Saturday, January 21, 2012 - Saturday Morning Cartoons

Introduction

Today's puzzle from Cox and Rathvon features an American film about a dim-witted Canadian mountie who enjoyed more success (however inadvertent) in his professional pursuits than in his love life. While the original animated television series was a success, the 1999 live action movie was a box office disaster (grossing less than $10 million dollars against a production budget of $70 million).

Solution to Today's Puzzle

Legend:	"*" anagram; "~" sounds like; "<" letters reversed
	"( )" letters inserted; "_" letters deleted; "†" explicit in the clue

Across

1a   BUT|TRESS - BUT (save) + TRESS (lock)

5a   WIT|H-IT - WIT (humourist) + HIT (slammed)

9a   SAL(I|VAT)E - {I (indigo) + VAT (tub)} contained in (in) SALE (auction)

10a   SCAR|A|B - SCAR (leave a mark) + (on) A (†) + B (bishop)

Alternatively, I think the following parsing would be equally valid:

• SCAR|A|B - SCAR (leave a mark on) + A (†) + B (bishop)

11a   R(A|DA)R - {A (†) + DA (pop)} contained in (aboard) RR (train [abbreviation railroad])

12a   REM(A)INDER - A ([very tiny!] bit of A(pplesauce)} contained in (eaten by) REMINDER ([memory] jogger)

14a   {DUDLEY DO-RIGHT}* - anagram (horses around) of EIGHT RUDDY OLD

Dudley Do-Right^[7] is a 1999 romantic comedy film starring Brendan Fraser as the title character. The film is based on the cartoon character Dudley Do-Right^[7], the eponymous hero of a segment on The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show^[7] which parodied early 20th century melodrama and silent film (by using only a piano as a musical background) in the form of the Northern genre. Dudley Do-Right is a dim-witted but great Canadian Mountie who is always trying to catch his nemesis Snidely Whiplash, more often succeeding by pure luck than anything else. He romantically pursued Nell Fenwick, the daughter of Inspector Fenwick, the head of the Mountie station. However, a running gag throughout the series was Nell's interest in his horse (called Horse), to the point that she scarcely noticed Dudley's interest.

18a   {BRENDAN FRASER}* - anagram (oddly) of RAN EDS FERN BAR

Brendan Fraser^[7] is a Canadian-American film and stage actor who played the title role in the 1999 film Dudley Do-Right.

22a   CAT|A|TONIC - CAT (dude) + (with) A (†) + TONIC (sparkling drink)

24a   SP|RIG - SP (Spanish) + RIG (truck)

26a   MUN(I)CH - MUNCH (Norwegian painter [Edvard Munch^[7]]) containing (capturing) I ([Roman numeral] one)

27a   DI|PLO(MA)T - MA (mother) contained in (involved in) {DI ([Roman numeral] 501) + PLOT (scheme)}

This clue may be a reference to section 501(c) of the United States Internal Revenue Code^[7] which provides that 28 types of nonprofit organizations are exempt from some federal income taxes.

28a   S(P)EEDY - P {stern of (shi)P} contained in (in) SEEDY (rundown)

29a   LA(I|D O)PEN - {LA (Los Angeles) + PEN (writer)} containing (keeping) I DO ([wedding] vow)

Down
1d   BEST|RIDE - BEST (top; as either a verb or noun) + (and) RIDE (go on horseback)

2d   TI(L)ED - L (left) contained in (inside) TIED (even)

3d   REV|ERIE - REV (race) + (at) ERIE (one of the Great Lakes)

4d   S(I)TAR - STAR (celebrity) containing (taking) I (interest)

6d   I(T)CHING - I CHING (means of devining) containing (about) T (time)

I Ching^[5] is an ancient Chinese manual of divination based on eight symbolic trigrams and sixty-four hexagrams, interpreted in terms of the principles of yin and yang. It was included as one of the ‘five classics’ of Confucianism. The English name is Book of Changes^[5].

7d   HERO(DOT)US - DOT (period) contained in (covered by) {HERO (champion) + US (American)}

Herodotus was a 5th century bc Greek historian. He was the first historian to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent, and arrange them in a well-constructed and vivid narrative. His History tells of the Persian Wars of the early 5th century bc.

8d   T|A|BARD - T (a sort of shirt [T-shirt]) + A (†) + BARD (poet)

13d   MORON~ - sounds like (heard) MORE (further) ON (about)

15d   D(EBUT<)ANTE - EBUT {reversal (from the rear) of TUBE (subway)} contained in (grabbed by) DANTE ([Italian] poet [Dante Alighieri])

16d   D(ID) IN - DIN (noise) containing (receiving) ID (identification)

17d   F(RIGHT)EN - FEN (morass) containing (ensnaring) RIGHT (conservative)

19d   ENTICED* - anagram (tossing) of TEN DICE

20d   RU(ST)LED - RULED (having lines) containing (about) ST (saint)

21d   S|CAMPS - S (small) + CAMPS (bivouacs)

23d   CHIN|A - CHIN (pull up) + (next to) A (†)

25d   _REM|AP_ - hidden in (includes) theoREM APparently

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