Introduction
This weeks offering from Cox and Rathvon takes us to the track for the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Horse Racing - the Canadian version, not the American one. The races making up the Canadian Triple Crown are the Queen's Plate, the Prince of Wales Stakes and the Breeders' Stakes. The Queen's Plate is the oldest thoroughbred horse race in North America.
If the timing of this puzzle was meant to coincide with the running of the Queen's Plate, it has appeared a week early. This year, the Queen's Plate is being held on July 4 (a bit later than its usual date), to match the Royal Visit to Canada of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness, the Duke of Edinburgh who will be guests of honour at the event.
Seven horses, all of whom are featured in today's puzzle, have been winners of the Canadian Triple Crown. Listed in order of their year of victory, they are:
- 1959 - New Providence
- 1963 - Canebora
- 1989 - With Approval
- 1990 - Izvestia
- 1991 - Dance Smartly
- 1993 - Peteski
- 2003 - Wando
Some possibly unfamiliar abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle
Used in Solutions:
Ameslan - an acronym for American Sign Language
PB - peanut butter [Note: while this expression may not appear in the dictionary, I believe the expressions PB (peanut butter) and PB & J (peanut butter and jelly) are likely well known to generations of North American children]
Solution to Today's Puzzle
| Legend: | "CD" Cryptic Definition; "DD" Double Definition |
| "*" anagram; "~" sounds like; "<" letters reversed | |
| "( )" letters inserted; "_" letters deleted |
1a PRAVD*|A - anagram (travelling) of PAD RV + (with) A
4a _AMI(CAB)LY - [f]AMILY (leaderless clan; i.e., FAMILY with the first letter deleted) containing (takes) CAB (taxi)
9a P(OTHER)B - OTHER (different) contained in (when coated with) PB (peanut butter)
11a CAUTION* - anagram (new) of AUCTION
12a UNFED - [t]U[r]N [a] F[i]E[l]D (ignoring the odds in TURN A FIELD; i.e., deleting the letters in odd numbered positions); "on a fast" refers to fasting, as one might do at Lent
13a DOWNSTAGE* - anagram (drifting) of WANDO GETS
14a INCOMPARABLE* - anagram (after remedying) of LIMP CANEBORA
19a TRIP|LE (CROW)NS - TRIP (engage) + {LENS (camera device) containing (capturing) CROW (boast)}
22a KEEPSTI*|LL - LL (two lengths) following (behind) an anagram (entangled) of PETESKI
24a CON|DO - CON (against) + DO (party); flat is used in the sense of an apartment, and condo is short for condominium
25a C|ON|SENT - C (Conservative) + ON (riding) + SENT (thrilled with)
26a NECTARS* - anagram (sloshing) of canters
27a POSITI(O)N - anagram (excited) of PINTO IS containing (about) O (companion's second; i.e., the second letter of the word "companion")
28a RE(V)EL|S - {V (victory) contained in (in) REEL (dance)} + S (smartly's debut; i.e., first letter of the word "smartly")
Down
1d POP |MU|SIC - POP (dad) + (and) MU (Greek character) + SIC (attack; e.g., command to a dog)
2d ARTIFICE* - anagram (reviewed) of RACE IF IT
3d D|READ - D (distance) + READ (understand)
5d M(A|C)AW - {A + C (piece of candy; i.e., first letter of the word "candy")} contained in (in) MAW (mouth)
6d COUNSELOR* - anagram (treated) of COOL NURSE
7d BRIDAL~ - sounds like (heard of) BRIDLE (equine headgear)
8d YANKEE - cryptic definition; play on words, with "yankee" supposedly being someone who is yanked
10d BEDLAM|P - BEDLAM (zoo) + P (path's foremost; i.e., first letter in the word "path")
15d MARES NEST* - anagram (busted) of STEERSMAN [Note: the enumeration for this likely should have been (4'1,4)]
16d A|M(ESL)AN - A + MAN (guy) containing (adopting) ESL (English as a second language)
17d SWAN LAKE - {WAN (pale) + L (lake)} contained in (in) SAKE (benefit)
18d ESPO|USES - ESPO (nickname for former National Hockey League player Phil Esposito) + USES (employs)
20d SK(Y)CAP< = SKCAP {reversal (back) of PACKS (prepares to travel)} containing (around) Y (day's end; i.e., final letter in the word "day") 21d TENNIS_ - TENNISH (roughly mid-morning; i.e., near ten o'clock) with the final letter deleted (unfinished)
23d I(N)TRO* - N (organ finally; i.e., the final letter of the word "organ") contained in (interrupts) an anagram (playing) of TRIO
24d CACHE~ - sounds like (for audit) CASH (money)
Post Script
This post is appearing a few days late, as I returned this past weekend from a week-long trip, only to be faced with the pressing need to tackle a computer badly in need of maintenance that had decided to act up on the eve of my departure a week earlier. That task eventually stretched into hours and then days - severely limiting the time available to solve crossword puzzles and write blogs. Hopefully, this episode is behind me and I can now get back to a more or less regular schedule.
Signing off for today - Falcon
THANKS! You're the BEST!!
ReplyDeleteRe 2D: it seems to me the clue is faulty because the word in the clue is "it's", not "it". I don't believe I've previously seen an anagram which required splitting a word.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the comment. This is a point that I had some trouble with when I first started doing cryptic crosswords (if you were to look through some of my early blogs, you might see me being mentored on this point by some of the British crossword veterans who drop by from time to time). The word "it's", in this case, is a contraction for "it is". For the purposes of the puzzle, the word "it's" is not viewed as a single word, but as two words. It may be thought of as either "it" and "'s (apostrophe s)" or simply expanded to become "it is". Thus the clue, with the contraction expanded, is "Reviewed race, if it is cunning". The definition is "cunning" and the wordplay is an anagram (reviewed) of RACE IF IT. The word "is" serves as a linkword between the wordplay on the left and the definition on the right. Linkwords, such as the word "is", are often words that express the idea of equality (between the wordplay and the definition).
ReplyDeleteHope this helps.
Falcon
Thanks for the insight. That's a new one for me. I actually solved the clue (by brute force) & realized it was an anagram of RACE IF IT but was fighting the reference to IT'S, hence my conclusion of error. Thanks again. -FF
ReplyDelete