Saturday, January 19, 2013 - Supernatural

Introduction

Today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon certainly has a bit of magic about it.

Solution to Today's Puzzle

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

Across

1a   R|APT — R {sorcerer's back; i.e., last letter (back) of sorcereR} + APT (likely)

3a   AT|TEN|DANCE — AT (†) + TEN (midmorning) + DANCE (social event)

9a   M(IS)T — IS (†) contained in (trapped by) MT (mountain)

10a   ARBORVITAE* — anagram (entangled) of A RIVERBOAT

Arborvitae^[3] (or arbor vitae) is any of several North American or eastern Asian evergreen trees or shrubs of the genus Thuja grown as ornamentals and for timber as well as any similar plant of the genus Platycladus or Thujopsis.

11a   INCA|N(T)ATION — T (cross) contained in (found somewhere in) {INCA (old Peruvian) + NATION (country)}

15a   DIRECTS* — anagram (rolling) of CREDITS

16a   TAN|GRAM — TAN (light colour) + GRAM (weight)

17a   RUNDOWN — double definition; "overworked" & "analysis"

19a   MARSHAL~ — sounds like (speaking) MARTIAL (of war)

20a   {A|BRA}(CAD){A|BRA} — {A (†) + BRA (supporter)} on each side of CAD (bad guy)

23a   {TONIC WATER}* — anagram (splashed) of WINTER COAT

24a   ETNA< — reversal (overturned) of ANTE (part of a pot; the initial contribution to a poker pot)

Mount Etna^[7] is an active volcano on the east coast of Sicily, close to Messina and Catania.

25a   MIN(DREAD)ER — DREAD (fear) contained in (in) MINER (underground worker)

26a   IDLE~ — sounds like (getting a hearing) IDOL (star)

Down

1d   REM(A)INDERS — A (top quality) contained in (eaten by) REMINDERS ([memory] joggers)

The question mark is fair warning that the setters are exercising a tiny bit of liberty with the definition for the word "joggers".

2d   PA|ST (C)ARING — PA (dad) + {STARING (looking) containing (around) C ([Roman numeral for] 100)}

4d   T(H)READS — TREADS (steps) containing (around) H (hot)

5d   EGOTIST* — anagram (mistaken) of GET OTIS

Am I reaching too far to suppose that the surface reading refers to Elisha Otis^[7] (inventor of the passenger elevator) being trapped in one of his devices?

Strangely, while the disambiguation page^[7] in Wikipedia describes Otis as "inventor of a safety device for hoisting machinery, who went on to invent the first passenger elevator", the only hint in the main article that he was responsible for the invention of the passenger elevator (as opposed to merely the braking mechanism) is the statement near the end of the article "For the remainder of his life, all the major corporations purchased Otis's invention and recognized his genius."

By the way, if Otis invented the first passenger elevator, who invented the second? And how does one "invent" the second instance of anything?

6d   {DIVINING ROD}* — anagram (mad) of DRIVING ODIN

In Scandinavian mythology, Odin^[5] (also called Woden or Wotan) is the supreme god and creator, god of victory and the dead. Wednesday is named after him.

7d   NOT|E — NOT (other than) + E (†)

8d   EVEN — double definition; "still" & "knotted at the same score"

Still^[3] is used in the sense of "in increasing amount or degree" ⇒ and still further complaints.

I initially split the clue as "still knotted" and "at the same score" which I thought produced a pretty good clue for TIED. Moreover, the clue taken in its entirety makes an excellent cryptic definition for TIED. Needless to say, this choice played havoc with my efforts in the northeast corner of the puzzle.

12d   NECROMANCER* — anagram (twisted) of CARMEN CRONE

A necromancer^[3] is one who (supposedly) possesses the gift of communicating with the spirits of the dead in order to predict the future.

13d   PRO(HI|BITE)D — PROD (goad) containing (about) {HI (greeting) + BITE (sting)}

The setters introduce a bit of misdirection by capitalizing the word "Sting"^[7], making it appear to be a reference to the British musician — or perhaps the American professional wrestler^[7] or even the 18th century Shawnee chief^[7].

14d   AM|ALGA|MATE — AM (American) + ALGA (seaweed, perhaps; an example of seaweed) + MATE (South American tea)

Mate^[7] (also spelled maté) is a traditional South American infused drink. It is prepared from steeping dried leaves of yerba mate (llex paraguariensis) in hot water and is served with a metal straw from a shared hollow calabash gourd.

18d   N(IRV)ANA — NANA (Grandma) containing (when ... hugs) IRV (Irving)

In Buddhism and Hinduism, nirvana^[4] is the final release from the cycle of reincarnation attained by extinction of all desires and individual existence, culminating (in Buddhism) in absolute blessedness, or (in Hinduism) in absorption into Brahman.

19d   MA(CHET)E — MAE (West; American actress and sex symbol Mae West^[7]) containing (carrying) CHET (Atkins; American country musician Chet Atkins^[7])

21d   A|TOM — A (†) + TOM ([male] turkey)

22d   ANON — double definition; "soon" & "of mysterious authorship; abbreviation for anonymous"

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