Saturday, September 12, 2009 - Mixed-up Actors

Introduction

On the whole, today's puzzle by Cox and Rathvon was not very difficult. It features some rather nice anagrams of the names of a couple of Hollywood stars.

Today's Glossary

For overseas readers, an explanation of some possibly unfamiliar North American references used in today's puzzle

American League - one of the two leagues comprising Major League Baseball in North America

Solution to Today's Puzzle

Legend:	"CD" Cryptic Definition; "DD" Double Definition
	"*" anagram; "~" sounds like; "<" letters reversed
	"( )" letters inserted; "_" letters deleted

Across

1a {MELANIE GRIFFITH}* - {THE FARMING LIFE I}* cast

9a SERENGETI* - {ERNIE GETS}* lost

10a AL|BUM

11a _IGNITE_ - alIGN IT Errantly holding (hidden word indicator)

12a OFFSHOOT* - {SOFT HOOF}* reviewed

14a F(A|L|SE AL)ARM

16a F(L)AN

18a SOME - sounds like (aloud) SUM (figures added)

19a PERSE|PHONE - perse: a shade of blue

22a BALL|A|DRY - ball: blast (a good time, as in "I had a ball.")

23a CRUSOE - castaway Robinson Crusoe; sounds like (while talking) CREW SEW

26a RIGHT

27a TRI(AL DA)TE - actor Alan Alda

28a {ANTONIO BANDERAS}* - {NOT AS DEBONAIR}* sadly

Down

1d MAS|TIFF

2d _LOREN_ - Italian actress Sophia Loren; in (hidden word indicator) FLORENce

3d NINETIES* - EINSTEIN* transformed

4d EVEN - DD

5d RA(IN FO)REST

6d F|RAISE - fraise: French for strawberry

7d IMBROGLIO* - convertible {OR BIG LIMO}*

8d HAMPTON* - Lionel Hampton: U.S. jazz musician; weird PHANTOM*

13d ALL|EGRET|TO - to: before (as in "ten minutes to six")

15d LAM|PLIGHT

17d S(PARK)LED

18d S|IBERIA

20d EYELETS - sounds like (in the sound) ISLETS

21d C(ART)ON

24d STA(I)R

25d DIVA< - AVID (keen) on returning (reversal indicator)

Signing off for today - Falcon