Saturday, April 16, 2016 — More Than Just Desserts

Introduction

Today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon should whet your appetite with salad veggies, legumes, meat tarts and cold cuts followed by a selection of desserts — apple crisp, blackberries, or a rich pastry topped with fruit and whipped cream.

I invite you to leave a comment to let us know how you fared with the puzzle.

Solution to Today's Puzzle

Falcon's Experience ┌────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┐ ███████████████████████████████████ └────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┘ Legend: █ - solved without assistance █ - incorrect prior to use of puzzle solving tools █ - solved with assistance from puzzle solving tools █ - solved with aid of checking letters provided by puzzle solving tools █ - solved but without fully parsing the clue █ - yet to be solved

Legend:	"*" anagram; "~" sounds like; "<" letters reversed
	"( )" letters inserted; "_" letters deleted; "†" explicit in the clue
	Primary indications (definitions) are marked with a solid underline in the clue; subsidiary indications (be they wordplay or other) are marked with a dashed underline in all-in-one (& lit.) clues, semi-all-in-one (semi-& lit.) clues and cryptic definitions. Explicit link words and phrases are enclosed in forward slashes (/link/) and implicit links are shown as double forward slashes (//).

Across

1a   Office supplies // apple crisp, strangely (5,5)

{PAPER CLIPS}* — anagram (strangely) of APPLE CRISP

6a   Japanese prime minister died // in the sack (4)

ABE|D — ABE (Japanese prime minister) + D (died; abbrev.)

The clue could refer to either of two Japanese prime ministers although the setters likely had the latter one in mind.

General Nobuyuki Abe^[7] (1875–1953) was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army, Governor-General of Korea, and 36th Prime Minister of Japan from 30 August 1939 to 16 January 1940.

Shinzō Abe^[7] is the current Prime Minister of Japan, re-elected to the position in December 2012. Abe is also the President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), and Chairman of the Oyagaku Propulsion Parliamentary Group.

9a   Tries // leader of Royalists in St. Ives (7)

ST(R)IVES — R (leader [initial letter] of Royalists) contained in (in) ST IVES (†)

Scratching the Surface

In Britain, a Royalist[5] was a supporter of the King against Parliament in the English Civil War. Of course, in the US, a Royalist[5] was a supporter of the British during the War of American Independence. However, this meaning would hardly be a fit in the surface reading! St Ives[7] is a seaside town and port in Cornwall, England. St Ives is well known from the nursery rhyme and riddle "As I was going to St Ives", although it is not clear whether the rhyme refers to the Cornish town or one of several other places called St Ives.

10a   Shows // several bats (7)

REVEALS* — anagram (bats) of SEVERAL

12a   Incomplete // basic class in drawing taken by friend (7)

P(ART|I)AL — {ART I (basic class in drawing)} contained in (taken by) PAL (friend)

13a   Speedster cut short // religious teacher (5)

RABBI_ — RABBI[T] (speedster) with the final letter removed (cut short)

15a   Paying attention to // cuckoo in hedge (?)

HEEDING* — anagram (cuckoo) of IN HEDGE

17a   Golf clubs // found finally next to streams (7)

D|RIVERS — D (found finally; final letter of founD) + (next to) RIVERS (streams)

18a   Demerol changed // shape again (7)

REMODEL* — anagram (changed) of DEMEROL

Scratching the Surface
Demerol[5] is a trademark for pethidine, a synthetic compound used as a painkilling drug, especially for women in labour.

21a   Ingredient in feed for a horse // beaten by a nose (7)

SOYBEAN* — anagram (beaten) of BY A NOSE

23a   Beast of burden // arrived and left (5)

CAME|L — CAME (arrived) + L (left; abbrev.)

24a   Party held /for/ one of Arthur's knights (7)

GALA|HAD — GALA (party) + HAD (held)

Arthur^[5] was a legendary king of Britain, historically perhaps a 5th- or 6th-century Romano-British chieftain or general. Stories of his life, the exploits of his knights, and the Round Table of his court at Camelot were developed by Malory, Chrétien de Troyes, and other medieval writers and became the subject of many legends.

Sir Galahad^[5] was the noblest of King Arthur’s knights, renowned for immaculate purity and destined to find the Holy Grail.

27a   Most intense // "eek!" from behind hornets' home (?)

KEE<|NEST — reversal (from behind) of EEK + NEST (hornet's home)

28a   Half-minute ahead of Ivan/'s/ vehicle (7)

MIN|IVAN — MIN (half-minute; half the letters in the word 'MINute') + (ahead of) IVAN (†)

29a   Ornamental band /for/ small tree (4)

S|ASH — S (small; abbrev.) + ASH (tree)

30a   Illegally enters // health resort, breaking locks (10)

TRE(SPA)SSES — SPA (health resort) contained in (breaking) TRESSES (locks [of hair])

Down

1d   After // this newspaper (4)

POST — double definition

This puzzle appears in the National Post.

2d   Irk pope, shifting // hat (4,3)

{PORK PIE}* — anagram (shifting) of IRK POPE

Actor Buster Keaton
wearing one of
his signature
pork pie hats

A pork pie hat^[7] is a term used to refer to three or four different styles of hat that have been popular in one context or another since the mid-19th century, all of which bear superficial resemblance to a culinary pork pie dish.

3d   Name for a dog /is/ right on (5)

R|OVER — R (right) + OVER (on)

4d   Continuing // Los Angeles con game (7)

LA|STING — LA (Los Angeles) + STING (con game)

5d   Wild leopard // set free (7)

PAROLED* — anagram (wild) of LEOPARD

7d   Walk behind British // blackberry, for one (7)

BR|AMBLE — AMBLE (walk) following (behind) BR (British; abbrev.)

8d   Insulting about one small // act of letting go (10)

D(I|SM)ISSING — DISSING (insulting) containing (about) {I ([Roman numeral for] one) + SM (small; abbrev.)}

11d   A school's main players // relax amid change (7)

VAR(SIT)Y — SIT (relax) contained in (amid) VARY (change)

The term varsity^[5] takes various shades of meaning around the world:

• British (dated), South African or New Zealand another term for university ⇒ he had his hair cut when he got back from varsity;
• British (especially of a sporting event or team) relating to a university, especially Oxford or Cambridge ⇒ a varsity match;
• North American the principal team representing a high school or college in a sport or other competition ⇒ Miller promoted him to the varsity for his sophomore season.

14d   Track shoes trampled // desserts (10)

SHORTCAKES* — anagram (trampled) of TRACK SHOES

16d   Humour // eluding bum (7)

INDULGE* — anagram (bum) of ELUDING

19d   1000 hot coals' // components (7)

M|EMBERS — M ([Roman numeral for] 1000) + EMBERS (hot coals)

20d   Fire source // of less importance (7)

LIGHTER — double definition

21d   Sam is eating Al/'s/ cold cuts (7)

S(AL)AM|IS — {SAM (†) + IS (†)} containing (eating) AL (†)

22d   Salad veggies // I have among remnants (7)

END(IVE)S — IVE (I have; I've) contained in (among) ENDS (remnants)

25d   Make of car // in crash on Dalhousie (5)

_H|ON|DA_ — hidden in crasH ON DAlhousie

Dalhousie is a street in the Byward Market area of Ottawa as well as a town in New Brunswick^[7] and a university in Halifax, Nova Scotia^[7]. In Ottawa, the name is commonly pronounced dal-WHO-see accept by Maritimers, like myself, who pronounce it DAL-how-zee.

26d   Soldiers // answer about time (4)

AN(T)S —ANS (answer) containing (about) T (time)

Epilogue

The title of today's review is inspired by 1a, 21a, 2d, 7d, 14d, 21d and 22d.

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