Saturday, August 24, 2013 — Looney Tunes

Introduction

Many of my favourite cartoon characters make an appearance in today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon.

Solution to Today's Puzzle

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

Across

1a   {TASMANIAN DEVIL}* — anagram (adapted) of VIETNAM IS A LAND

10a   OU|TRACING — OU[R] with the final letter deleted (endless) + TRACING (following)

11a   SERIF< — reversal (backward) of FIRES (shoots)

12a   PIC|AS|SO — PIC (picture) + AS SO (like this)

13a   ISRAELI* — anagram (transposed) of SALIERI

14a   ABOUNDINGLY* — anagram (bugs) of BUNNY DIALOG

Using "bugs" as an anagram indicator does seem to be stretching cryptic license to the limit.

16a   C|AT — C (initially choking; initial letter of Choking) + AT (on; "on the count of three")

17a   _WEE_ — hidden in (bit of) TWEEty

18a   {STICK AROUND}* — anagram (daffy) of DUCKS RATION

To my mind, "daffy" is a more apt anagram indicator than "bugs".

22a   {A(EROB)IC}< — reversal (back) of {CIA (†) containing (holding) BORE (drill)}

24a   NABOKOV* — anagram (mobile) of BOOK VAN

Vladimir Nabokov^[5] (1899 – 1977) was a Russian-born American novelist and poet. He is best known for Lolita (1955), his novel about a middle-aged man’s obsession with a twelve-year-old girl.

26a   _EAGLE — [B]EAGLE (dog) with the initial letter deleted (losing the lead)

27a   IM|PER|IOUS — IOUS (debts) following (after) {IM (I'm) + PER (a pop; each)}

28a   {SPEEDY GONZALES}* — anagram (scattered) of PONDS LAZY GEESE

Down

2d   ART(I)CHOKE — I (†) contained in (put in) {ART (cunning; as a noun) + CHOKE (gag)}

3d   ME(A)TS — METS (New York team) containing (stocking) A (†)

The New York Mets^[7] are a professional baseball team based in the borough of Queens in New York City. They play in Major League Baseball's National League East Division.

4d   NAIROBI* — anagram (disturbed) of A ROBIN I

5d   _ANGLING — [T]ANGLING (getting in a snarl) with the initial letter deleted (after the first; i.e., use only those letters found after the first letter)

6d   DESTROYER* — anagram (to be decoded) of ORDERS YET

7d   _VER|GE_ — hidden in (in the middle) of neVER GEts

8d   L(EFT)IST — EFT (salamander) contained in (stuffed in) LIST (roll)

9d   HOOP|LA — LA (Los Angeles) following (goes after) HOOP (ring)

15d   NOSEBLEED* — anagram (stranger) of SEE BLONDE

16d   CHUCK(HO)LE — CHUCKLE (laugh) containing (about) HO (pair of hogs; first two letters of HOgs)

Chuckhole^[3,11,5] is a North American (and — based solely on my lack of familiarity with the word — possibly US) term for a pothole (a hole in a road).

17d   WE|AVERS — WE (our group) + AVERS (contends)

19d   _ITCHING — [P]ITCHING (a job in baseball) with the initial letter deleted (but not at first)

20d   _KINGPIN_ — hidden in (in) shocKING PINk

21d   DIVES|T — DIVES (goes down) + (with) T (time)

23d   _ROGUE — [B]ROGUE (shoe) with the initial letter deleted (not opening)

25d   B(ER)RA — ER (emergency room) containing (wearing) BRA (bikini top)

Yogi Berra^[7] is an American former Major League Baseball catcher, outfielder, and manager. He played almost his entire 19-year baseball career (1946–1965) for the New York Yankees.

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