Saturday, August 31, 2019

Saturday, August 31, 2019 — Loonies and Toonies


Introduction

I found today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon to be a notch or two above their customary level of difficulty.

Thank you to Henry for providing the solution (in the comments below) while I shivered in my tent.

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

Signing off for today — Falcon
Posted by at
Labels: , , , , ,

13 comments:

  1. PeterAugust 31, 2019 at 8:28 AM

    Good morning,

    Another pleasant offering from C & R today. I was held up in the SW corner for a while. I want to say that I never heard of the actor at 22a but I think we might have come across him some other Saturday. Quite liked 21d. Can "o" mean 'cypher'? Have a good long weekend!

    Peter

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. FalconSeptember 6, 2019 at 9:54 PM

      Cypher (variant spelling of cipher) is another (or -- according to Collins English Dictionary -- obsolete) name for zero.

      Delete
  2. HenryAugust 31, 2019 at 9:01 AM

    Good Saturday morning to all! Thanks for posting so early, Falcon.
    For me, the last part in was the upper left corner, still haven't figured out the parsing for 1d. You'll be in up to your chin in difficulties today. Liked 18d, 8d. 14d was a great word for a crossword.
    Best of luck to all, and if you can't figure it out, I'm sure the solution will appear shortly!
    Henry

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. PeterAugust 31, 2019 at 9:34 AM

      Re 1d: I think you need a 3 letter word that can mean "wire" (as in: are you wearing a wire?) plus "a" from the clue, plus a 3 letter letter wod of contempt that an unhappy sports fan might utter to get a 7 letter word for something scary.

      Delete
    2. HenryAugust 31, 2019 at 11:41 AM

      Isn't it the way it always is? As soon as I entered the blog note, I realized the other meaning for 'wire' and it fell into place. Thanks for that anyway!

      Delete
  3. AnonymousAugust 31, 2019 at 3:13 PM

    Hello Falcon and friends,

    Enjoyed today's offering although I had a bit of trouble with the SW corner as well. I incorrectly focused on Cy Young for 14d. Favourite was 21d, also my last one in.

    Thank you for posting Falcon and have a nice long weekend everybody.
    Cheers,
    MG

    ReplyDelete
  4. SalAugust 31, 2019 at 6:02 PM

    I too had trouble with "o" for cipher. Anyone help?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HenryAugust 31, 2019 at 7:20 PM

      Hi Sal -

      Merriam-Webster has one of the meanings of cipher as zero - the arithmetical symbol 0 denoting the absence of all magnitude or quantity
      So the letter O looks like the numeral 0.

      Delete
  5. HenrySeptember 1, 2019 at 10:43 AM

    Here is the solution for this week's puzzle.

    ACROSS
    1a BEAR DOWN
    5a S|WITCH
    9a G(IVE S)IN (Charles Ives, (1874-1954), significant American composer) (GIN=booze)
    10a TUN(IS+|I)A (I=short form for island)
    11a BALS|A+< (SLAB=thick piece reversed)
    12a HIBERNATE* (anagram on BREATHE IN)
    13a OENOLOGIST* (anagram on GOT LOONIES)
    16a CIA|O (CIA= Central Intelligence Agency) (O=letter that looks like a zero 'cipher')
    18a CANT (double definition)
    19a DESOLATION* (anagram on TOONIES LAD) (pity, no mention of Smaug)
    22a AD|A|M ARK|IN (Adam Arkin (born 1956) is an American television, film and stage actor, and director)
    24a ANT|ON (Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer, who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short fiction in history)
    26a S(WEAR) IN (SIN=wrongdoing) (WEAR= to tire)
    27a BE(A+N BA)G (NBA=National Basketball Association)
    28a P(A)LATE (A=suggestion of anise, first letter in anise)
    29a {FLAT IRON}* (anagram on LATIN FOR)

    DOWN
    1d BUG|A+|BOO (see above comments for parsing)
    2d _ANVIL_ (hidden in GR_ANVIL_LE)
    3d D(ISM)ALLY (DALLY=waste time) (ISM=a doctrine)
    4d W|INCH (W=short form for with) (INCH=1/12 of a foot)
    6d WIN|TRY
    7d TOSCA|{NI|NI}< (TOSCA=Puccini Opera) (IN=popular, doubly, reversed)
    8d HE|A+|VE TO (VETO=a rejection)
    10d TO(BAS)CO (TACO=Mexican food) (B_A_S=the odd numbered letters in BEANS)
    14d N(ON|PAR)EIL (French word adopted into English for 'no other equal') (ON=broadcast) (PAR=standard) (NEIL Young, OC OM (born 1945) is a Canadian singer-songwriter)
    15d G|HER|KIN (G=short form for Grand) (HER=the woman's) (KIN=family relatives)
    17d CA|T(A+)RACT (TRACT=a region)
    18d C(H)ATS UP (H=bit of hamburger, first letter in hamburger)
    20d NO(NAG)ON (NAG=a horse, especially one that is old or in poor health) (NOON=twelve o'clock in the afternoon)
    21d CAR|ROT (double definition, one [split 3,3] whimsical)
    23d NO(B)EL (Sir Noël Coward (1899–1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer) (B=second rate)
    25d TUBER< (TUBER=REBUT, argue against, reversed)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sydney PrestonSeptember 1, 2019 at 3:32 PM

    21d I could not get for the life of me. And 26a wore on me. But otherwise, a good challenge.

    ReplyDelete
  7. ReviewFromTheHouseSeptember 2, 2019 at 5:15 PM

    Hullo all. I think the actor 22a is Alan Arkin (Mash). I also got hung up on 21 d. Went for target but carrot is obviously the better answer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. FalconSeptember 6, 2019 at 10:17 PM

      As Henry shows in his solution, the actor is not Alan Arkin but his son Adam Arkin (also an actor).

      Delete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)