Saturday, June 18, 2011 - A Puzzle with Panache

Introduction

One might be tempted to pan today's puzzle from Cox and Rathvon - but that would hardly be fair. I actually quite enjoyed the puzzle.

Today's Glossary

Selected abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions appearing in today's puzzle.

[An asterisk beside an entry merely indicates that it has been taken it from a Cumulative Glossary of entries which have previously appeared, in either this blog or its companion blog, the Ottawa Citizen Cryptic Crossword Forum.]

Appearing in Clues:

Meanings listed in this section may reflect how the word is used in the surface reading of the clue. Of course, that meaning may be contributing to the misdirection that the setter is attempting to create.

Rolaids - a brand of antacid produced by McNeil Consumer Healthcare, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson Inc.

Appearing in Solutions:

de- - prefix signifying 2 reversal or removal • decriminalize.

fun fair [two words, American spelling] - [American Heritage Dictionary] noun Chiefly British An amusement park.

funfair [one word, British spelling] - [Oxford Dictionaries Online (Oxford Dictionary of English)] noun chiefly British a fair consisting of rides, sideshows, and other amusements.

*Lorelei - [a] a rock on the bank of the Rhine, held by legend to be the home of a siren whose song lures boatmen to destruction [b] the siren said to live on the Lorelei rock

Pan - Greek Mythology a god of flocks and herds, typically represented with the horns, ears, and legs of a goat on a man's body. His sudden appearance was supposed to cause terror similar to that of a frightened and stampeding herd, and the word panic is derived from his name.

pan¹ - noun 5 US informal a person's face.

[King] Tut or Tutankhamun (alternately spelled with Tutenkh-, -amen, -amon); approx. 1341 BC – 1323 BC) was an Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th dynasty (ruled c.1333 BC – 1323 BC in the conventional chronology), during the period of Egyptian history known as the New Kingdom. His original name, Tutankhaten, means "Living Image of Aten", while Tutankhamun means "Living Image of Amun". ... He ascended to the throne in 1333 BC, at the age of nine or ten.

Solution to Today's Puzzle

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

Across

1a   PAN|ICKIEST - PAN (Greek god) + ICKIEST (most disgusting)

6a   S|CAR - S (front of Swedish; i.e., first letter in Swedish) + CAR (auto)

9a   TICK OFF - double definition; "check" & "anger"

10a   R(AFT)ING - AFT (back) contained in (in) RING (boxing venue)

12a   ODE~ - sounds like (heard) OWED (outstanding [as a debt])

13a   PAN|A|MA C|ANAL* - PAN (face) + A + MAC (computer) + ANAL {an anagram (tossed) of ALAN}

14a   LORELEI~ - sounds like (mumbled) LAUREL I

16a   ABOLISH*  - anagram (doctor) of HAS BOIL

18a   DEFENCE - a cryptic definition in which the setters playfully imagine that the word 'defence' might mean 'put a stop to swordfighting (fencing)'.

20a   HIS|TORY - HIS (the man's) + TORY (Conservative)

22a   PAN|TO|MIMI|ST - PAN (bad review) + TO + MIMI +ST (street)

25a   TUT - double definition; "that was naughty" & "young king"

26a   T|RAINED - T (tennis at first; i.e., first letter of Tennis) + RAINED (showered)

27a   TITANIC* - anagram (shot) of INTACT I

28a   HARE~ - sounds like (in the ears) HAIR (fur)

29a   PAN|CREASES - PAN (camera shot) + CREASES (wrinkles)

Down
1d   PA|TROLLED - PA (dad) + TROLLED (fished)

2d   NU|CLEAR - NU (Greek character; i.e., the thirteenth letter of the Greek alphabet) + CLEAR (certain [of])

3d   C(RO)UP - RO (couple of Rolaids; i.e., first two letters of ROlaids) contained in (in) CUP

4d   IN|F(ANT)ILE - IN FILE (queued up) containing (around) ANT (crawler)

5d   S|CRAM - S (small) + CRAM (stuff)

7d   _CHI|ANTI_ - hidden in (contributing to) mariaCHI ANTIcs

8d   REGAL< - reversal (brought back) LAGER (beer)

11d   F|ACTORS - F (female) + ACTORS (thespians)

15d   LINCOLN~ - sounds like (in speech) LINKIN' (makin' connections) {slurred pronunciation of LINKING (making connections)}

16d   A|T(HEIST)IC - HEIST (rip-off) contained in (penned by) {A + TIC (jerk)}

17d   HAYST|ACKS~ - sounds like (reportedly) {HASTE (rush) + (and) AXE (chop down}

19d   F|UN FAIR - F (failing; as a grade in school) + UNFAIR (not just)

21d   OUTINGS* - anagram (convertible) of GOT US IN

22d   PITCH - double definition; "asphalt" & "slope"

23d   _IN|DIA_ - hidden (including) in begIN DIAlogue

24d   TI(T)LE - Tile (Scrabble piece) containing (bearing) T

Signing off for today - Falcon