Saturday, March 3, 2012 - In the Corners

Introduction

In today's puzzle from Cox and Rathvon, the theme - if not popular - is at least 'in'.














Solution to Today's Puzzle

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

Across

1a   JUST IN (TIM)E - JUSTINE (Henin-Hardenne) containing (catches) TIM (Henman)

Justine Henin^[7], known as Justine Henin-Hardenne between 2002 and 2007, is a retired professional Belgian tennis player and former World Number One. Tim Henman^[7] is a retired English professional tennis player and former British Number One.

6a   SAAB~ - sounds like (aloud) SOB (cry)

9a   NO|GALES - NO GALES (nary a storm)

Note: the wordplay only makes sense when read as a phrase.

10a   RO|MANIA - RO (central EuROpe) + (with) MANIA (mental disorder)

12a   TOSTADA* - anagram (alien) of TO SADAT

Anwar Sadat^[7] (1918 – 1981) was the third President of Egypt, serving from 15 October 1970 until his assassination by fundamentalist army officers on 6 October 1981.

13a   _S|US|HI_ - hidden in (partially) giveS US HIves

15a   P|ADDLED - ADDLED (confused) following (after) P (chief [letter] of Police)

17a   A|CCL|AIM - A (†) + CCL ([Roman numeral for] 250) + AIM (point)

Note: I am not sure what the surface reading is intended to mean. It does not seem to fit the game of bridge (where one can earn "honours" (in the plural) of either 100 or 150 points). The computer game World of Warcraft also seems to have honour points.

18a   IGNITER* - anagram (plastic) of RINGTIE

21a   PEL(O)T|ON - {PELT (fur) + ON (†)} containing (outside of) O ([looks like] wheel)

23a   IN|CAS_ - IN (†) + CAS {endless CAS[E] (legal affair)}

24a   S(A|LAD)IN - {A (†) + LAD (boy)} contained in (adopted by) SIN (wrong)

27a   TRESSED< - reversal (sent back) of DESSERT (supper course)

28a   COR(DI)AL - DI (Diana) contained in (splitting) CORAL (pink)

29a   OS|SA< - reversal (facing west) of {AS (like) + SO (†)}

Mount Ossa^[7] is a mountain Greece that is located between Mount Pelion to the south and Mount Olympus to the north. In Greek mythology, the Aloadaes are said to have attempted to pile Mount Pelion on top of it, in their attempt to scale Olympus.

30a   {BEST IN SHOW}* - anagram (affected) of BOTH SINEWS

Down

1d   JUNK - double definition; "garbage" & "boat"

2d   SIGHTED~ - sounds like (vocally) CITED (alluded to)

3d   ID(L)ES - L (left) contained in (standing in) IDES (mid-March)

4d   TUSSAUD~ - sounds like (we hear) TOO SO

Anna Maria Tussaud^[7] (1761 – 1850) was an artist known for her wax sculptures and Madame Tussaud's, the wax museum she founded in London.

5d   MARS|ALA - MARS (spoils) + A LA (in the manner of)

7d   AMNESIA* - anagram (rude) of A NAME IS

8d   {BEAR IN MIND}* - anagram (needs to be fixed) of MAIN BINDER

11d   MUSI(C)AL - MUSIAL ("Stan the Man") containing (taking in) C (average; as a grade on a school assignment or test)

Stan "Stan the Man" Musial^[7] is a retired professional baseball player who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals (1941–1963). He was a record 24-time All-Star selection (tied with Willie Mays), and is widely considered to be one of the greatest hitters in baseball history.

14d   {SPLIT IN TWO}* - anagram (defective) of PISTIL WONT

16d   LOT|USES - LOT (man from Sodom) + USES (employs)

In the Bible, Lot^[7] and his wife flee the destruction of Sodom, in the course of which his wife disobediently looks back and is turned into a pillar of salt.

19d   NICK|ELS - NICK (cut) + ELS (Ernie on the links; South African professional golfer Ernie Els^[7])

20d   RUSH|DIE - RUSH (step on it) + (and) DIE (pass)

Salman Rushdie^[7] is an award-winning British Indian novelist and essayist. His novel The Satanic Verses (1988) was the centre of a major controversy, drawing protests from Muslims in which death threats were issued to Rushdie, including a fatwā against him by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Supreme Leader of Iran.

21d   POLECAT* - anagram (awful) of COP TALE

A polecat^[5] is a weasel-like Eurasian mammal (genus Mustela, family Mustelidae) with mainly dark brown fur and a darker mask across the eyes, noted for ejecting a fetid fluid when threatened. In the US, it is also another term for a skunk^[5] a cat-sized American mammal (Mephitis and other genera, family Mustelidae) of the weasel family, with distinctive black-and-white-striped fur. When threatened it squirts a fine spray of foul-smelling irritant liquid from its anal glands toward its attacker.

22d   TENNIS|H - TENNIS (Federer's game; Swiss professional tennis player Roger Federer^[7]) + (gets) H (hot)

25d   DARIN_ - DARIN[G] (bold) with the final letter deleted (not quite)

Beyond the Sea^[7] is a 2004 biographical film based on the life of singer/actor Bobby Darin in which American actor Kevin Spacey stars in the lead role.

26d   FLOW< - reversal (reversed) of WOLF (gorge)

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)
^[10] - CollinsDictionary.com (Collins English Dictionary)

Signing off for today - Falcon