Introduction
On Saturday, the National Post runs a Cryptic Crossword set by American puzzle writers Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon. This puzzle tends to have clues that are a tad less tricky than those in the Daily Telegraph puzzle, and - as might be expected - it generally does not include the obscure (from a North American standpoint) British references of its weekday counterpart.
To the best of my knowledge, this puzzle is produced specifically for the National Post and is not a repeat of a puzzle that has previously been published elsewhere. However, I stand to be corrected on that point.
Links
I have not discovered any other websites focused on this puzzle.
Today's Puzzle - Happy Mother's Day
The following clue gave me a great deal of trouble, and I still find the solution to be highly problematic.
27ac Sue's piano solo (5) - with the cross entries providing the following partial solution [P_E_D]
After much deliberation, I have determined that the solution must be PLEAD. The "apostrophe-s" on "Sue" is clearly designed to suggest the possessive. However, if my analysis is correct, it is actually an abbreviation for "is". With this in mind, parsing the clue gives:
27ac Sue [P|LEAD] /'s\ piano [P] solo [LEAD] (5)
One meaning of "sue" is "plead". In the second part, P represents the musical notation "piano" (soft or quiet), not the instrument. LEAD must therefore mean "solo". This does not appear to make sense, as SOLO means "to perform alone" and "lead" means "to perform as the principal member of an ensemble". To me, these are quite different concepts. Both words are also used in other fields (e.g., military, aviation, etc.) but they still have similar connotations to this theatrical example. Of course, in a musical production, the lead usually gets to perform a solo but that relationship seems a bit of a stretch. Undoubtedly, I have missed some crucial aspect of the wordplay.
Here is the solution to today's puzzle. I have not provided a full parsing, but have included partial parsing for some of the more challenging or interesting examples of wordplay.
Across
7ac DECAL< - tied [LACED] { back}
8ac ON|SLAUGHT - morON'S LAUGHTer {conceals}
10ac MA|LINGERING
11ac TAR< - turncoat [RAT] {heading the wrong way}
12ac SIDECAR< - revved [RACED] IS {in reverse}
14ac G|LITTER - Gordon's {first} [G]
15ac DAM|SELF|LIES
19ac EPSILON* - {busted (anagram} ONE'S LIP
21ac RIGHTER~ - {outspoken (sounds like)} wordsmith [WRITER]
23ac TWO~ - excessively [TOO] {audible (sounds like)}
24ac MOM|ENTARILY - {working (anagram)} IN REALTY
26ac CO(NUN)D|RUM
27ac P|LEAD (see comments above)
Down
1d SCALED - double-meaning riddle
2d C(L)AN
3d COME T|RUE
4d AS|KING
5d BAR|GAINING
6d AG(IT)ATES
7d DEMISE* - SEED I'M {scattering (anagram)}
9d TORE|RO
13d COM(PL|I)MENT
15d DIS|COUNT - (Di's count)
16d FOR|ENAME - {most of} glossy paint [ENAMEL]
17d CELTIC - CanCEL TICkets {in part}
18d BRAYED* - {ruined (anagram)} A DERBY
20d NO M(OR)E
22d TAIPEI - Aggressive sort [TYPE A] {heard in (sounds like)}
25d A|LPS - platter = long-playing record (LP)
That's a wrap for today. Here's wishing all mothers a Happy Mother's Day tomorrow.
You should find that C&R are stricter with themselves than some of the Telegraph setters, and in particular, they almost certainly don't use any clues that are just a "cryptic definition" - North American cryptics normally don't use these. I can't quite convince myself that "solo" and "lead" are the same from dictionary def's either, but from a bit of musical experience I can imagine e.g. "Solo Clarinet" and "Lead Clarinet" both being used to describe the same person. There's also the practical point that if this is your last clue, PLEAD and PSEUD are the only realistic choices to fit P?E?D (except maybe a surname that belongs to a famous Sue), so finding an answer with a definition somewhere in the clue is enough to finish off the puzzle.
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