Saturday, October 30, 2010 - Trick or Treat

Introduction

As requested by an anonymous follower of the blog, here is the second Cox and Rathvon puzzle published during my sojourn in Italy - yet another one that I have yet to solve.

Note: I just noticed (November 14) that the status of this blog was still showing as draft. It seems that I somehow managed to neglect to hit the publish button.

Solution to Today's Puzzle

Thank you to Matt Mitchell for providing the solution to today's puzzle. As I have yet to solve the puzzle myself, the solution is presented as provided by Matt in a comment to my blog of October 16, 2010.


To boldly go… aw, I’m sure some other constructor’s been here before

Across

1a MAGIC TRICK*—anagram (shattered) of GIMCRACK IT. “Gimcrack” was a word my late father in law used a lot. Being the practical sort, but also a tinkerer, he was alternately annoyed and amused by gimcracks.
6a <—reversal (sent back) of BURG (city)
9a S(COW)LED—COW (bovine) contained in (aboard) SLED (luge)
10a BA(D OME)N—BAN (prohibit) containing (around) DOME (prominent part of St. Peter’s [Basilica]).
12a SAT|AN—SAT (met, as in a legislature) + AN (one)
13a ALL SAINTS*—anagram (crude) of STALLS IN A
14a OF|F|ICE—OF + a Female + ICE (diamonds)
16a PR(A)ISE—PRISE (jimmy, as in forcing open) containing (receiving) A
20a MANT(R)A—MANTA (ray) containing (interrupted by) start of Repetitive
21a T(ARM)AC*—anagram (oddly) of ACT containing (carrying) ARM (weapon). Tarmac, a contraction of “tarmacadam” is a common name for the paved apron of an airport.
24a HALL|O(WEE)N—WEE (midget) contained in (in) HALL (foyer) + ON
26a B|ASSO—B (good) + AS SO (as such)
27a ST(R)ATUS—Right contained in (in) STATUS (position)
28a TH|ROUGH—THe (most of “the”) + ROUGH (grinding)
29a S(OH)O—OH (I see) contained in (into) Significant Other (initials)
30a DUTCH TREAT*—anagram (weird) of TRUTH ACTED

Down

1d M(IS)USE—IS contained in (taken by) MUSE (arts patron)
2d G(HOST | T)OWN—GOWN (dress) containing (worn by) HOST (army) + T (Troops)
3d COLON—double definition
4d RADIAN(C)E*—anagram (excited) of ARIADNE containing (about) Cup
5d CAB|ALA—CAB (hack) + A LA (using the style of). This is a variant spelling of “Kabbalah.”
7d RA(ME)N—RAN (spilled) containing (around) ME
8d BAN(I)SHEE—I (one) contained by (adopted by) BANSHEE (female spirit)
11d DI(AGRA)M—AGRA (Taj Mahal site) contained in (shown in) DIM (faint)
15d FAR(M) OUT—Mass contained in (held by) FAR OUT (unconventional). Here Hex use delegate as a verb.
17d IN CO(STU)ME—INCOME (salary) containing (keeping) STUart
18d _E MP HAS IS_—onE MP HAS ISsues
19d MA(G)NETIC*—anagram (bum) of MITE CAN containing (about) G ($1,000, as in “grand”)
22d DESSAU*—anagram (inept) of SUED AS. I do listen to modern music (allow me to plug the composer Kile Smith [http://kilesmith.com/] and his work Vespers, a 21st century composition for 16th century instruments [Navona CD 5809, Amazon B001UPIWQS or on iTunes]), but I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything by Paul Dessau (Germany, 1894-1979).
23d TO|P HAT—TO (until) + PHAT (cool, urban slang)
25d L|ARCH—Large + ARCH (bridge)
26d BU(R)ST—silveR (last of) contained in (in) BUST (chest)

Signing off for today - Falcon