Saturday, January 14, 2012

Saturday, January 14, 2012 - A Fishy Puzzle

Introduction

Today's puzzle from Cox and Rathvon should appeal to the anglers in the crowd - although one creature is not a fish and at least one other is not a game fish.










Solution to Today's Puzzle

Legend: "*" anagram; "~" sounds like; "<" letters reversed

"( )" letters inserted; "_" letters deleted; "†" explicit in the clue

Across

1a   HER|RING - RING (doughnut) following (comes after) HER (the lady)
Note: In the cryptic reading, the 's is a contraction for is and serves as a link word between the wordplay and the definition. The definition ("kippers, perhaps") indicates that the solution is an example of the definition.
5a   HAL|I|BUT - HAL (Prince Henry) + (and) I (†) + BUT (save; as in "all, save two, were destroyed in the fire")
Prince Henry (nicknamed Hal) - a character in William Shakespeare's plays Henry IV, Part 1[7] and Henry IV, Part 2[7] - is later to become King Henry V of England.
9a   AN|TIC - AN (one) + TIC (involuntary motion)

10a   ASP|HALTED - ASP (snake) + HALTED (came to a stop)

11a   {STRIPED BASS}* - anagram (strange) of SPIDERS BATS

12a   SUN~ - sounds like (on the radio) SON (boy)

13a   THIS|BE - BE (live) following (east of; to the right of, in an across clue) THIS (†)
Pyramus and Thisbe[7], a story of ill-fated lovers from Roman mythology, served as the inspiration for William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
15a   LOBSTERS* - anagram (rum) of BOLSTERS
Rum[5] is a dated British term meaning odd or peculiar.
18a   PICKER|EL - PICKER (one choosing) + EL (the Spanish; i.e., Spanish word for "the")

19a   _EX|HALE_ - hidden in (suppressed by) AlEX HALEy

22a   OR|B_ - OR (†) + B (head of bull; i.e., first letter of Bull)

23a   YELL|OW| PERCH - YELL (shout) + (and) OW (cry [in pain]) + (then) PERCH (settle)

25a   POTENTIAL* - anagram of (arrangement of) LIPTON TEA

26a   EVIAN< - reversal (turned) of NAIVE (green)
Perrier[7] and Evian[7] are French brands of bottled mineral water.
27a   SARDINE* - anagram (cooked) of A DINERS

28a   W(ALLEY)E - WE (the two of us) containing (on both sides of) ALLEY (passageway)

Down

1d   HE|ADS|ET - HE (the man) + ADS (spots; advertisements) + ET (alien; from the 1982 American science fiction film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial[7])

2d   ROTOR - I thought that this might be a double definition; "something that's turned" & "something that turns"
The first definition here would refer to the process of machining the surface of a brake rotor (to remove unevenness caused by use) which is known as 'turning'.
However, MG (see comments) has suggested another interpretation, in which the definition would be "something that turns" with the wordplay being:
3d   IN|CA(PA)BLE - PA (pop) contained in (entering) {IN (into) + CABLE (TV service)}

4d   G|LANDS - G (good; a mark on a school assignment or test) + LANDS (areas)

5d   HEP|TAG|ON - HEP (Beatnik's cool; expression meaning "cool" that might be used by a Beatnik) + TAG (label) + ON (†)

6d   L(O)ADS - LADS (youngsters) containing (carrying) O (love; a score of zero in tennis)

7d   BATH(SHE)BA - SHE (†) contained in (is found in; the 's being a contraction of is) {BATH (tub) + (with) BA (bachelor [Bachelor of Arts])}

8d   TI|DINGS - TI ([musical] note) + (on) DINGS (minor damages)

14d   IN|CUBA|TOR - IN (†) + CUBA (Caribbean island) + TOR (hill)

16d   {SEX APPEAL}* - anagram (sadly) of APPLE AXES
"It"[9] is a slang term for sex appeal. The expression, although having appeared in the writing of Rudyard Kipling as early as 1904, appears to have come into widespread use as a result of the 1927 film It[7] starring Clara Bow (who became known as the 'It girl'[7]).
 17d   _ME|ALTIME_ - hidden in (displaying) soME ALTIMEters

18d   PROM(PT)S - PT (point) contained in (amid) PROMS (dances)

20d   ENHANCE* - anagram (unusual) of HENCE AN

21d   G(O S)LOW - GLOW (beam) containing (taking in) OS (rings; Os)

23d   _YANNI_ - hidden in (lodged in) HYANNIsport
Yanni[7], born Yiannis Hrysomallis is a Greek self-taught pianist, keyboardist, and composer who has spent most of his life in the United States. His music is frequently described as "new age"[7], though he prefers the term "contemporary instrumental".
24d   RAISE~ - sounds like (for audit) RAZE (tear down)
References: 
[1] - The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition
[2] - Search Chambers - (Chambers 21st Century Dictionary)
[3] - TheFreeDictionary.com (American Heritage Dictionary)
[4] - TheFreeDictionary.com (Collins English Dictionary)
[5] - Oxford Dictionaries (Oxford Dictionary of English)
[6] - Oxford Dictionaries (Oxford American Dictionary)
[7] - Wikipedia
[8] - Reverso Online Dictionary (Collins French-English Dictionary)
[9] - Infoplease (Random House Unabridged Dictionary)
Signing off for today - Falcon
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3 comments:

  1. AnonymousJanuary 14, 2012 at 2:22 PM

    Hello Falcon,
    Not sure I agree with your double definition of 2d. At least one interpretation is as follows:
    ROT|OR - ROT (something that's turned i.e., rotten, decayed or rancid)+ OR(†)

    Thoughts?
    MG

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJanuary 14, 2012 at 2:24 PM

    By the way, I was expecting pictures as well...

    MG

    ReplyDelete
  3. FalconJanuary 14, 2012 at 8:14 PM

    Hi MG,

    Your solution is certainly very plausible - perhaps better than mine. I expect that your solution may well have been what the setters had in mind. Perhaps my interpretation was influenced by having recently had brake work performed on two vehicles - including having the rotors turned!

    I did consider pictures - but at the time, Friday's puzzle still remained to be blogged. And that is not to mention the pile of snow that the snowplow had deposited in my driveway!

    Falcon

    ReplyDelete

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