Saturday, August 18, 2012 - Some Like it Hot

Introduction

While the temperature outside may have cooled off recently, there are still plenty of hot spots to be found in today's puzzle from Cox and Rathvon.

New Links

You may have noticed in the listings for other Cryptic Crossword Blogs (found in the sidebar to the right), that I have recently added links to:

• Word Salad, a blog by Joshua Kosman and Henri Picciotto who set puzzles for the US publication, The Nation. Word Salad is described as "Kosman and Picciotto on their Nation puzzle, cryptic crosswords, wordplay and puzzles in general". You can read their blog for free, but the puzzle is only available to subscribers. [Note: Unfortunately, this link will not take you directly to the Word Salad blog page. Instead, you will be redirected to a listing of all blogs associated with The Nation. Scroll down to the bottom of this list of blogs and you will find a link that will take you to Word Salad.]

• The Nation Cryptic Crossword Forum in which Braze discusses not just puzzles from The Nation but also those appearing in a number of publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and our own National Post among others.

Solution to Today's Puzzle

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

Across

1a   GARB|LE — GARB (apparel) + LE (the French; French word meaning 'the')

4a   FLA(P|J|A)CK — FLACK (promoter) containing (eating) {P (piece of Pie) + J (bit of Jam) + (and) A (†)}

9a   IN|CUBA|TOR< — IN (†) + CUBA (Communist country) + a reversal (turned) of ROT (corrupt)

11a   RID(G)E — RIDE (travel) containing (around) G (middle [letter] of LoGan)

12a   GENES|IS — GENES (family inheritance) + IS (†)

13a   ERUPTED* — anagram (awfully) of RUDE PET

14a   PREDIC(AMEN)T — AMEN (You said it!) contained in (in) PREDICT (forecast)

19a   B|RAGGADOCIO* — B (Bubble at the front) + an anagram (ruined) of A GOOD CIGAR

22a   PROV(OK)E — PROVE (show) containing (gaining) OK (approval)

24a   RETIRED — double definition; "quit working" & "with new wheels"

26a   C(RAW)L — RAW (au naturel) contained in (coated with) CL ([symbol for the chemical element] chlorine)

27a   SKED|ADDLE — ADDLE (dizzy) following (after) SKED (program; short for schedule)

28a   CHI(POT)LE — POT () contained in (in) CHILE (South American land)

29a   {SNAP TO}* — anagram (drifting) of ON PAST

Down

1d   {GOING APE}* — anagram (scattered) of OPIE GANG

2d   RE(CANT)ED — CANT (lack the wherewithal to; can't) contained in (put in) REED (grass)

3d   LOB|OS — LOB (toss) + OS (goose eggs; zeroes)

5d   _L|ARGE_ — hidden in ruraL ARGEntina

6d   PARQUETED~ — sounds like (overheard) {PARK (temporarily leave; park the kids with the grandparents) + AID (help)}

7d   AUDI(T)S — T (end [letter] of broadcasT) contained in (in) AUDIS (German cars)

8d   KNEADS~ — sounds like (for vocalizing) NEEDS (requires)

10d   TOSTADA* — anagram (tossed) of AT TOADS

15d   IMBROGLIO* — anagram (stirred) of OIL RIG MOB

16d   _EN| GARDE_ — hidden in kitchEN GARDEns

17d   S|C(A|RED) UP — S (small) + {CUP (goblet) containing (filled with) [A (†) + RED (sort of wine)]}

18d   TOO|D(LE-O)O — LEO (sign [of the zodiac]) contained in (in) {TOO (further) + DO (party)}

20d   IPECAC* — anagram (damaged) of ICE CAP

21d   SO|MALI — SO (then) + MALI (West African land)

23d   EASE|L — L (left) following (behind) EASE (facility)

25d   T|RAIN — T (end [letter] of hoT) + RAIN (shower)

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