Saturday, October 31, 2009 - Hallowe'en Monsters

Introduction

I found today's puzzle by Cox and Rathvon, teeming with monsters in honour of Hallowe'en, to be a bit more of a challenge than usual.

Today's Glossary

Abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle that may be unfamiliar to overseas readers

London Fog - an American brand name of raincoats and other clothing

sawbuck - American slang for a U.S. ten dollar bill

NBA - abbrev. National Basketball Association

Today's Monsters

basilisk - a mythical serpent that could kill by its breath or glance

Chimera - In Greek mythology, a fire-breathing she-monster usually represented as a composite of a lion, goat, and serpent

dragon - a mythical monster traditionally represented as a gigantic reptile having a lion's claws, the tail of a serpent, wings, and a scaly skin

Gorgon - In Greek mythology, any of the three sisters Stheno, Euryale, and the mortal Medusa who had snakes for hair and eyes that if looked into turned the beholder into stone

griffin - a mythical beast with the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion

leviathan - a monstrous sea creature mentioned in the Bible

manticore - a legendary monster having the head of a man, the body of a lion, and the tail of a dragon or scorpion

werewolf - In European myth, a person believed to have been transformed into a wolf or to be capable of assuming the form of a wolf

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

28a - We are streaming from behind monster (8)

The wordplay is WERE (we're, short for we are) plus WOLF, the latter coming from FLOW (streaming) reversed (from behind). Unless I am missing something in the wordplay, it seems to be a bit iffy in that I would think that "streaming" would produce FLOWING rather than FLOW.

14d Island nation units infiltrating subcontinent (9)

I eventually arrived in INDONESIA after a brief stopover in AUSTRALIA.

19d Guy that is pocketing one's last lousy item (7)

The wordplay of this clue, for which the solution is CHEAPIE, almost slipped by me. I had initially thought that it was a double definition with the first part, "guy that is pocketing one's last [e.g., sou, penny, dollar, whatever]", perhaps intended to suggest a stingy person and the second part, "lousy item" (a cheap item). It was only when I sat down to write the blog that I recognized the true wordplay.

Solution to Today's Puzzle

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

Across

1a BASIL|IS|K - BASIL (Rathbone) IS (portrays) K (kay); British actor Basil Rathbone

5a {GORG|ON}< - NO GROG (drink for a sailor) backing (reversal indicator)

9a AD(D ONT)O - in (container indicator) ADO (trouble) DONT (don't)

10a ELECT|R|A - ELECT (choose) R (republican) A

11a BIN|GO - BIN (recycling container) GO (leave)

12a LEVI|A|THAN - LEVI (Hebrew patriarch) A (article) THAN (compared to)

13a G(RIFF)IN - RIFF (repeated phrase) possessed by (contained in) GIN (spirits)

15a SAW|BUCK - SAW (observed) BUCK (stag)

17a BODE|GAS - BODE (show signs of) GAS (combustible fuel)

19a CHIMER|A - CHIMER (Quasimodo, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, a deformed bell ringer from the novel by Victor Hugo) A

21a M(ANTIC)ORE - MORE (extra) about (containing) ANTIC (agitated)

23a _TOR|TE_ - seen through (hidden word indicator) reflecTOR TElescope

25a S(US)TAIN - US (American) with STAIN (blemish) outside (container indicator)

26a PAIN|TED - PAIN (suffering) TED (Koppel): American broadcast journalist Ted Koppel

27a DRAG|ON - DRAG (cross-dresser's outfit) ON (worn by)

28a WERE|WOLF - WERE (we're, abbreviated we are) {FLOW (streaming) from behind (reversal indicator) = WOLF}

Down

1d BE(A|NBA)G - BEG (plead) about (containing) A NBA (sports league)

2d SUDAN* - {US AND} turbulent (anagram indicator)

3d {LONDON FOG}* - fixed (anagram indicator) {ON GOLF DON}

4d STOL(L)EN - L (bit of, i.e., first letter of, lemon) in (container indicator) STOLEN (hot)

6d O(MEG)A - MEG (Ryan) in (container indicator) O (love) with A

7d GATEHOUSE* - {SEE A TOUGH} new (anagram indicator)

8d NEATNIK* - {TAKEN IN} bum (anagram indicator)

10d EL|VIS - with a certain amount of (hidden word indicator) tunnEL VISion

14d IND(ONES)IA - ONES (units) infiltrating (contained in) INDIA (subcontinent)

16d WAISTLINE* - changed (anagram indicator) {A WINE LIST}

17d B(EMUS)ED - BED (plot) about EMUS (large birds)

18d S|HORN - S (small) HORN (bony outgrowth)

19d CH(E)AP|IE - CHAP (guy) IE (i.e., that is) pocketing (containing) E (one's last; last letter of "one")

20d {AHEAD OF}* - {HAD A FOE} confused (anagram indicator)

22d I|D(AH)O - I DO (marriage vow) swallowing (containing) AH (sigh)

24d R(AT)IO - AT (engaged in) entering (contained in) RIO (Brazilian resort)

Happy Hallowe'en everyone - Falcon