Introduction
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
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Notes on Today's Puzzle
This commentary is intended to serve as a supplement to the review of this puzzle found at Big Dave's Crossword Blog, to which a link is provided in the table above.
| Markup Conventions | |
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Across
| 9a | Poet // might blab on the way back about opening of Hamlet (7) |
{K(H)AY|YAM}< — reversal of (on the way back){MAY (might) + YAK (blab)} containing (about) H (opening [letter] of Hamlet)
Omar Khayyám[10] (?1050–?1123) was a Persian poet, mathematician, and astronomer, noted for the Rubáiyát, a collection of quatrains, popularized in the West by Edward Fitzgerald's version (1859).
| 10a | The art of arranging flowers // somewhat like bananas (7) |
_IKE|BANA_ — hidden in (somewhat) lIKE BANAnas
Ikebana[5] is the art of Japanese flower arrangement, with formal display according to strict rules.
Nice misdirection here with "bananas" appearing to be an anagram indicator, reinforced by its re-appearance in the following clue.
| 11a | Spooks eat bananas, // you might say (2,2,5) |
{SO TO SPEAK}* — anagram of (bananas) SPOOKS EAT
| 12a | Boat // ride over the water failing twice (5) |
SKI|FF — SKI (ride over the water) + FF (failing twice; two instances of a failing grade)
| 13a | Letter // penned by Greek apparently (5) |
_K|APPA_ — hidden in (penned by) GreeK APPArently
Kappa[5] is the tenth letter of the Greek alphabet (Κ, κ).
| 14a | Time to recover // harvesting tool before hail (4,5) |
SICK LE|AVE — SICKLE (harvesting tool) preceding (before) AVE (hail; greeting)
| 16a | Mr. Thicke takes in Jamaican music // of a Yukon neighbour (7) |
ALA(SKA)N — ALAN (Mr. Thicke; Canadian actor Alan Thicke[7]) containing (takes in) SKA (Jamaican music)
| 18a | Laundry carriers // inquire into wagers (7) |
B(ASK)ETS — ASK (inquire) contained in (into) BETS (wagers)
| 20a | Little gaps // in conversation, not things regarded as complete (9) |
{KNOT|HOLES}~ — sounds like (in conversation) {NOT (†) + WHOLES (things regarded as complete)}
| 22a | A Republican family // name shared by Adam and Alan in Hollywood (5) |
A|R|KIN — A () + R(epublican) + KIN (family)
American television, film and stage actor and director Adam Arkin[7] is the son of Oscar winning American actor, director, and screenwriter Alan Arkin[7].
| 24a | Boat // soldier not found in G7 nation (5) |
U(MIA)K — MIA (soldier not found; missing in action) contained in (in) UK (G7 nation; United Kingdom)
An umiak[5] is an open boat made of animal hide stretched over a wooden frame, traditionally rowed by Inuit women.
| 25a | Monarch eats green fodder, // complaining a lot (9) |
K(VETCH)ING — KING (monarch) containing (eats) VETCH (green fodder)
Vetch[11] is any of several climbing plants of the legume family, bearing pealike flowers, cultivated for forage and soil improvement.
| 27a | Needleworkers collecting fourth of hockey // sticks (7) |
S(K)EWERS — SEWERS (needleworkers) containing (collecting) K (fourth [letter] of hocKey)
| 28a | Awareness about craving // room (7) |
K(ITCH)EN — KEN (awareness) containing (about) ITCH (craving)
Down
| 1d | Some noblemen, except for the first, // strummed instruments (4) |
_UKES — [
A duke[5] is a male holding the highest hereditary title in the British and certain other peerages*.
* The peerage[5] is the nobility in Britain or Ireland as a class, comprising the ranks of duke, marquess, earl, viscount, and baron.
| 2d | Shoot the breeze about GTO // convertible (6) |
RA(GTO)P — RAP (shoot the breeze) containing (about) GTO (†)
Scratching the Surface
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| The Pontiac GTO[7]
is an automobile that was manufactured by American automaker Pontiac
from 1963 to 1974 for the 1964 to 1974 model years, and by GM's
subsidiary Holden in Australia for the 2004 to 2006 model years. The first generation of the GTO is credited as popularizing the muscle car market segment in the 1960s. The Pontiac GTO is considered by some to have started the trend with all four domestic automakers offering a variety of competing models. The name was inspired by the Ferrari 250 GTO, the successful race car. It is an Italian abbreviation for Gran Turismo Omologato, (grand tourer homologated) which means officially certified for racing in the grand tourer class. By the way, the Pontiac GTO was never certified as a Grand Tourer race car. |
| 3d | Affirmative chat after excellent // lobster part (3-5) |
EYE-S|TALK — {YES (affirmative) + TALK (chat)} following (after) E (excellent; grade on a school assignment or test)
| 4d | Rather cold // prison meal, sadly (10) |
IMPERSONAL* — anagram of (sadly) PRISON MEAL
| 5d | Choose // what a chipper uses (4) |
PICK — double definition; the second perhaps a reference to an ice pick
| 6d | Double-crosser // with support for the arts? (6) |
W|EASEL — W(ith) + EASEL (support for the arts)
| 7d | Wildly reckless // joke teller Osbourne overheard (8) |
KAMIKAZE~ — sounds like (overheard) {COMIC (joke teller) + OZZY (Osbourne; English singer, songwriter, and television personality Ozzy Osbourne[7])}
One's ability to solve this clue will depend very much on how one pronounces the solution. TheFreeDictionary.com website provides two different US pronunciations and one British pronunciation. The first US pronunciation given sounds like KOMEH-KOZZY and works quite well in this homophone clue while the second US pronunciation (American Heritage Dictionary) sounds more like KAMEH-KAZZY and works not at all well. Unfortunately, it is this latter pronunciation that I use. As for the British pronunciation, good luck to anyone from the UK who may be attempting to solve this clue .
| 8d | Hold // on: Hans fell off (4,6) |
{HALF NELSON}* — anagram of (off) ON HANS FELL
The nelson[5] is a wrestling hold in which one arm is passed under the opponent's arm from behind and the hand is applied to the neck (half nelson), or both arms and hands are applied (full nelson).
| 13d | Vocally criticize lousiest // sausage (10) |
{KNACK|WURST}~ — sounds like (vocally) {KNOCK (criticize) + WORST (lousiest)}
| 15d | Wandering bee sucks at // tenderized meat (4,6) |
{CUBE STEAK}* — anagram of (wandering) BEE SUCKS AT
| 17d | Spray device // fixed maize rot (8) |
ATOMIZER* — anagram of (fixed) MAIZE ROT
| 19d | Conditions of shortage // leave a mark on town (8) |
SCAR|CITY — SCAR (leave a mark) + (on) CITY (town)
| 21d | Homer fed by Depression migrant // conveying more corn (6) |
H(OKIE)R — HR (homer; home run [in baseball]) containing (fed by) OKIE (depression migrant)
| 23d | Speaker’s dark // chess piece (6) |
KNIGHT~ — sounds like (speaker's) NIGHT (dark)
| 25d | Something sweet /in/ extremes of kindness (4) |
KI||SS — the outer letters (extremes) of KI(ndne)SS
Although the other kind can certainly be sweet, the clue likely refers to a piece of candy. The setters may have had in mind the American chocolate kiss (think Hershey) although Canadians may well think of a molasses Halloween kiss (a confection apparently exclusive to Canada: A Trick or a Treat: The Story of Canada's Cursed Candy Kiss).
| 26d | Gee, somebody // vanished (4) |
G|ONE — G (gee) + ONE (somebody)
Epilogue
As MG was first to point out, there is no dearth of K's in today's puzzle. In fact, there is one present in every across clue with a couple of extras thrown in for good measure.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
