Saturday, February 4, 2012 - Imposing Residences

Introduction

In today's puzzle from Cox and Rathvon we visit a quartet of magnificent dwellings - two of which have been designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. One of these is likely better known as a prison than as a royal residence and another may be little known outside of Canada (or even outside of Toronto).


Solution to Today's Puzzle

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

Across

1a   C(ASA L*)OMA - anagram (lost) of ALAS contained in (in) COMA (oblivion)

Casa Loma^[7] (Spanish for Hill House) is a Gothic Revival style house in midtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that is now a museum and landmark. Constructed over a three-year period from 1911–1914, it was originally a residence for financier Sir Henry Mill Pellatt.

5a   S|HOVEL - S (small) + HOVEL (shack)

9a   LO(VEBI*)RDS - anagram (strange) of VIBE contained in (picked up by) LORDS (peers)

11a   MA(GI)C - MAC (slicker) contained in (worn by) GI (soldier)

Mac (also mack) is a shortened form of mackintosh (also macintosh)^[5], a chiefly British term for a full-length waterproof coat (named after Charles Macintosh (1766–1843), the Scottish inventor who patented the cloth from which it is made).

12a   MA|RITAL* - MA (mother) + an anagram (affected) of TRIAL

13a   S(AND)LOT - AND (too) contained in (in) SLOT (narrow space)

In North America, a sandlot^[3] is a vacant lot used especially by children for unorganized sports and games [in particular, baseball].

14a   TOWE(R OF<) L|ON|DON - {ROF {reversal (turned) of FOR (pro)} contained in (in) TOWEL (absorbing article)} + ON (†) + DON (crime boss)

Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London^[7], is a historic castle (and UNESCO World Heritage Site) on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It was founded towards the end of 1066 as part of the Norman Conquest of England. The White Tower, which gives the entire castle its name, was built by William the Conqueror in 1078, and was a resented symbol of oppression, inflicted upon London by the new ruling elite. The castle was used as a prison since at least 1100, although that was not its primary purpose. A grand palace early in its history, it served as a royal residence.

18a   FONTAINEBLEAU* - anagram (adjusted) of BIANNUAL FEE TO

The Palace of Fontainebleau^[7], located 55 kilometres from the centre of Paris, is one of the largest French royal châteaux. The palace as it is today is the work of many French monarchs, building on an early 16th century structure of Francis I. [Note: I strongly suspect that the setters intended to refer to Louis XIV, not Louis IV. This magnificent edifice would not have existed in the days of Louis IV. Wikipedia refers to an "older château on this site ... used in the latter part of the 12th century by King Louis VII". Even that building may not have existed in the days of Louis IV (10th century).]

22a   PAR|A|PET - PAR (golfer's standard) + A (one) + PET (stroke)

23a   PIT-A|-PAT - PITA (some bread) + (and) PAT (a bit of butter)

25a   NEHRU* - anagram (botched) of RUN EH

Jawaharlal Nehru^[7] (1889 – 1964) was an Indian politician who, having been one of the principal leaders of India’s independence movement in the 1930s and ’40s, became the first Prime Minister of independent India (1947–64).

Eh?^[3] is a characteristic Canadian interjection appended to the end of sentences and used to ascertain or reinforce a listener's interest or agreement.

26a   PEP(PERON)I - PEPI (Egyptian king) containing (eating) PERON (Evita [Perón]^[7], wife of former Argentine President Juan Perón).

Pepi I^[7] and Pepi II^[7] were two of the pharaohs from the sixth dynasty of ancient Egypt.

27a   TAN|DEM - TAN (soundly beat) + DEM (Democratic)

Note: the word "Democratic" may be deceptively capitalized to make it appear to be a reference to the US political party. I found that most dictionaries list Dem. as an abbreviation for Democrat (a member of the Democratic Party), rather than Democratic. However, Chambers 21st Century Dictionary does show dem.^[2] as an abbreviation for democratic (not in reference to the political party as evidenced by the use of lower case).

28a   K(RON)BORG* - RON (actor [Ron] Howard^[7]) contained in (infiltrating) {an anagram (wandering) of KGB OR}

Kronborg^[7] is a star fortress (and UNESCO World Heritage Site) situated near the town of Helsingør (immortalized as Elsinore in Shakespeare's Hamlet) on the extreme northeastern tip of Zealand at the narrowest point of the Øresund, the sound between Denmark and Sweden. The castle has for centuries been one of the most important Renaissance castles in Northern Europe.

The KGB^[7] was the commonly used acronym for the Russian Komitet gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti (Committee for State Security). It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.

Down

1d   C(A|LAM)ITY - {A (†) + LAM (getaway)} contained in (in) CITY (town)

2d   SEVER_ - all but the final letter (mostly) of SEVER[E] (forbidding)

3d   LOBSTER* - anagram (out) of {L (left) + SORBET (†)}

4d   MORE|L - MORE (extra) + L (large)

6d   HOMINID* - anagram (snarled) of HI IM DON

7d   VI(GILA)NCE - VINCE ([legendary US football coach Vince] Lombardi^[7]) contained in (catching) GILA (sort of monster)

A gila monster^[5] is a venomous beaded lizard native to the south-western US and Mexico [Heloderma suspectum, family Helodermatidae].

8d   LO|CATE - LO (behold) + CATE ([Australian actress Cate] Blanchett^[7])

10d   S(ASS)OON - SOON (presently) containing (accepting) ASS (idiot)

15d   {WAFER-THIN}* - anagram (turned) of FAT WHINER

16d   FL(AT|-T)OP - FLOP (fiasco) containing (involving) AT + (&) T

In the US, an aircraft carrier may be informally referred to as a flat-top^[5].

17d   BUST(L)ING - BUSTING (arresting) containing (about) L ([Roman numeral for] fifty)

19d   NEP<|TUNE - reversal (brought back) of PEN (writer) + TUNE (melody)

In Roman mythology, Neptune^[5] was the god of water and of the sea (the counterpart to Poseidon in Greek mythology).

20d   BIT|TERN - BIT (nipped) + TERN (seabird)

21d   S(PIN)ET - PIN (peg) contained in (in) SET (place; as a verb)

23d   PA|PER - P (page) + A (article) + PER (for every)

24d   P(HOT)O - PO (post office) containing (†) HOT (wanted by the police)

Key to Reference Sources: 

^[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