Saturday, September 4, 2010 - Blood, Sweat & Tears

Introduction

Solving today's puzzle by Cox and Rathvon requires not merely toil, but literally blood, sweat and tears.

Today's Glossary

Some possibly unfamiliar abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle (including explanations of some distinctly North American references for the benefit of overseas readers)

busby - [American Heritage Dictionary] noun a full-dress fur hat of varying shape, worn by hussars in the 19th century and by the foot guard regiments of the British army. [Note: As the following excerpt from the Wikipedia article on the busby notes, this definition may well be incorrect (or, at best, dated), as a busby is quite different from a bearskin, which is the type of military fur hat worn by the Foot Guards].

The busby should not be mistaken for the much taller bearskin cap, worn most notably by the five regiments of Foot Guards of the Household Division (Grenadier, Coldstream, Scots, Irish and Welsh Guards). The 1911 edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica notes that the word "busby" was at that time used colloquially to denote the tall bear and racoonskin "caps" worn by foot-guards and fusiliers and the feather bonnets of highland infantry. This practice has now fallen into disuse.

caparison - [American Heritage Dictionary] noun 2. Richly ornamented clothing; finery.

Catalan - [Collins English Dictionary] noun 1 a language of Catalonia, quite closely related to Spanish and Provençal, belonging to the Romance group of the Indo-European family.

don² - [Collins English Dictionary] noun 1. British a member of the teaching staff at a university or college, especially at Oxford or Cambridge.

First Blood (also known as Rambo or Rambo: First Blood outside the United States) - a 1982 film starring Sylvester Stallone.

gasohol - noun North American a mixture of petrol [gasoline] and ethanol used as fuel in internal-combustion engines.

GI - noun a private soldier in the US army.

interstate (abbreviation I) - noun (also interstate highway) one of a system of motorways [highways] running between US states.

lamasery - noun a monastery of lamas.

Spike Lee - American film director, producer, writer, and actor.

maser - noun a device using the stimulated emission of radiation by excited atoms to amplify or generate coherent monochromatic electromagnetic radiation in the microwave range. Compare with laser. Origin: (1950s) acronym from microwave amplification by the stimulated emission of radiation.

George Orwell (1903 - 1950) - an English author and journalist.

rabbit ears - plural noun Informal [probably North American] an indoor television antenna consisting of two usually adjustable rods connected to a base and swiveling apart at a V-shaped angle.

wolfram - [Collins English Dictionary] noun another name for tungsten.

yrs - abbreviation yours (as a formula ending a letter).

Solution to Today's Puzzle

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

Across

1a FIR|ST (BL)OOD - {FIR (tree) + STOOD (was planted)} containing (around) BL (centre of Dublin; i.e., middle two letters of the word "Dublin")

6a _OVAL_ - hidden (in) and reversed (back) in sLAVOnia

9a C(AT|A)LAN - CLAN (family) containing (going outside) {AT + A (mid-day; i.e., middle letter of the word "day")}

10a WOLF<|RAM - reversal (reversing) of FLOW (current) + RAM (pound)

12a LOB|O - LOB (toss) + O (bagel; from its shape)

13a TO(I|LET)RIES - TORIES (Conservatives) containing (gaining) {I (interstate) + LET (permit)}

15a G(OLD)EN - OLD (antique) contained in (in) GEN (general; military rank)

16a SLICER* - anagram (damaged) of RELICS

20a VI(SAG)E - SAG (slump) contained in (in) VIE (struggle)

21a C(H|IN)-UP - CUP (trophy) containing (taking) {H (hit; baseball, or cricket, term) + IN}

24a RABBI|T EARS - RABBI (teacher) + TEARS (pulls apart)

26a _ORCA_ - hidden in (riding in) motORCAde

28a GASOHOL* - anagram (out of order) of HOG ALSO

29a SP(LASH)Y - SPY (agent) containing (carrying) LASH (whip)

30a STYX~ - sounds like (through the sound) STICKS (persists)

31a SWEATPANTS* - anagram (new) of PESTS WANT A

Down

1d F(AC)ILE - FILE (set of documents) containing (about) AC (air conditioning)

2d RUT(A|BAG|A)S - {A + BAG (sack) + A (one)} contained in (put in) RUTS (furrows)

3d TILL - double definition; "get ready to plant" and "drawer with money"

4d LON(DON)ER - LONER (antisocial sort) containing (assuming) DON (professor)

5d OR|WELL - OR (otherwise) + WELL (fine)

7d VERDI* - anagram (turned) of DIVER

8d LA(MASER)Y - MASER (radiation device) contained in (seen in) LAY (secular)

11d LE(T ALON)E - LEE (Spike Lee) containing (split by) TALON (nail)

14d SLUG|GI|SH - SLUG (belt) + GI (soldier) + SH (quiet)

17d C(A|PARIS)ON - {A + PARIS (French city)} contained in (taken in by) CON (prisoner)

18d AVE|RAGES - AVE (hail) + RAGES (storms)

19d CHAR(IS)M|A - {IS contained in (added to) CHARM (amulet)} + A (article)

22d MEL|LOW - MEL (Mel Gibson) + LOW (dejected)

23d SAT|YRS - SAT (met) + YRS (yours)

25d BUS|BY - BUS (large vehicle) + BY (near)

27d SLIP - double definition

Signing off for today - Falcon