Saturday, June 23, 2012 - Planetary Search

Introduction

I almost failed to recognize the theme in today's puzzle from Cox and Rathvon. If you look closely, half the planets in our solar system (now that Pluto has been demoted) are fairly well-concealed in the solutions.

The review is a bit late this week as I was away for most of the weekend. I started to compose the review last evening, but after repeatedly falling asleep at my keyboard and nearly toppling out of my chair, I decided to pack it in for the night.

Solution to Today's Puzzle

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

Across

1a   PARVENUS* - anagram (cracked) of RAVENS UP

5a   SPIDER< - reversal (to the left) of REDIPS (drops down again)

9a   PLUM|MET - PLUM (fruit) + MET (encountered)

10a   BET|WEE|N - BET (wager) + WEE (very small) + N (number)

11a   N|ODE - N (Neruda's first [letter]) + ODE (poem)

Pablo Neruda^[7] (1904 – 1973) was the pen name and, later, legal name of the Chilean poet, diplomat and politician Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. He chose his pen name after Czech poet Jan Neruda. In 1971 Neruda won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

12a   {OMAR SHARIF}* - anagram (transposed) of AIRS FOR HAM

14a   REPROVE - double definition; "find fault with" & "show again"

15a   LA|THE - LA ([musical] note) + THE (†)

18a   NE|PAL - NE (northeast) + PAL (ally)

19a   T_OPICAL - TROPICAL (†) with the R (right) deleted {get right out}

22a   {TAKES A TURN}* - anagram (wild) of KARATE NUTS

24a   AGO|G - AGO (before now) + (by) G (Goalie's start; i.e., first letter of Goalie)

26a   O(N A TE)AR - OAR (rower in a boat) containing (keeps) NATE (Nathaniel)

27a   BA(G LAD)Y - BAY (howl) containing (about) GLAD (happy)

28a   _ERS|AT|Z_ - hidden in ('s centre; i.e., centre of) teachERS AT Zurich

In the cryptic analysis, the "'s centre" (signifying 'centre of') applies to the entire phrase "teachers at Zurich", and not merely to "Zurich".

29a   {WEAR THIN}* - anagram (mobile) of WREATH IN

Note that the word "Mobile" is deceptively capitalised, making it appear to be a reference to Mobile, Alabama in the surface reading.

Down

1d   PI(PIN)G - PIG (swine) containing (pierced by) PIN (something sharp)

2d   _ROUND|_TRIP - {GROUND (†) + STRIP (†)} with the first letter of each word deleted

3d   EL(M)S - ELS (PGA golfer [Ernie Els^[7]]) containing (carries) M (medium)

4d   {UP-TEMPO}* - anagram (in motion) of PUT POEM

6d   PITCH B(L)ACK - PITCH (delivery; a baseball term or, perhaps, a spiel from a salesperson) + {L (left) contained in (in) BACK (rear)}

7d   D|REAR - D (drill's top; i.e., first letter of Drill – in a down clue) + (on) REAR (bottom)

8d   R(AN) AFTER - AN (article) contained in (caught in) RAFTER (ceiling beam)

10d   BAR(G)E - G ($1,000) contained in (found in) BARE (uncovered)

13d   O|PALE|SCENT - O (ring; i.e., a letter that looks like a ring) + (with) PALE (faint) + SCENT (perfume)

16d   TELEGRAPH* - anagram (in code) of GREAT HELP

I am interpreting this to be an all-in-one clue, with the entire clue constituting both the wordplay and definition. The telegraph system (which used Morse code) frequently proved to be a great help, especially during the latter part of the nineteenth and early part of the twentieth centuries.

17d   KNOTHOLE - sounds like (for audience) NOT WHOLE (not complete)

I think the clue would have been more elegant had it been phrased "Opening for viewing incomplete for audience" (thus avoiding the use of the word"not" in both the clue and the solution).

19d   TUT|OT - TUT (ancient [Egyptian] king; the pharaoh Tutankhamun) + OR (†)

20d   PAR|A(B)LE - PAR (norm) + (with) {B (bee) contained in (in) ALE (beer)}

21d   EGO|YAN< - EGO (self) + a reversal (turned) of NAY (negative)

Atom Egoyan is a critically acclaimed Canadian director (on both stage and film).

23d   K|EATS - K (kay) + EATS (devours)

John Keats (1795 – 1821) was an English Romantic poet.

25d   _AGA|R_ - hidden in (from) SacandAGA River

The Sacandaga River is a 64-mile-long (103 km) tributary of the Hudson River in the northern part of the state of New York in the United States.

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