Saturday, April 24, 2021

Saturday, April 24, 2021 — Spring Fever

Introduction

Today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon with its seasonally appropriate theme was a nice start to a beautiful day. At noon here in Ottawa, we have clear blue skies overhead and the thermometer reads 20° C. I think Richard has succinctly captured the mood in his comment so I have unabashedly appropriated it as the title of today's review.

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

Symbols and Markup Conventions
  •  "*" - anagram
  • "~" - sounds like
  • "<" - indicates the preceding letters are reversed
  • "( )" - encloses contained letters
  • "_" - replaces letters that have been deleted
  •  "†" - indicates that the word is present in the clue
  • "//" - marks the boundary between wordplay and definition when no link word or link phrase is present
  • "/[link word or phrase]/" - marks the boundary between wordplay and definition when a link word or link phrase is present
  • "solid underline" - precise definition
  • "dotted underline" - cryptic definition
  • "dashed underline" - wordplay
  • "wavy underline" - whimsical and inferred definitions
Click here for further explanation and usage examples of the symbols and markup conventions used on this blog.

Across

1a Spring // meadow with earliest of primroses (4)

LEA|P — LEA (meadow) + (with) P (earliest [initial letter] of Primroses)

3a Early // or mid-april changes (10)

PRIMORDIAL* — anagram of (changes) OR MIDAPRIL

9a Attack // a season outspokenly (7)

ASSAULT~ — sounds like (outspokenly) {A (†) + SALT (season)}

11a Allergen // was wild, engulfing our group (7)

RAG(WE)ED — RAGED (was wild) containing (engulfing) WE (our group)

12a A green, with fluid, // surviving (10)

WEATHERING* — anagram of (fluid) A GREEN WITH

13a Rose // found in grape terrace (4)

_PE|TE_ — hidden in (found in) graPE TErrace

Pete Rose[7] is an American former professional baseball player and manager. Rose played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1963 to 1986, and managed the Cincinnati Reds from 1984 to 1989. A holder of many records and winner of numerous awards, Rose has been banned for life from baseball and declared permanently ineligible for election to the Baseball Hall of Fame for betting on baseball while a player and manager including placing bets on his own team.

15a Like a saint // always wearing rose (7)

R(EVER)ED — EVER (always) contained in (wearing) RED (rose)

17a Many a spring // run surrounded by mists (7)

ST(R)EAMS — R (run; abbreviation from baseball) contained in (surrounded by) STEAMS (mists)

19aRuined instead? (7)

STAINED* — anagram of (ruined) INSTEAD

This is what is known as a semi-&lit. clue*. The entire clue provides the wordplay in which the precise definition is embedded.

* Were the entire clue to be both wordplay and definition, it would be a true &lit. clue[7]. In fact, if you can convince yourself that the entire clue constitutes a precise definition, feel free to call this an &lit. clue.

21a Holiday diner // food’s beginning Sunday in spring (7)

F|EASTER — F (Food's beginning [initial letter]) + EASTER (Sunday in spring)

Diner is used in the sense of a person partaking of the food and not an establishment serving the food.

22a Spring time // argument (4)

SPA|T — SPA (spring) + T(ime)

23a On warm day, I turned // farmer of sorts (10)

DAIRYWOMAN* — anagram of (turned) ON WARM DAY I

26a Teach a new skill // mid-april, and in Quebec, fall (7)

R|ET|RAIN — R (mid-April; middle letter of ApRil) + ET (and in Quebec; French word meaning 'and') + RAIN (fall; figuratively, leaves rain from the trees in the autumn breeze)

27a Springtime test // of a city figure (7)

MAY|ORAL — MAY (springtime) + ORAL (test)

The wordplay perhaps works a bit better as a complete phrase, with a "springtime test" being a "MAY ORAL".

Thank you to "Pedant Chris" for pointing out  the error originally present in the markup.

28a Late spring burst // doing home repairs (10)

PLASTERING* — anagram of (burst) LATE SPRING

29a After start of spring, ate // fish (4)

S|HAD — HAD (ate) following (after) S (start [initial letter] of Spring)

Down

1d Mistaken on a world’s // language borrowings (4,5)

{LOAN WORDS}* — anagram of (mistaken) ON A WORLDS

2d Lost // a meal in Britain, including piece of steak (2,3)

A|T (S)EA — {A (†) + TEA (meal in Britain)} containing (including) S (piece [initial letter] of Steak)

4d Stopped working, // given new wheels? (7)

RETIRED — double definition; the second a bit cryptic

5d Horses carrying in // soldiers (7)

MAR(IN)ES — MARES ([female] horses) containing (carrying) IN (†)

6d Joplin piece and a // Shankar piece (4)

RAG|A — RAG (Joplin piece) + (and) A (†)

Scott Joplin[7] (c. 1867/1868–1917) was an African-American composer and pianist. Joplin achieved fame for his ragtime compositions, and was later titled The King of Ragtime. During his brief career, he wrote 44 original ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas. One of his first pieces, the Maple Leaf Rag, became ragtime's first and most influential hit, and has been recognized as the archetypal rag.



Ravi Shankar[5] (1920–2012) was an Indian sitar player and composer. From the mid 1950s he toured Europe and the US giving sitar recitals, doing much to stimulate contemporary Western interest in Indian music.

In Indian classical music, raga[5] (also rag) denotes (1) each of the six basic musical modes which express different moods in certain characteristic progressions, with more emphasis placed on some notes than others or (2) a piece using a particular raga.

7d Coarse // eglantine tidied up (9)

INELEGANT* — anagram of (tidied up) EGLANTINE

8d Stick // 500 in balcony section (5)

LO(D)GE — D ([Roman numeral] 500) contained in (in) LOGE (balcony section)

10d The woman inside taking advantage of // theatre work (8)

US(HER)ING — HER (the woman) contained in (inside) USING (taking advantage of)

14d Show place // slipping boy award (8)

BROADWAY* — anagram of (slipping) BOY AWARD

16d Oddly active, a la // Milky Way (3,6)

{VIA LACTEA}* — anagram of (oddly) ACTIVE A LA

Via Lactea is the Classical Latin name for the Milky Way[7].

According to various accounts in Greek mythology, the Milky Way was formed when Hera, the queen of the gods, was either tricked into suckling the infant Heracles or had the the infant placed unknowingly at her breast while she was asleep. When she awoke, or when the infant bit her nipple hard, she tore Heracles away from her breast and splattered her breast milk across the heavens.

18d Saint called, and was first // stifled (9)

ST|RANG|LED — ST (saint) + RANG (called) + (and) LED (was first)

20d New drier: an // accessory in the kitchen (7)

DRAINER* — anagram of (new) DRIER AN

21d Boss // in favour of reversed ID (7)

FOR|EMAN< — FOR (in favour of) + reversal of (reversed) NAME (ID)

22d Band // leaves in the opposite direction (5)

STRAP< — reversal of (in the opposite direction) PARTS (leaves)

24d Parade // one month (5)

MARCH — double definition

25d Group of actors // tossed (4)

CAST — double definition

Epilogue

One doesn't need to be much of a detective to suss out the theme of today's puzzle. As I thought about it, the title that I stole from Richard not only captures the normal seasonal restlessness at this time of year but could also be seen as an allusion to the surging pandemic that we find ourselves in the midst of.



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)
[15]   - CollinsDictionary.com (Penguin Random House LLC/HarperCollins Publishers Ltd )



Signing off for today — Falcon

14 comments:

  1. Good morning all from NYC where SPRING fever is in the air.
    Vast majority of across clues stick to the Spring theme. Well done C&R!
    Not much difficulty here today. Enjoyed 21a in particular. Learned a new term in 16d. 14d is just a block from our place. Home sweet home.
    A day off today after two evenings at MSG. Wait til next year, as they say.
    Enjoy your weekend all.
    Stay safe,
    Richard

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Big oops here - forgot my thanks to Falcon for the post!
      R

      Delete
  2. A good Saturday morning from Winnipeg where to get a Covid shot promptly you have to be a truck driver and drive to North Dakota!
    The usual entertainment from C&R although, for me, a little trickier than the last couple of weeks. But the eight anagrams helped a lot, although that quantity may raise eyebrows in other locations.
    I really liked 11a and 18d.
    Thanks to C&R and to Falcon for the blog.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Today's offering from C&R gave me a run for my money - had to think about a lot of the clues to get the solutions. Last one in was 22a - took me a while to decipher the parsing. Didn't like 21a much.
    Happy spring to all, hope you're keeping healthy.
    Thanks to Falcon for the post.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, Henry. Sorry that you didn’t fancy 21a but isn’t it great that we aren’t all the same and can still deeply enjoy the total exercise? Have a nice weekend.

      Delete
  4. I found this week's offering tougher than usual, but ultimately rewarding.
    16d was new to me.
    Liked 23a and 27a.
    Thanks Falcon for the post.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Happy spring redux all. 16d new to me, 1d too, always a good thing. Last in 17a, got stuck with "spray". Liked 3a.
    Back to my seeding, swiss chard next.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hello all on this lovely day. I am later due to an online course I took this morning, but even with that excuse, I did not SPRING through this puzzle. 16D was my last one in, also new to me. Thanks for the background, Falcon; I did not know the mythology. I couldn’t believe the number of anagrams - some of which I missed on first (second and third ) pass because brain wanted to believe we had our quota. Enjoyed 23a and favourite was 21a.
    Thanks, Falcon, for the education. Cheers, everyone.
    Best, Heather

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hello all. Pedantic perhaps but should not the underlining/definition of 27a be “of a city figure”? A city figure just a mayor. Enjoyable puzzle. Thanks, Falcon.
    Chris

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chris,

      I just discovered your comment while doing some housekeeping (weeding out spam comments).

      You are absolutely correct regarding the definition/underlining. I will correct the error (not that anyone is likely to see it).

      Delete
  8. Not too taxing, but a most enjoyable puzzle this weekend.

    ReplyDelete

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