Saturday, January 29, 2011 - Tools of the Trade

Introduction

With today's puzzle, you should not find yourself contending with much difficulty, it being a bit on the gentle side (as the Brits would say). In it, Cox and Rathvon place on display the tools of many trades. Even 12a, although not specifically identified as such in the clue, might be considered to be one of the tools of the trade for a writer.


Solution to Today's Puzzle

Legend:	"*" anagram; "~" sounds like; "<" letters reversed
	"( )" letters inserted; "_" letters deleted

Across

1a COPING| SAW - COPING (contending with difficulty) + SAW (spotted)

6a FINER - double definition; "better" & "person applying a punishment"

9a V(AN)ILLA - VILLA (Italian house) containing (importing) AN

10a RARE|BIT - RARE (uncommon) + BIT (morsel)

11a _R|A|HS - R (for, ultimately; i.e., final letter of "for") + A + HS (high school)

12a RO(MAN A CLE)F< - MANACLE (bond) contained in (goes in) a reversal (backing) of FOR

14a PIN(KING) S|HEARS - {KING (monarch) contained in (wearing) PINS (brooches)} + HEARS (notes the sound of)

17a S(LEDGE) HAMMERS - SHAMMERS (people acting deceitful) containing (about) LEDGE (shelf)

21a BREADBOARD* - anagram (oddly) of BARBED ROD A

23a _SKY|E - {hidden in (somewhat) duSKY} + E (English)

25a RE|GENTS - RE (regarding) + GENTS (males)

26a CHI|ANTI - CHI (Greek character) + ANTI (not in favour of)

27a NORSE* - anagram (dotty) of ROSEN

28a PITCH|FOR|K - PITCH (sales spiel) + FOR + K ($1000)

Down
1d C(OVER) UPS - CUPS (trophies) containing (about) OVER (finished)

2d PEN|CHANTS - PEN (to write) + CHANTS (Gregorian music)

3d NILE - NIL (scratch) + E (eastern)

4d SEA SON|G - SEASON (lend flavour to) + G (musical note)

5d WARPATH* - anagram (stirred up) of WHAT RAP

6d FI(RE AL|A)RMS - {REAL (concrete) + A (article)} contained in (in) FIRMS (companies)

7d NO(B)EL - NOEL (carol) containing (receives) B (second rate)

8d RAT|IF|Y - RAT (rodent) + IF + Y (yellow)

13d RIVERDANCE* - anagram (mad) of RACE DRIVEN

15d {SNEAK INTO}* - anagram (wrongly) of ONES TANK I

16d AS(TERIS)K - ASK (inquire) containing (about) TERIS (Ms. Garr's)

Note: the reference is to American actress Teri Garr

18d GRO(WS) UP - WS (William Shakespeare) contained in (surrounded by) GROUP (set)

Note: the clue utilizes an inverted sentence structure

19d HA(RICO)T - HAT containing (accommodates) RICO

20d OBERON* - anagram (funny) of ROBE ON

22d _EDGER_ - hidden in (used in) hEDGERows

24d HIGH~ - sounds like (pronounced) HI (greeting)

Note: "sharp" is used in the sense of a musical note

Signing off for today - Falcon