Saturday, January 2, 2010 - Let Me Exclaim

Introduction

After spending a couple of hours shoveling snow (yuck!), I was more than ready to relax with today's puzzle by Cox and Rathvon, which turned out to be full of interjections; some noisy, but others expressing a range of feelings from awe to fright - but mostly disgust.

I expect that this puzzle contains a few clues that might prove quite challenging to any Brits who might attempt to solve it.

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

6a Piece of lumber in a lot of tanbark (5)

A heads-up to any Brits attempting this puzzle, lumber does not refer to disused articles of furniture. In North America, lumber is timber that has been sawn (and often planed) to standard dimensions.

12a Indian city with (bam!) ale or rum (9)

Anyone who regularly does the British cryptic crosswords would likely know that rum is a British expression meaning odd or peculiar. Here it is used as an anagram indicator.

22d After opening, dribble small amount of liquid (5)

While I believe one may also dribble in football (soccer), basketball is the sport in the spotlight here, where dribble means to "take the ball forward ... by continuous bouncing".

Solution to Today's Puzzle

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

Across

1a BOOM|ERANG* - BOOM (wham) adjacent to (with) an anagram (flexible) of RANGE

6a MU(L)CH - L (piece of lumber; i.e., first letter of lumber) contained in (in) MUCH (a lot of)

9a MAI(TRE) D - TRE (three in Rome; i.e., Italian word for three) contained in (accommodated by) MAID (domestic)

10a ELL|IS|ON - ELL (add-on) IS ON (working); Harlan Ellison: American science fiction writer

11a IRIS|H - IRIS (rainbow) H (hue's origin; i.e., first letter of hue) /\ IRISH (in the Emerald Isle)

12a BANG|ALORE* - BANG (bam) plus an anagram (rum) of ALE OR

13a SERBIAN* - anagram (moving) of BEARS IN

14a D(ICK)ENS - DENS (studies) containing (about) ICK (yuck)

16a FRA(UGH)T - FRAT (campus house) containing (keeps) UGH (yuck)

19a IV|ERS|ON - IV (four; Roman numeral) ERS (hesitations) ON (about); Allen Iverson: American professional basketball player

21a POW|WOWING - POW (socko) WOWING (impressing)

23a PAR|IS - PAR (average) IS (lives)

25a DU(RANT)E - DUE (deserved) containing (getting) RANT (rave); Jimmy Durante: American comedian, singer, pianist and actor

26a OUT(R)AGE - OUTAGE (power loss) containing (around) R (Russia's capital; first and capital letter of Russia)

27a LAT(T)E - LATE (after hours) containing (taking) T (a bit of tea; i.e., the first letter of tea)

28a ALP|HA G|EEK - ALP (mountain) HAG (witch) EEK (yikes)

Down

1d BAMBI - first letters of (heads to) Bed And Might Break It

2d OLIV(I)ER - I (ego) contained in (in) OLIVER (musical); Sir Laurence Olivier: English actor, director and producer

3d EARTHLING* - anagram (monstrous) of LARGE HINT

4d AU|DUB|ON - DUB (name) contained in (in) AU (gold; chemical symbol) ON (over); John James Audubon: American ornithologist, naturalist, hunter and painter

5d G|LEANED - G ($1,000) LEANED (tipped)

6d _MEL|BA_ - hidden word (conveyed by) caMEL BAck; Dame Nellie Melba: Australian opera soprano

7d L|IS|SOME - L (fifty; Roman numeral) IS SOME (a number)

8d H(ANGERS) ON - HON (sweetie) contains (keeps) ANGERS (incenses)

13d {SOFT PEDAL}* - anagram (stranger) of LOPED FAST

15d CLEOPATRA* - anagram (translated) of APT ORACLE

17d {AT WORST}* - anagram (novel) of TWO-STAR

18d _TRIBE|CA_ - hidden word (includes) in diaTRIBE CAllously; TriBeCa: a neighbourhood in New York City (acronym for Triangle Below Canal Street)

19d {IN GROUP}* - anagram (fluid) of POURING

20d S(URN)AME - URN (vase) contained in (covered with) SAME (identical) /\ SURNAME (tag)

22d _OUNCE - BOUNCE (dribble) with the first letter deleted (after opening)

24d STEAK~ - sounds like (vocally) STAKE (wager)

Signing off for today - Falcon