Saturday, August 17, 2013 — Under the Big Top

Introduction

The circus performer theme in today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon brings to mind the amazing feats that I witnessed at a recent performance by Cirque Du Soleil.

I would like to thank Braze for supplying the solutions to last week's puzzle. It is always appreciated when he does so — although I am sometimes remiss in failing to acknowledge his contribution on the blog.

Solution to Today's Puzzle

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

Across

1a   M(EMOR<)Y — reversal (backed) of ROME (Italy's capital) contained in (in) MY

4a   B(LACK|TO)P — {LACK (don't have) + TO (†)} contained in (put in) BP (gas company; British Petroleum^[7])

Note to British readers: In North America, pavement refers to an asphalt surface rather than one made from paving stones. It is more frequently used in reference to a roadway than to a pedestrian pathway.

9a   {TIGHTROPE WALKER}* — anagram (playing) of POLKA WITH REGRET

11a   {TRAC(HE)A}< — HE {[symbol for the chemical element] helium} contained in (in) a reversal (heading west) of {A (†) + CART (wagon)}

12a   SKINNED* — anagram (off) of SEND KIN

13a   DEF(A)T — DEFT (adroit) containing (about) A (†)

15a   AERIALIST* — anagram (excited) of AT ISRAELI

17a   D(A|RED)EVIL — {D (at the outset, dead; first letter of Dead) + EVIL (wrong)} contained in (about) {A (†) + RED (Soviet)}

20a   L(I)LAC< — reversal (returned) of CALL (decision) containing (about) I ([Roman numeral for] one)

22a   T(OWN| C)AR — {OWN (have) + C (cup)} contained in (in) TAR (sailor)

Note to British readers: town car^[5] is a US name for a limousine.

24a   DOWN| PAT — DOWN (fluffy stuff) + (with) PAT (gentle touch)

26a   {HUMAN CANNONBALL}* —anagram (novel) of NON BANAL MCLUHAN

Marshall McLuhan (1911 – 1980) was a Canadian writer and thinker. He became famous in the 1960s for his phrase ‘the medium is the message’ and his argument that it is the characteristics of a particular medium rather than the information it disseminates which influence and control society.

27a   SING(LET)S — LET (permitted) contained in (when held by) SINGS (belts)

28a   JERK|IN — JERK (bozo) + IN (wearing)

Down

1d   MU(TATE)D — MUD (wet plaster) containing (covering) TATE (London art gallery)

The Tate Gallery^[5] (commonly known simply as the Tate) is a national museum of art in London, England founded in 1897 by the sugar manufacturer Sir Henry Tate (1819 – 1899) to house his collection of modern British paintings, as a nucleus for a permanent national collection of modern art. It was renamed Tate Britain in 2000, when the new Tate Modern gallery opened.

2d   MA(G)MA — MAMA (mother) containing (obtaining) G (good)

3d   RAT(CHE)TED — CHE (Guevara; Argentinian revolutionary and guerrilla leader Che Guevara^[7]) contained in (in) RATTED (betrayed)

The capitalization of "Betrayed" is designed to make it appear that this is the title of a book or film. While there is a novel as well as several films which bear the title Betrayed^[7], none seem particularly relevant to Che Guevara.

5d   LOESSER~ — sounds like (sounding) LESSER (inferior)

Frank Loesser^[7] (1910 – 1969) was an American songwriter who wrote the lyrics and music to the Broadway hits Guys and Dolls and How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, among others.

6d   COAT|I — COAT (hide) + I ([Roman numeral for] one)

7d   T(A|KING) ILL — TILL (place to keep money) containing (around) {A (†) + KING (monarch)}

8d   PE(RID|O)T — RID (free) + O ([letter shaped like a] ring) contained in (in) PET (favourite)

10d   _OMAHA_ — hidden in (selection of) tOMAHAwks

14d   FOREWOMAN* — anagram (disturbed) of OMEN OF WAR

16d   ALL|OW(AN|C)E — {ALL (everyone) + OWE (must pay)} containing (about) {AN (one) + C (cent)}

17d   D|ITCHES — D ([Roman numeral for] five hundred) + ITCHES (irritations)

18d   VARIANT* — anagram (off) of A TV I RAN

19d   L|A|DEN — L (left) + A (†) + DEN (reading room)

21d   CAT|ALAN — CAT (dude) + ALAN (Thicke; Canadian actor and television host Alan Thicke^[7])

23d   CAN|AL — CAN (tin) + AL ([symbol for the chemical element] aluminum)

25d   P|RANK — P (piano; musical direction meaning soft or softly) + RANK (class)

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)
^[11] - TheFreeDictionary.com (Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary)

Signing off for today — Falcon