Introduction
Happy New Year to those of you who visit only on the weekend.
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
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███████████████████████████████████ └────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┘
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
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| Symbols and Markup Conventions | |
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| Click here for further explanation and usage examples of the symbols and markup conventions used on this blog. | |
Across
| 6a | New road by shy, // plucky heroes in books (5,4) |
{HARDY BOYS}* — anagram of (new) ROAD BY SHY
The Hardy Boys[7], brothers Frank and Joe Hardy, are fictional characters who appear in several mystery series for children and teens. The series, which debuted in 1927, revolves around the teenagers who are amateur sleuths, solving cases that stumped their adult counterparts. The characters were created by American writer Edward Stratemeyer, the founder of book-packaging firm Stratemeyer Syndicate. The books themselves were written by several ghostwriters under the collective pseudonym Franklin W. Dixon.
| 8a | Particle // in domestic rum bottle (5) |
_C|RUM|B_ — hidden in (in) domestiC RUM Bottle
| 10a | Cosmetic // Mom put around a mark (7) |
M(A|SCAR)A — MA (Mom) containing (put around) {A (†) + SCAR (mark)}
| 11a | Upset as Spurs // beat (7) |
SURPASS* — anagram of (upset) AS SPURS
Scratching the Surface
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| Were this a British puzzle, the Spurs would be Tottenham Hotspur F.C.[7]. However, on this side of the Atlantic, most people will likely think of the San Antonio Spurs[7] of the NBA. |
| 12a | Discover // tragic king and queen’s end (5) |
LEAR|N — LEAR (tragic king; Shakespeare's King Lear[7]) + N (queeN's end [final letter])
| 13a | Flag-waving // picture outside at civil uproar (9) |
P(AT|RIOT)IC — PIC (picture) containing (outside) {AT (†) + RIOT (civil uproar)}
| 15a | All excited, Terry meets a // writer of children’s books (11) |
STRATEMEYER* — anagram of (all excited) TERRY MEETS A
Edward L. Stratemeyer[7] (1862–1930) was an American publisher, writer of children's fiction, and founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate. He was one of the most prolific writers in the world, producing in excess of 1,300 books himself, selling in excess of 500 million copies. He also created many well-known fictional book series for juveniles, including The Rover Boys, The Bobbsey Twins, Tom Swift, The Hardy Boys, and Nancy Drew series, many of which sold millions of copies and are still in publication today. On Stratemeyer's legacy, Fortune wrote: "As oil had its Rockefeller, literature had its Stratemeyer."
| 20a | Take apart // England’s last reworked salt mine (9) |
D|ISMANTLE* — D (EnglanD's last [final letter]) + anagram of (reworked) SALT MINE
| 22a | Arabs roaming around // place in Iraq (5) |
BASRA* — anagram of (roaming around) ARABS
Basra[7], a city located on the Shatt al-Arab, is Iraq's main port.
| 23a | Flamboyant // figure in espionage carrying whip (7) |
SP(LASH)Y — SPY (figure in espionage) containing (carrying) LASH (whip)
| 25a | Lee’s picking up gum, // peanuts, beans and such (7) |
LE(GUM)E|S — {LEE (†) + S ('s)} containing (picking up) GUM (†)
| 26a | Loop in a rodeo // ring caught by instinct (5) |
N(O)OSE or NO(O)SE — O ([letter that looks like a] ring) contained in (caught by) NOSE (instinct)
| 27a | French town depicted // plucky heroine in books (5,4) |
NANCY| DREW — (NANCY[7]; French town) + DREW (depicted)
Nancy Drew[7] is a fictional character, a sleuth in an American mystery series created by publisher Edward Stratemeyer as the female counterpart to his Hardy Boys series. The character first appeared in 1930. The books are ghostwritten by a number of authors and published under the collective pseudonym Carolyn Keene.
Down
| 1d | Illegally enter // resort, breaking lock (8) |
TRE(SPA)SS — SPA (resort) contained in (breaking) TRESS (lock [of hair])
| 2d | Waiter’s wish: // open tab, tip adjusted (3,7) |
{BON APPETIT}* — anagram of (adjusted) OPEN TAB TIP
| 3d | Questions // fool about king (4) |
AS(K)S — ASS (fool) containing K (king; playing card or chess piece)
| 4d | Southern metropolis divided by auto // shortage (8) |
S(CAR)CITY — {S(outhern) + CITY (metropolis)} containing (divided by) CAR (auto)
| 5d | Mongrel possessing an // unusual offspring (6) |
MUT(AN)T — MUTT (mongrel) containing (possessing) AN (†)
| 6d | Musical note in sacred // sermon (6) |
HO(MI)LY — MI (musical note) contained in (in) HOLY (sacred)
| 7d | Long // trip around the sun with NASA’s Vanguard (5) |
YEAR|N — YEAR (trip around the sun) + (with) N (NASA's Vanguard [initial letter])
| 9d | Simple stuff, // as in cheap pens (6) |
B(AS)ICS — AS (†) contained in (in) BICS (cheap pens)
| 14d | High point for trees/’/ years outside of Berlin (10) |
TIM(BERLIN)E — TIME (years) containing (outside of) BERLIN (†)
| 16d | Sporty car // ad in team listing (8) |
RO(AD)STER — AD (†) contained in (in) ROSTER (team listing)
| 17d | “Sorry me,” a sad // appellation for a girl (8) |
ROSEMARY* — anagram of (sad) SORRY ME A
| 18d | Inventor // no faction backed (6) |
{EDIS|ON}< — reversal of (backed) {NO (†) + SIDE (faction)}
| 19d | European city // conflict observed (6) |
WAR|SAW — WAR (conflict) + SAW (observed)
| 21d | Tavern // promptly admits Al (6) |
S(AL)OON — SOON (promptly) containing (admits) AL (†)
| 22d | Stroller // full of flaws (5) |
BUGGY — double definition
| 24d | Suddenly remove // player in pinstripes (4) |
YANK — double definition; the first alluding to a procedure performed by a dentist and the second to the uniform worn by a baseball player from New York
Epilogue
Today's puzzle centres on two of the flagship publications of a mogul of children's literature. However, it seems that these books have been considerably "dumbed down" from what they were when I would have read them. According to Wikipedia, "Beginning in 1959, the [Hardy Boys[7]] books were extensively revised. The books were also written in a simpler style to compete with television." and "The [Nancy Drew[7]] books were extensively revised and shortened, beginning in 1959, in part to lower printing costs with arguable success. In the revision process, the heroine's original character was changed to be less unruly and violent.".Key to Reference Sources:
[1] - The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition
[2] - Search Chambers - (Chambers 21st Century Dictionary)
[3] - TheFreeDictionary.com (American Heritage Dictionary)
[4] - TheFreeDictionarycom (Collins English Dictionary)
[5] - Lexico (formerly Oxford Dictionaries Online) (Oxford Dictionary of English)
[6] - Lexico (formerly Oxford Dictionaries Online) (Oxford Advanced 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)
[12] - CollinsDictionary.com (Webster’s New World College Dictionary)
[13] - MacmillanDictionary.com (Macmillan Dictionary)
[14] - CollinsDictionary.com (COBUILD Advanced English Dictionary)
Signing off for today — Falcon
Bit of a detective story today. Last in was 2d, but it was my mistake. I wasn't wearing my glasses and just couldn't figure out who WALTER was, and what he wished for.
ReplyDelete15a took a guess at a theme and a Google, which quickly yielded the culprit.
Same trouble with 2d but I had my glasses on! I was surprised when I discovered how many of the books were ghostwritten. But whatever gets kids reading.
ReplyDeletePersonnally, I wouldn't call the books "ghostwritten". To me, that term implies that they were attributed to a real person who did not actually write them. The names Franklin W. Dixon and Carolyn Keene are collective pseudonyms where a stable of writers produced works under a single fictitious name.
DeleteThe real writer of the Hardy Boys was Leslie McFarlane. He lived in Haileybury (home of the Hardy Boys). He also wrote the first few of the Dana Girls as Carolyn Keene. You might remember his son Brian of Hockey Night in Canada fame.
DeleteMcFarlane has the distinction of being the first to use the name, but he is far from being the only one.
DeleteHappy New Year Falcon and friends,
ReplyDeleteMe three with 2d! Today's theme was quite nostalgic for me - just loved Nancy Drew and the Dana Girls mysteries growing up. Had no idea who the author and/or publisher was so definitely learned something today. And of course 15a was my last one in.
Thank you for posting Falcon. Best wishes to all for a happy and healthy 2021.
Cheers,
MG
Hi everyone! Welcome to 2021.
ReplyDeleteAs I read in an article, now we can really say hindsight is 20-20.
I also had to look up 15a, but my last one in was 5d as I didn't think of the right mongrel for awhile.
Laughed at 9d and 22d.
Overall the puzzle was quite easy, a gentle intro into the new year.
And I echo MG's wrapping up comments.