Saturday, August 25, 2012 - Around the House

Introduction

In today's puzzle from Cox and Rathvon, we are taken on a tour of the house.

Solution to Today's Puzzle

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

Across

1a   {KITCHEN SINK}* — anagram (distorted) of IN INK SKETCH

9a   LE|G ROOM — LE (the Parisian; French word for 'the') + GROOM (bride's man)

10a   POW|WOWS — POW (captured soldier; prison of war) + WOWS (really impresses

11a   SAT(I)E — SATE (stuff) containing (involving) I ([Roman numeral for] one)

Erik Satie^[7], born Éric Alfred Leslie Satie, (1866 – 1925) was a French composer and pianist.

12a   {DEN MOTHER}* — anagram (disturbed) of ENDOTHERM

13a   PA(NICK)Y — NICK (cut) contained in (in) PAY (salary)

15a   SEISMAL* — anagram of (mixing of) AIMLESS

17a   SOD|A POP — SOD (green covering) + {A POP} (for each)

19a   L|EG|ALLY — L ([Roman numeral for] fifty) + EG (for example; from Latin exempli gratia 'for the sake of example') + ALLY (join forces; used as a verb)

20a   {ATTIC SALT}* — anagram (revamped) of A STILT ACT

A term that I found only in a couple of dictionaries, attic salt (also attic wit) is dry, delicate wit^[9] or refined incisive wit^[10].

22a   BENCH — double definition; "dugout seat" & "Hall-of-Fame catcher [Johnny Bench]^[7]"

For those who may be unfamiliar with a baseball field, a dugout^[3,4] is either of two usually sunken shelters (one at either side of the field) where managers, trainers, etc. sit and players wait when not on the field.

24a   LA(FIT)TE — FIT (tantrum) contained in (held by) LATE (former)

Jean Lafitte^[7] (ca. 1776 – ca. 1823) was a French pirate and privateer in the Gulf of Mexico in the early 19th century. He and his elder brother (and fellow pirate), Pierre Lafitte^[7], spelled their last name Laffite, but English-language documents of the time used "Lafitte." The latter has become the commonly seen spelling in the United States, including for places named for him.

25a   TRUSSED~ — sounds like (outspoken) TRUST (confidence)

26a   CLOSE|T D|RAM|A — CLOSE (near) + TD (touchdown) + RAM (drive) + A (†)

A closet drama^[5] is a play to be read rather than acted.

In rugby, a touchdown^[4] is the act of placing or touching the ball on the ground behind the goal line, as in scoring a try^[5] (an act of touching the ball down behind the opposing goal line, scoring points and entitling the scoring side to a kick at goal). In Canadian and American football, it is a scoring play worth six points, achieved by being in possession of the ball in the opposing team's end zone.

Down

1d   KI(L)TS — L (left) contained in (in) KITS (gear boxes)

2d   TIGHTENED* — anagram (mistakenly) of THE GENT ID

3d   H(A)OLE — A (article) contained in (in) HOLE (ditch)

In Hawaii, haole^[3] is a term for a white person ('foreign' or 'foreigner' in the Hawaiian language).

4d   {NAME DAY}* — anagram (excited) of ANY NAME

In the Roman Catholic Church, a name day^[4] is the feast day of a saint whose name one bears.

5d   IMP|ENDS — IMP (mischief maker) + ENDS (puts a stop to)

6d   KOW<|TOWING — reversal (backing up) of WOK (Chinese [cooking] vessel) + TOWING (tugging; "tuging" being an obvious misprint)

7d   JOSH — double definition; "name for a male" & "kid"

8d   A|ST|RALLY — A (†) + ST (street) + RALLY (gathering)

13d   PAS|SABLE — PAS (Dad's; Pa's) + SABLE (fur)

14d   COP|ACETIC — COP (nab) + ACETIC (kind of acid)

16d   MELANESIA* — anagram (travelling) of SEE MANILA

Melanesia^[7] is a subregion of Oceania extending from the western end of the Pacific Ocean to the Arafura Sea, and eastward to Fiji. The region comprises most of the islands immediately north and northeast of Australia. The name Melanesia was first used by Jules Dumont d'Urville in 1832 to denote an ethnic and geographical grouping of islands distinct from Polynesia and Micronesia. Manila is the capital city of the Philippines. If one were to visit Melanesia intending to see Manila, one would be disappointed as Manila is located nowhere near Melanesia.

18d   PLACE|BO — PLACE (spot) + BO (body-odour)

19d   {LET IT}*| BE_ — anagram (changed) of TITLE + (by) BE (leading pair [of letters] of BEatles)

The Beatles^[7] were a rock band formed in Liverpool, England in 1960, who became one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music.

21d   _TIFF — [S]TIFF (resistant) with the first letter deleted (after the first)

22d   BOUND — double definition; "required" & "leap"

23d   _HY|DRA_ — hidden in (featuring) frotHY DRAma

In Greek mythology, the Hydra^[5] was a many-headed snake whose heads grew again as they were cut off, eventually killed by Hercules.

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