Saturday, February 19, 2011 - Divers Ducks

Introduction

Today's puzzle by Cox and Rathvon presents divers ducks - with most of them also being divers, although one is a dabbler. Dabbling ducks feed mainly at the surface rather than by diving.

I couldn't help but think that in 29a the Brits might have clued it as "Ducks and duck made out of bone" - 'duck' being a batsman's score of nought in cricket and probably the nearest British equivalent to the North American expression 'goose egg'.

Solution to Today's Puzzle

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

Across

1a   SECTOR* - anagram (going crazy) of SCOTER

Male Scoter

scoter - noun a northern diving duck that winters off the coast, the male of which has mainly black plumage. Genus Melanitta, family Anatidae: three species

4a   SO|AP (D)ISH - SO (too) + APISH (imitative) containing (holding) D (down)

9a   NUREDA* - anagram (foreign) of UNREAD

• Jan Neruda (1834 – 1891) - Czech journalist, writer and poet, one of the most prominent representatives of Czech Realism and a member of "the May school".
• Pablo Neruda (1904 – 1973) - pen name and, later, legal name of the Chilean poet and politician Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. He chose his pen name after Czech poet Jan Neruda.

10a   QUA(C)KERS - QUAKERS (friends) containing (acquiring) C ([Roman numeral for] 100)

Quaker - noun a member of the Religious Society of Friends, a Christian movement founded by George Fox circa 1650 and devoted to peaceful principles.

12a   GOLDENEYE~ - sounds like (if overheard) GOAL DENY

Male Goldeneye

goldeneye - noun a migratory northern diving duck, the male of which has a dark head with a white cheek patch and yellow eyes. Genus Bucephala, family Anatidae: two species, in particular the common goldeneye (B. clangula)

13a   FOLIO* - anagram (spilled) OF OIL

14a   LIED - double definition; "song" & "told a tale"

15a   CAN|V|A|S(B)ACK - CAN (dismiss) + V ([Roman numeral for] five) + A + SACK (bag) containing B (second-rate)

Male Canvasback

canvasback - noun a North American diving duck with a long, sloping black bill , related to the common pochard. Aythya valisineria, family Anatidae

19a   BUFF|LE(HE)AD - BUFF (polish) + LEAD (metal) containing (inlaid with) HE (male)

Male Bufflehead

bufflehead - noun a small North American diving duck related to the goldeneye, with a large puffy head. The male has white plumage with a black back. Bucephala albeola, family Anatidae

20a   CRAM< - reversal (returned) of MARC

Oh, dear! Who are the setters intending us to think of here? Is it the famous Roman Mark Antony or the Puerto Rican singer (and husband of Jennifer Lopez) Marc Anthony. Perhaps it is neither of these, but rather the Warner Brothers cartoon character Marc Antony.

23a   L|EAST - L (bit of Lighting) + EAST (direction)

25a   MERG(ANS)ER - MERGER (union) containing (obtains) ANS (answer)

Male Merganser

merganser - noun a fish-eating diving duck with a long, thin serrated and hooked bill.  Also called sawbill. Genus Mergus, family Anatidae: six species

26a   W(ADD|L)ING - {ADD (tally) + L ([Roman numeral for] fifty)} contained in (in) WING (part of hospital)

27a   S|HEATH - S (southern) + HEATH (evergreen shrub)

28a   NORM|ANDY - ANDY (Warhol) following (behind) NORM (par)

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

29a   OS|TEAL - OS (goose eggs; Os) + TEAL (duck)

Male Teal in flight

teal - noun a small freshwater [dabbling] duck, typically with a greenish band on the wing that is most prominent in flight. Genus Anas, family Anatidae: several species, in particular the common Eurasian and Canadian (green-winged) teal (A. crecca)

Down

1d   SE(NEG)AL - SEAL (symbol) containing NEG (negative)

2d   {CORAL REEF}* - anagram (plastic) of OF CLEARER

3d   OL(DI)ES - DI (Diane) contained in (in) OLES (cheers)

Diane Chambers - fictional character portrayed by Shelley Long on the American television show Cheers (1982–1987, 1993), and on several episodes of the subsequent Cheers spin-off Frasier.

5d   {OF USE}* - anagram (beaten) of US FOE

6d   PACIFIST - {IF (assuming that) + IS} contained in (in) PACT (agreement)

7d   I|DEAL - I ([Roman numeral for] one) + DEAL (pass around [cards])

8d   HAS|SOCK - HAS (possesses) + SOCK (belt; meaning 'to punch')

11d   SERAPH* - anagram (twisted) of PHRASE

16d   _VIA|GRA_ - hidden in (in) BoliVIA GRAnular

17d   A(EROS)PACE - APACE (quickly) containing (comprehending) EROS (love)

18d   ALIT|ALIA - ALIT (landed) + (with) ALIA (others)

• alia - noun Latin others or other things; as in the phrase inter alia, among other things
• Alitalia - the largest Italian airline

19d   BALD|WIN - BALD (outright; as in 'a bald lie') + WIN (victory)

Alec Baldwin - American actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television.

21d   MARSHAL~ - sounds like MARTIAL (military)

22d   PATH(O)S - O (love) contained in (in) PATHS (ways)

Explanation: the letter O looks like the number 0 which is 'love' in tennis

24d   _ALDER_ - CALDERA (volcanic crater) with the first and last letters deleted (trimmed on both sides)

25d   MINED< - reversal (on the way back) of DENIM (material)

Signing off for today - Falcon