Saturday, November 28, 2009 - Legendary Archer

Introduction

Today's puzzle by Cox and Rathvon features a legendary Swiss archer who is the subject of an opera by Rossini.

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

12a Shoemaker hurt returning baking dish (7)

It was fairly easy to figure out the correct solution (RAMEKIN) from the definition (baking dish). However, the wordplay was somewhat more difficult to fathom as I got hung up on the mistaken notion that RAMEK must be an anagram of MAKER. The correct wordplay is provided below.

Solution to Today's Puzzle

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

Across

1a IN|CUB|ATE - IN (at home) CUB (youngster) ATE (consumed)

5a O|TTAW|A< - reversal of (backing) A WATT (power unit) with O (zero)

9a SP|READ OUT - SP (Spanish) READ OUT (data display)

11a _OTHER - bOTHER (trouble) with first letter deleted (after the debut)

12a RAM|EKIN< - reversal of (returning) NIKE (shoemaker) MAR (hurt)

13a RE(GAL)ED - GAL (lass) contained in (in) REED (straw)

14a WILL|I|AM TELL - WILL (desire) I (one) AM (morning) TELL (to give an account of)

19a BO(W AND| A)RROW - BORROW (plagiarize) containing (about) {WAND (wizard's aid) A}

22a R|UDOLPH* - anagram of (roaming) {HOLD UP} after R (mid-March; i.e., middle letter of March)

24a SLIT|HER - SLIT (cut) HER (that lady)

25a AT|LAS_ - AT LASt (finally) with last letter deleted (abridged)

26a R(YE WH*)ISKY - RISKY (dangerous) containing (imbibing) an anagram of (doctored) WHEY

27a TO (DA)TE - TOTE (carry) containing (around) D (Roman numeral for five hundred) and A (one)

28a {STAYED ON}* - anagram of (changed) {SO AND YET}

Down

1d IN(S)ERT - INERT (still) containing (eating) S (piece of steak; i.e., first letter of steak)

2d CH|ROME - CH (church) next to ROME (Vatican site)

3d B|LACK S|WAN - B (bishop; chess piece) LACKS (is missing) WAN (pale)

4d T|HORN - T (tenor) HORN (brass instrument)

6d _THON|G_ - hidden word in (among) maraTHON Gear

7d ACH(ILL)ES - ACHES (is sore) containing (getting) ILL (sick)

8d AIRED|ALE - AIRED (exposed) ALE (beer)

10d T(ER)RIER - ER (hesitation) contained in (in) TRIER (one who tests)

15d LEA(THE)R - THE (article) contained in (received by) LEAR (king)

16d MAWKISHLY* - anagram of (turned) {WASH MILKY}

17d A(BERRA)NT - ANT (insect) containing (circling) BERRA (Yogi Berra: former Major League Baseball player and manager)

18d S|WADDLED - S (son) WADDLED (walked like a duck)

20d CHASED~ - sounds like (in audition) CHASTE (virgin)

21d CR(A)Y|ON - CRY ON (weep continuously) containing (about) A

23d LISZT~ - sounds like (heard) LIST (catalogue); Franz Liszt: Hungarian composer

24d SMELT - DD

Signing off for today - Falcon