Saturday, June 2, 2012 - Spring Gardening

Introduction

It is the season when gardening in Canada kicks into high gear, and Cox and Rathvon provide an appropriately themed offering in today's puzzle. It is no doubt nothing more than a coincidence, but the Federation of Canadian Naturists has declared today to be Naked Canadian Gardening Day. Unfortunately, the weather in Ottawa today is hardly conducive to the performing of gardening activities in general – let alone doing them in the buff.

Solution to Today's Puzzle

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

Across

1a   BUT|CHART - BUT (save; "all but one") + CHART (diagram)

Sunken Garden at Butchart Gardens

The Butchart Gardens^[7] is a group of floral display gardens in Brentwood Bay, British Columbia, Canada, located near Victoria on Vancouver Island. The gardens receive more than a million visitors each year. The gardens have been designated a National Historic Site of Canada due to their international renown.

5a   A(CORN)S - CORN (grain) contained in (planted inside) AS (in the form of; "justice depicted as a blindfolded woman")

9a   AMERASIAN* - anagram (transplanted) of MA IN AREAS

11a   RABBI_ - RABBI[T] (garden pest) with the final letter deleted (with its tail cut off)

12a   TI(LL)ERS - LL (two pounds; British currency) contained in (put ... in) TIERS (rows)

13a   BABY|LON - "Baby Lon" is a description of American actor Lon Chaney (1883 – 1930) as a newborn

"Hanging Gardens of Babylon" by Dutch artist Martin Heemskerck (16th-century)

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon^[7], considered to be one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, have been attributed to the Neo-Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II, who ruled between 605 and 562 BC. The gardens were said to have been destroyed by several earthquakes after the 2nd century BC.

14a   FONTAINEBLEAU* - anagram (adjusted) of BIANNUAL FEE

"Young Man Walking with Dogs in Fontainebleau Forest" by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1886)

The forest of Fontainebleau^[7] (French: Forêt de Fontainebleau, or Forêt de Bière, meaning "forest of heather") is a mixed deciduous forest lying sixty kilometres southeast of Paris, France. The most common trees in the forest are oak, Scots pine, and European beech.

18a   DUMB|ART|ON| O(A)KS - DUMB (stupid) + ART (pictures) + ON (†) + OKS (sanctions) containing (about) A (†)

Bridge in Dumbarton Oaks Park

The Dumbarton Oaks Park^[7] is a public park, located in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Mr. and Mrs. Robert Woods Bliss purchased Dumbarton Oaks House in 1920, and established the garden. The park is a naturalistic streamside garden area of 27 acres, beyond the 10 acre formal garden, designed by Beatrix Farrand.

22a   GIVER|NY - GIVER (one endowing) + NY (New York)

Claude Monet's "Water Lily Pond" in his garden at Giverny (1899)

Giverny^[7] is a commune (village) that sits on the "right bank" of the River Seine 80 km (50 mi) from Paris France. It is best known as the location of Claude Monet's garden and home.

24a   _N|I|TRITE - N {last letter of (back of) gardeN} + I (†) + TRITE (stock; "stock answer")

26a   SCRUB - cryptic definition (indicated by the question mark)

Scrub^[3] is a growth or tract of stunted vegetation. It is also a verb meaning to clean or wash something by hard rubbing (which might be required in order to spruce up^[4] from a particularly filthy condition). The clue does not seem to be a double definition since, as such, it would seemingly have to read "Spruce up brush" (which does not have a very pleasing surface reading). Thus I consider the clue to be a cryptic definition (and the question mark would seem to confirm this).

Update: Some readers have suggested an alternative solution (see comments below) in which the solution is SHRUB, an anagram (spruced- up) of BRUSH. Although I don't think it fits quite as well from a definition perspective, the wordplay is certainly less convoluted. Experience tells me that when there are two possible explanations, the less convoluted one is usually "correct". Therefore, I wouldn't be surprised if the solution published next week turns out to be SHRUB.

27a   SC(ALL)IONS - ALL (completely) contained in (surrounded by) SCIONS (shoots)

28a   I|RISE|S - I (†) + RISE (come up) + (with) S (small)

29a   VANDUSEN* - anagram (disorganized) of NUN SAVED

Autumn colours at VanDusen Botanical Garden

VanDusen Botanical Garden^[7] is situated in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Named for local lumberman and philanthropist Whitford Julian VanDusen, it has been a public garden since its opening on August 30, 1975. The Garden covers 22 hectares (55 acres) and displays plants gathered from all over the world.

Down

1d   BLAST OFF -  anagram (jiggling) of SOFT FLAB

2d   {TREE_LINED}* - anagram (ground) of ELI RENTED

3d   H|EAVE - H (high) + EAVE (spot on a roof)

4d   R(EINS| I)N - {EINS (one German; German word for the number one) + I (†)} contained in RN (nurse; Registered Nurse)

6d   C(A)RIB|BEAN - {CRIB (bed) containing (covering) A (†)} + BEAN (legume)

7d   RE(B)EL - B (bee) contained in (in) REEL (dance)

8d   SH(INN)Y - INN (tavern) contained in (encountered in) SHY (short)

10d   NA|BOB - NA (North American) + BOB (haircut)

15d   ADMIRABLE* - anagram (novel) of BAD MAILER

Norman Mailer^[7] (1923 – 2007) was an American novelist – not to mention journalist, essayist, poet, playwright, screenwriter, and film director.

16d   UNANIMOUS* - anagram (oddly) of UNAMUNO IS

Miguel de Unamuno^[7] (1864 – 1936) was a Spanish essayist, novelist, poet, playwright and philosopher.

17d   US|HERS| IN - US (†) + (before) HER (the woman) + (has ['s]) SIN (trangression)

19d   A(BY)SS - ASS (donkey) containing (going around) BY (past)

20d   TAN|TARA - TAN (brown) + (&) TARA (O'Hara's plantation)

Tara^[7] is the fictional plantation found in Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel Gone with the Wind, which depicts the experiences of Scarlett O'Hara, the spoiled daughter of a well-to-do plantation owner, who must use every means at her disposal to come out of the poverty she finds herself in as a result of the Savannah Campaign of 1864 conducted by the Union Army in the American Civil War.

21d   A|GAS|SI< - A (†) + GAS (flatulence) + reversal (back) of IS

23d   _VER|DI_ - hidden in (in) cleVER DIversions

25d   T|I|LED_ - T (middle [letter] of picTure) + I (†) + LED (started; for instance, made the initial play in a game of cards)

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