Saturday, October 17, 2009 - The Master of Suspense

Introduction

Today's puzzle by Cox and Rathvon has as its theme a famous British film producer and director whose identity is revealed at 25a.

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

4d Drive stake for old poet (5)

Should you imagine, as did I initially, that the "old poet" is KEATS (an anagram of STAKE), you would be sadly mistaken.

Solution to Today's Puzzle

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

Across

1a PO(SITE)D - SITE (location) within (contained by) POD (group of whales)

5a WINDS|OR - WINDS (meanders) + OR (otherwise); House of Windsor (British Royal Family)

9a C|REAM - C (one hundred) + REAM (twenty quires of paper)

10a NO|TOR(IO)US - IO (moon of Jupiter) surrounded by (contained by) NO TORUS (ring); film by 25a

11a DON|A|HUE - DON (put on) + A + HUE (shade); talk show host Phil Donahue

12a RIDDLED - DD ("presented puzzles" and "full of holes")

13a {REAR WINDOW}* - {WARN WEIRDO} about (anagram indicator); film by 25a

15a HIND - DD

18a F|I|DO - F (female) + I DO (avowal of a groom)

19a SPELL|BOUND - SPELL (give the letters of) + BOUND (spring)

22a A(IRMA)IL - AIL (have problems) receiving (containing) IRMA

24a ARIA|DNE< - ARIA (song) + DNE {END (finale) brought back (reversed)}

25a HIT|CH(C)OCK - HIT (attacked) + {CHOCK (wedge) eating (containing) C (piece - i.e., first letter - of cheese)}; British film producer and director Alfred Hitchcock

26a _G|AT|ED_ - pointinG AT EDmonton houses (hidden word indicator)

27a R|UNLESS - R (right) + UNLESS (except)

28a W|AD|E|D IN - W (with) + AD (commercial) + E (energy) + DIN (racket)

Down

1d PICADOR~ - sounds like (to hear) PICK A DOOR (choose a way)

2d STE(RN)WARD - STEWARD (cruise attendant) taking (containing) RN (Registered Nurse)

3d TOM(A)HAWK - TOM (male) + HAWK (warmonger) carrying (containing) A

4d D|ANTE - D (drive) + ANTE (stake)

5d WATERFOWL* - bats (anagram indicator) {FLEW TO WAR}

6d NERUDA* - deconstructed (anagram indicator) UNREAD; Chilean poet Pablo Neruda

7d S|TOOL - S (small) + TOOL (item for an artisan)

8d RESIDED - DD with one being cryptic ("showed a new allegiance", i.e., changed sides)

14d NA(P|OLEO)NS - NANS (breads from India; alternative spelling of Naans) stuffed with (containing) {P (pepper) + OLEO (margarine)}

16d IN|UNDATED - IN + UNDATED (missing information regarding provenance)

17d A|BRIDGE|D - A + BRIDGE (card game) + D (daughter)

18d FEA(THE)R - FEAR (be anxious) about (containing) THE

20d DR(E)S|DEN - DRS (doctor's) + DEN (study) covering (containing) E (east)

21d DAPHNE* - {HAD PEN} modified (anagram indicator)

23d RAT| (O)N* - O (nothing) in (contained by) wild (anagram indicator) RANT

24d ASK|EW< - ASK (question) + EW {WE backed (reversed)}

Signing off for today - Falcon