Saturday, August 7, 2010 - Just For Laughs

Introduction

In today's puzzle, setters Cox and Rathvon would seem to have us rolling in the aisles.

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

11a Look into jazz band in Sri Lanka's capital (7)

According to Wikipedia, Colombo is the former capital of Sri Lanka with the current capital being the nearby city of Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte.

23a Groaner by Patsy about hot comic's delivery (9)

American country music singer Patsy Cline died tragically in a plane crash at the height of her career when she was but 30 years old. Her appeal extended beyond the field of country music as she also enjoyed success on the pop charts. Let's enjoy one of her classic hits.



6d Menial cop, perhaps? (9)

This is a relatively rare type of clue known as an & lit. clue or, as some prefer to call it, an all-in-one clue. The entire clue serves as both definition and wordplay. In the case of this clue, the definition "menial cop, perhaps" identifies a POLICEMAN. The idea here is that a "menial cop", who is presumably a low-ranking officer, would be but one example (indicated by the word "perhaps") of a policeman. Other examples of policemen might be inspectors, superintendents, chiefs, etc. When read as wordplay, the clue becomes an anagram (perhaps) of MENIAL COP.

19d Whitewater accusations about identification (6)

In the cryptic reading of the clue, "whitewater" is the definition with the solution being RAPIDS. However, in the surface reading, this may well be a reference to the Whitewater controversy.

The Whitewater controversy (also called the Whitewater scandal, Whitewatergate, or most often, simply Whitewater) was an American politics controversy that began with the real estate investments of Bill and Hillary Clinton and their associates, Jim and Susan McDougal in the Whitewater Development Corporation, a failed business venture in the 1970s and 1980s.

Solution to Today's Puzzle

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

Across

1a THIGH-SLAPPER - anagram (changing) of LIGHT PERHAPS

10a PE(LOT)ON - LOT (fate) contained in (among) PEON (menial)

11a CO(LO)MBO - LO (look; as in the expression"lo and behold") contained in (into) COMBO (jazz band); Colombo: former capital city of Sri Lanka (see Commentary on Today's Puzzle)

12a WA(FE)R - WAR (fight) containing (about) FE (iron; i.e., chemical symbol for the element iron)

13a WISECRACK* - anagram (turning) of CARSICK WE

14a D(ERIS<)IVE - reversal (retreating) of SIRE (father) contained in (into) DIVE (seedy bar)

16a S(MAR)TY - MAR (hurt) contained in (in) STY (pigpen)

19a REH<|EAT - EAT (have a bite) following (behind) reversal (back) of HER (the woman's)

20a ST|AND| PAT - ST (street) + AND (as well as) + PAT (Patricia); stand pat is a poker term meaning to keep the existing cards in one's hand rather than to discard cards from one's hand and draw additional cards from the dealer to replace the cards that were discarded.

23a PUN|C(H)LINE - PUN (groaner) + (by) {CLINE (American country music singer Patsy Cline) containing (about) H (hot)}

25a _RU|RAL_ - hidden in (in) peRU RALlied

26a {DAY TRIP}* - anagram (struck) of PAY DIRT

27a S(OF|A BE)D - {OF + ABE (former U.S. President Abraham Lincoln)} contained in (in) SD (South Dakota; U.S. state)

28a SID(E-SP|LITTER) - {ESP (sixth sense) + LITTER (garbage)} following (behind) SID (American comedian Sid Caesar)

Down

2d H(OLD| FORT)H - HH (Her Highness) containing (about) {OLD (ancient) + FORT (citadel)}

3d GA|TOR - GA (Georgia; U.S. state) + TOR (hill)

4d S(I|NE W)AVE - SAVE (rescue) containing (requiring) {I (one) + NEW (novel)}

5d AC(CUS)E - ACE (expert) containing (maintaining) CUS (copper's; CU is the chemical symbol for the element copper and the S comes from the 's)

6d POLICEMAN* - anagram (possibly) of MENIAL COP; see Commentary on Today's Puzzle

7d RUM|B|A - RUM (eccentric; dated British usage) + B (bishop; chess nomenclature) + A

8d SPE(W)ED - W (Dubya; nickname of former U.S. president George W. Bush which is based on the Texas pronunciation of the middle initial of his name) contained in (in) SPEED (haste)

9d DON|KEY - DON (put on) + KEY (island off Florida's coast)

15d S|LA(THERE)D - THERE (to that spot; as one might respond to the question "Where are you going?") contained in (pinched by) {S (small) + LAD (boy)}

17d RE|PARABLE - RE (with regard to) + PARABLE (allegory)

18d _ST|REUSE|L_ - hidden in (in) cruST REUSE Leftover

19d RAP(ID)S - RAPS (accusations) containing (about) ID (identification); see Commentary on Today's Puzzle

21d TO(LED)O - LED (guided) contained in (inside) TOO (overly)

22d HIP|POS - HIP (cool) + POS (Italian river's; the Italian river is the Po with the S coming from the 's)

24d NO|YES - a cryptic definition of English poet Alfred Noyes whom the setters envision with one thumb down (NO) and one thumb up (YES).

25d REFIT* - anagram (terribly) of I FRET

Signing off for today - Falcon