Saturday, September 18, 2010 - Celebration of Cinema

Introduction

Today's puzzle by Cox and Rathvon appears to be directed to film buffs (23a) with a nod to the Toronto International Film Festival (1a) which wraps up this weekend. While we are present for the first showing of some films (6d) - perhaps even ones that have been specially selected (14d), it seems that the non-mainstream films are hidden from us (12a). We even get to enjoy a retrospective screening of Mutiny on the Bounty (13a). The members of the film crew are the last to arrive, perhaps due to slow service at a Japanese restaurant, still carrying the remnants of their unfinished meal (29a). Several actors and actresses make an appearance (10a, 12a, and 14d) and, if we are quick, we might get some popcorn before it is all gone (19a). The surface reading of a number of other clues plays on this theme as well.

Revisiting Last Week's Puzzle

The theme in last week's puzzle may have escaped me, but not perceptive reader, Patrick Jordan, who commented "The theme is 'parts of the human head', which are found in these Across answers: BROWnouts, ChEYEnne, diagNOSEd, unclEARed, TOO THick, and lolLIPops. " To which I will add PATEllas and BEAR Down.

Today's Glossary

Some possibly unfamiliar abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle, as well as personalities featured therein

Used in Clues:

Che Guevara (1928 - 1967) - an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat, military theorist, and major figure of the Cuban Revolution

Andy Warhol (1928 - 1987) - an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art

Used in Solutions:

Yasser Arafat (1929 - 2004) - a Palestinian leader (including serving as Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)) and a Laureate of the Nobel Prize

Vin Diesel - an American actor, writer, director and producer

Tom Hanks - an American actor, producer, writer and director

no-hit (game) - a baseball game in which one team has no hits. In Major League Baseball, the team must be without hits during the entire game, and the game must be at least nine innings. A pitcher who prevents the opposing team from achieving a hit is said to have "thrown a no-hitter". Throwing a no-hitter is a rare accomplishment for a pitcher or pitching staff: only 268 have been thrown in Major League Baseball history since 1875, an average of about two per year, ... In most cases in MLB, no-hitters are recorded by a single pitcher who throws a complete game.

Toronto International Film Festival (abbreviation TIFF) - a publicly-attended non-competitive film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Mae West (1893 - 1980) - an American actress, playwright, screenwriter and sex symbol

Solution to Today's Puzzle

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

Across

1a PLAIN|TIFF - PLAIN (clear) + TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival)

6a PICOT* - anagram (new) of TOPIC

9a PIT|CH IN - PIT (cavity) + (in front of) CHIN (the lower jaw)

10a MA(E WES)T - EWES (sheep) contained in (involved in) MAT (tangle)

11a REMIT< - reversal (back) of TIMER (game official) 12a V|IN DIES|EL - V (Roman numeral for five) + INDIES (non-mainstream films) + (by) EL (the Spanish; i.e., the Spanish word meaning "the")

13a T(AHIT)I - TI (note; i.e., musical note as in do, re, mi, ...) containing (about) an anagram (exotic) of THAI

15a A|RAF(A)T - A + {RAFT (simple vessel) containing (carrying) A}

19a PI(N|IN)G - PIG (glutton) containing (eating) {N (last of popcorn; i.e., last letter in the word "popcorn") + IN}

20a CURS|OR - CURS (mongrels) + OR

23a C(INEP<)HILE - reversal of (sent west; i.e., written right to left) {PEN (writer) + I} contained in ([sent] ... into) CHILE (South American land) [Note: as I see it, the words "sent west into" combine the reversal indicator (sent west) and containment indicator (sent into) into a single phrase]

25a PEA(R)L - RING (peal; as bells) containing (inset with) R (red)

26a RUB|ICON - RUB (polish) + ICON (symbol)

27a MU(STAN)G - MUG (rob) containing (straddling) STAN (Stanley)

28a MOLES - a double definition (in essence), although it could perhaps be viewed as a cryptic definition due to the inclusion of the word "with"; "furry burrowers" and "dark spots"

29a CAME|RAMEN - CAME (arrived) + (with) RAMEN (noodle soup)

Down

1d PO(P A)RT - PA (dad) contained in (seen in) PORT (harbour)

2d A|U(TOMATO)N - {A + UN (French article)} containing (about) TOMATO (vegetable)

3d NO-H|IT - NOH (Japanese drama) + IT

4d INN|OVATE - INN (bar) + OVATE (shaped like an egg)

5d F(OMEN)T - OMEN (sign) contained in (in) FT (fort)

6d PREMIERES* - anagram (somehow) of SEEM RIPER

7d CHES|S - CHES (Guevara's) + S (second)

8d TOT|ALITY* - anagram (wandering) of ITALY following (after) TOT (youngster)

14d HAND-PICKS - {D (low-quality) PIC (movie)} contained in (consumed by) HANKS (Tom, the actor)

16d FI(RE AL|A)RM - FIRM (company) containing (importing) {REAL (concrete) + A}

17d SPECTRUM* - anagram (ordered) of CRUMPETS

18d SU(PERM)OM* - PERM (hairstyle) contained in (in) an anagram (adapted) of SUMO

21d B|IONIC - B (bass) + IONIC (of a certain Greek order)

22d P(LUG)-IN - PIN (peg) containing (acquiring) LUG (cart; as a verb)

24d NOBEL~ - sounds like (in the audience) KNOW (recognize) BELLE (beautiful woman)

25d P(OS)ER - OS (bagels; a bagel is shaped like the letter 'O') contained in (inside) PER (for every)

Signing off for today - Falcon