dashed underline in all-in-one (& lit.) clues, semi-all-in-one (semi-& lit.) clues and cryptic definitions. Explicit link words and phrases are enclosed in forward slashes (/link/) and implicit links are shown as double forward slashes (//).

Across

1a   Eastern European language // buff (6)

POLISH — double definition

4a   Call headwear back /for/ astronaut (8)

SPAC|EMAN< — reversal (back) of {NAME (call) + CAPS (headwear)}

9a   Puts forward // most inane cryptic (9)

NOMINATES* — anagram (cryptic) of MOST INANE

11a   Grant entry /to/ a low-grade engineering school (5)

A|D|MIT — A (†) + D (low [academic] grade) + MIT (engineering school; Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

12a   More impulsive, // the woman takes bubbly drink (7)

H(ASTI)ER — HER (the woman) contains (takes) ASTI (bubbly drink; sparkling Italian wine)

13a   Sanction on trade // whipped up mob rage (7)

EMBARGO* — anagram (whipped up) of MOB RAGE

14a   Asian country/’s/ northeast friend (5)

NE|PAL — NE (northeast) + PAL (friend)

16a   Striving endlessly /for/ headache relief (7)

ASPIRIN_ — ASPIRIN[G] (striving) with the final letter removed (endlessly)

19a   Some newscasters // mistaken on crash (7)

ANCHORS — anagram (mistaken) of ON CRASH

21a   Mimi stands outside a // city in Florida (5)

MI(A)MI — MIMI (†) containing (stands outside) A (†)

23a   Eurasian country // guys breaking into song (7)

AR(MEN)IA — MEN (guys) contained in (breaking into) ARIA (song)

25a   Important person // in shocking pink (7)

KING|PIN — hidden in (in) shocKING PINk

27a   Opera // disturbed a Scot (5)

TOSCA* — anagram (disturbed) of A SCOT

Tosca[7] is an opera in three acts by Italian composer Giacomo Puccini.

28a   Makes // teenagers mad (9)

GENERATES* — anagram (mad) of TEENAGERS

29a   Guru in church service // manipulates in a way (8)

MAS(SAGE)S — SAGE (guru) contained in (in) MASS (church service)

30a   A ring beside small // rings of coral (6)

A|TOLL|S — A (†) + TOLL (ring) + (beside) S (small; abbrev.)

Down

1d   Tendency // to write monotonous music (8)

PEN|CHANT — PEN (to write) + CHANT (monotonous music)

2d   Moves unsteadily // 51 metres per second (5)

LIMPS — LI ([Roman numeral for] 51) + MPS (metres per second)

3d   Lad in U. S. upset // old timer (7)

SUNDIAL* — anagram (upset) of LAD IN US

5d   Stick // salt in dome (5)

PA(S)TE — S (salt; abbreviation found on salt shakers) PATE (dome)

6d   Church with yellowish // room (7)

CH|AMBER — CH (church; abbrev.) + (with) AMBER (yellowish)

7d   Roman made wrong // notes (9)

MEMORANDA* — anagram (wrong) of ROMAN MADE

8d   Not one working // idea (6)

NOT|I|ON — NOT (†) + I ([Roman numeral for] one) + ON (working)

10d   Strong wind // damaged a hairstyle (7)

TORN|A|DO — TORN (damaged) + A (†) + DO (hairstyle)

15d   Fortune tellers including second // King David, et al. (9)

P(S)ALMISTS — PALMISTS (fortune tellers) containing (including) S (second; abbrev.)

17d   Promote family // writer in Russian (7)

PUSH|KIN — PUSH (promote) + KIN (family)

18d   Musicians // playing in spa sit (8)

PIANISTS* — anagram (playing) of IN SPA SIT

20d   Preserve farewell // musical piece (7)

CAN|TATA — CAN (preserve) + TATA ([British] farewell)

21d   Live in Treasury building // tower (7)

MIN(ARE)T — ARE (live) contained in (in) MINT (Treasury building)

The United States Mint[7] is part of the US Department of the Treasury.

22d   Diminutive // outlaw with floppy hat (6)


BAN|TAM — BAN (outlaw) + (with) TAM (floppy hat)

24d   Early Briton/’s/ point of view (5)

ANGLE — double definition

26d   Stroke a large // flower part (5)

PET|A|L — PET (stroke) + A (†) + L (large; abbrev.)

Epilogue

The title of this review is inspired by 4a (someone who travels there) and 29a (good ones might be described thus).
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)
[11] - TheFreeDictionary.com (Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary)
Happy Thanksgiving to My Canadian Readers — Falcon

10 comments:

  1. Relatively straightforward puzzle today. 22d took me a few minutes as I thought it might involve an anagram of hat (as suggested by the floppy in the clue), but it fell into place once I reread the clue a few times.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good morning Falcon et al,

    I agree with Anonymous' assessment. Had the same experience with 22d. The other one that took me a little bit longer was 15d. Enjoyable puzzle. Thanks to C & R. And have a happy Thanksgiving holiday everyone!

    Peter

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hello Falcon and folks,
    Agree with both comments - 22d and 15d were last ones in. Very enjoyable, too bad they don't post several on the weekend :)

    Thank you for posting.
    Happy Thanksgiving to all.
    Cheers,
    MG

    ReplyDelete
  4. Happy Thanksgiving to all - and thanks Falcon for your good wishes, and the same back to you!
    Well, you could almost keep your eyes closed and still finish the puzzle in record time. Last one in was 22d as noted in above, floppy looked like an anagram indicator, especially when 27a was filled in. OK see you all next week!
    Henry

    ReplyDelete
  5. Does anyone know why C & R cryptics at the Wall Street Journal online site is no longer accessible? Someone named Kathryn Lurie is now listed for the cryptics. Any info?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Try
      http://blogs.wsj.com/puzzle/2016/10/07/word-square-saturday-puzzle-oct-8/

      Delete
    2. Nope. Gets me to the same place, Carl. Looks like WSJ has built a paywall around C & R from now on. Ah well, was fun while it lasted...

      Delete
    3. Hi Mike E,
      That's funny because I also tried the link and was able to print out the puzzle. I was so pleased that I got to do two C&R puzzles in one day!

      Perhaps you need to clear your cookies?

      Cheers,
      MG

      Delete
    4. I was able to access the WSJ cryptic by signing in with my Google Plus login. It took a few tries, but eventually worked. It looks like a Facebook login might work as well.

      Delete
  6. Late to this puzzle after a busy day.

    Perhaps I should always do them later in the day as my time taken was considerably less than normal.

    Happy thanksgiving to all!

    ReplyDelete

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