Saturday, March 13, 2010 - It's All Greek To Me

Introduction

In today's puzzle from Cox and Rathvon, we encounter a fine assemblage of ancient Greek personalities.

Old Greeks Appearing in Today's Puzzle

Anaximander - pre-Socratic Greek philosopher

Democritus - ancient Greek philosopher

Hippocrates - ancient Greek physician

Parmenides - ancient Greek philosopher

Theseus - legendary founder-king of Athens

Solution to Today's Puzzle

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

Across

1a HIPPO|CRATES - HIPPO (African giant) CRATES (boxes)

9a PAR|TIED - PAR (norm) TIED (even)

10a DO|CENTS - DO (make) CENTS (small change)

11a DEMOCRITUS* - anagram of (mistaken) CUSTOMER ID

12a CIAO~ - sounds like (reportedly) CHOW (food); CIAO (goodbye to any Italian; i.e., Italian word meaning "goodbye")

14a RECIPES* - anagram of (new) PIERCES

16a T(RIDE)NT - RIDE (be carried) contained in (in) TNT (explosive)

17a THESE(U)S - THESES (research papers) containing (about) U (university)

19a LI(MITE)D - MITE (little bug) contained in (in) LID (cap)

21a IM|PS - IM (I'm; contraction of "I am") PS (postscript, by the way; an afterthought added to the end of a letter)

22a PARMENIDES* - anagram of (wild) MEN PRAISED

25a KETCH|UP - KETCH (vessel) UP (raised)

26a AL|LOVER - AL (actor Al Pacino) LOVER (fanatic)

27a ANAXIMANDER* - anagram of (confounded) XENA IN DRAMA

Down

1d _H|ARE|M_ - hidden in (kept in) churcH ATE Miffed

2d PRINCIPLES~ - sounds like (pronounced) PRINCIPALS

3d ORDAINS* - anagram of (violated) DORIANS

4d REDOUBT - double definition (one cryptic); "fortress" and "doubt again (question again)"

5d TICK - double definition; "sound of a beat" and "arachnid"

6d SENT|I(MEN)T - SENT (conveyed) {IT containing MEN (males)}

7d SPIDER< - reversal of (the wrong way) REDIPS (again plunges)

8d ESCORT* - anagram of (travelling) CORTES

13d DISMANTLED - double definition (one cryptic); "in pieces" and "like the [New York] Yankees [baseball team] without slugger Mickey Mantle (the Mick)"

15d CLEOPATRA* - anagram of (repackaged) A PARCEL TO

17d THICKE_ - THICKET (bush) with the last letter deleted (almost); Alan Thicke: Canadian actor, songwriter and talk and game show host

18d SHAR-PEI* - anagram of (off) HE PAIRS

19d LAMB(A)DA - LAMBDA (Greek character; i.e., character in the Greek alphabet) containing (holding) A

20d DESIRE - double definition (one cryptic); "want" and "to get rid of sire (dad)"

23d D|OVER - D (first of developments; i.e., first letter of the word "developments") OVER (above)

24d WHO|A - WHO (question of identity) preceding (before) A (answer)

Signing off for today - Falcon