Saturday, November 21, 2009 - Songbirds

Introduction

In today's puzzle by Cox and Rathvon, we are presented with a quartet of songstresses, two of whom hail from Canada and two from the U.S.

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

22a Cherub goes inside for fruit (7)

While "to" can be used in many senses (with Infoplease listing 22 as a preposition and five as an adverb), I had some difficulty convincing myself that "to" might mean "for". I finally settled on definition 13 as a preposition, in which the example "Where is the top to this box?" could equally be phrased as "Where is the top for this box?".

14d Singer from Johnson era in new arrangement (5,5)

The surface reading of this clue may be a bit fanciful, as Norah Jones was born in 1979 - long after the Johnson era had passed. Lyndon B. Johnson was President of the United States from the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November 1963 until he was succeeded by President Richard M. Nixon in January 1969.

16d Mister Glass's last hope (7)

I thought Mister Glass might be a chain of auto glass repair shops (similar to Speedy Glass). However, a Google search turns up only a few independent auto glass repair shops around the U.S. and Canada bearing this name, which are unlikely to be well known outside their immediate vicinity. Thus this name would almost certainly appear not to belong to a major chain. Perhaps the name was just contrived by the setters to suit the surface reading.

Solution to Today's Puzzle

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

Across

1a {CELINE DION}* - anagram of (convertible) {NIECE IN OLD}; Celine Dion: Canadian singer

6a _ARIA_ - hidden in (covered by) mARIAh; possibly Mariah Carey: American singer

9a L(UP)INES - UP (arisen) contained in (in) LINES (rows)

10a DISDAIN* - anagram of (revamped) {IN ADS ID}

12a O|RATION - O (doughnut) RATION (allotment); Cicero: Roman orator

13a I(DIO)M - IM containing (embracing) DIO (God in Italian)

15a O|VERSE|E - O (love) VERSE (poetry) E (Eliot's first; i.e., first letter of Eliot)

17a LEANDER - hidden in (in) sabLE AND ERmine; Hero and Leander: tragic lovers of Greek myth

18a A|P(PARE)L - PARE (strip) contained in (in) A PL (place)

21a MA(HAT)MA - MAMA (mom) containing (is boxing) HAT (headwear)

23a JETTY - DD

24a RUSSIAN* - anagram of (crazy) {AS IS RUN}

27a NAT<|URAL - URAL (river to the Caspian) following (after) {NAT = TAN (brown) reversed (turning) }

28a A(C)CRETE - C (Roman numeral for 100) contained in (in) A CRETE (Greek island)

29a SAPS< - reversal of (brought back) SPAS (health resorts)

30a {DINAH SHORE}~ - sounds like (said) DINE ASHORE; Dinah Shore: American singer

Down

1d CELL_ - CELLO (Yo-Yo Ma's instrument) with last letter deleted (almost); Yo-Yo Ma: French-born American cellist

2d LA|P ROBE - LA (Los Angeles) PROBE (search)

3d _NINJA_ - hidden in (conceals) maN IN JAil

4d DESPITE - DD; despite: noun spite, malice

5d OR(DIN)AL - ORAL (kind of test) containing (interrupted by) DIN (noise)

7d RE(A|DIE)D - A DIE (cube) contained in (in) RED (crimson)

8d {ANNE MURRAY}* - anagram of (lousy) {A MERRY NUN A}; Anne Murray: Canadian singer

11d SPINACH* - anagram of (flying) {CHAPS IN}

14d {NORAH JONES}* - anagram of (in new arrangement) {JOHNSON ERA}; Norah Jones: American singer

16d S|PRAYER - S (glass's last; i.e., last letter of glass) PRAYER (hope); see also Comments on Today's Puzzle

19d PIT STOP< reversal of (back) {POTS (vessels) TIP}

20d LORE|LEI - LORE (learning) LEI (wreath of flowers); Lorelei: a siren, in German legend, said to dwell on a rock at the edge of the Rhine south of Koblenz, who lures boatmen to destruction

21d M(A|SCAR)A - A SCAR (flaw) contained in (in) MA (Mom)

22d T(ANGEL)O - ANGEL (cherub) contained in (goes inside) TO (for); see also Comments on Today's Puzzle

25d INCAS* - anagram of (trash) {CAN IS}

26d GERE - sounds like (vocal) GEAR (equipment): Richard Gere: American actor

Signing off for today - Falcon