Introduction
Thank you to Henry for suggesting the title of this review. In my late night stupor, I had neglected to add one — so the contribution is greatly appreciated.
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
| 1a | Hurdles by piano playing // jazz composition (8,2,4) |
{RHAPSODY IN BLUE}* — anagram of (playing) HURDLES BY PIANO
Rhapsody in Blue[7] is a 1924 musical composition written by George Gershwin for solo piano and jazz band, which combines elements of classical music with jazz-influenced effects.
| 8a | Scoundrel felt sick about time // stopped short (9) |
CUR(T)AILED — {CUR (scoundrel) + AILED (felt sick)} containing (about) T(ime)
| 9a | Taxes // rings (5) |
TOLLS — double definition
| 11a | Got to the bottom of // fruit layer (7) |
PLUM|BED — PLUM (fruit) + BED (layer)
| 12a | Jailbird keeps lips // red (7) |
C(RIMS)ON — CON (jailbird) containing (keeps) RIMS (lips)
| 13a | Contradict // awful brute (5) |
REBUT* — anagram of (awful) BRUTE
| 15a | Visitor // estimated aloud (5) |
GUEST~ — sounds like (aloud) GUESSED (estimated)
| 18a | Big mess, // as fun goes awry (5) |
SNAFU* — anagram of (goes awry) AS FUN
Snafu[15] (Second World War American military slang) is an acronym for Situation Normal All F***ed Up (sometimes euphemistically construed as Situation Normal All Fouled Up).
| 19a | Agassi // appearing in grand reunion (5) |
_AND|RE_ — hidden in (appearing in) grAND REunion
André Agassi[5] is an American retired professional tennis player. During 1992–2003, he won the men’s singles title at one Wimbledon, two US Open, one French Open, and four Australian Open tournaments.
| 22a | New satchel // fasteners (7) |
LATCHES* — anagram of (new) SATCHEL
| 23a | Nicolas admits our // bravery (7) |
C(OUR)AGE — CAGE (Nicholas; American actor and filmmaker Nicholas Cage[7]) containing (admits) OUR (†)
| 24a | Pacino’s into South American // music for dancing (5) |
S(AL|S)A — {AL (Pacino; American actor and filmmaker Al Pacino[7]) + S ('s)} contained in (into) {S(outh) + A(merican)}
| 25a | Representative flyboy: // Mr. Fixit (9) |
REP|AIRMAN — REP (representative) + AIRMAN (flyboy)
| 26a | Composer // Grieg’s genre: how strange (6,8) |
{GEORGE GERSHWIN}* — anagram of (strange) GRIEGS GENRE HOW
George Gershwin[5] (1898–1937), born Jacob Gershovitz, was an American composer and pianist, of Russian-Jewish descent. He composed many successful songs and musicals, the orchestral work Rhapsody in Blue (1924), and the opera Porgy and Bess (1935).
Scratching the Surface
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| Edvard Grieg[5] (1843–1907) was a Norwegian composer, conductor, and violinist. Famous works include the Piano Concerto in A minor (1869) and the incidental music to Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt (1876). |
Down
| 1d | Set of instructions // Pierce adapted (6) |
RECIPE* — anagram of (adapted) PIERCE
| 2d | Greek house // Seurat transformed (6) |
ATREUS* — anagram of (transformed) SEURAT
In Greek mythology, Atreus[7] was a king of Mycenae in the Peloponnese, the son of Pelops and Hippodamia, and the father of Agamemnon and Menelaus. The dynasty of which he was a member is known as the House of Atreus[7].
The family was clearly a bit dysfunctional with sibling rivalries being settled through fratricide. It might also be prudent to think twice before accepting an invitation to dinner as—on more than one occasion—guests found themselves dining on members of the family.
Scratching the Surface
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| Georges Pierre Seurat[5] (1859–1891) was a French painter. The founder of neo-impressionism, he is chiefly associated with pointillism, which he developed during the 1880s. Among his major paintings using this technique is Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (1884–6). |
| 3d | Traumatize bass oboe at first, demanding pleasant // English ballad (11,4) |
SCAR|B|O|ROUGH| FAIR — SCAR (traumatize) + B(ass) + O (oboe at first; initial letter of Oboe) + ROUGH (demanding) + FAIR (pleasant)
"Scarborough Fair"[7] is a traditional English ballad about the Yorkshire town of Scarborough.
The song is perhaps best known from the version by Simon and Gurfunkel who melded it with their own original material in "Scarborough Fair/Canticle" which was the lead track of the 1966 album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, and was released as a single after being featured on the soundtrack to The Graduate in 1968. The copyright failed to mention the "traditional" source of some of the material and credited only Simon and Garfunkel as the authors.
| 4d | Note was first // passed out (5) |
DO|LED — DO ([musical] note) + LED (was first)
| 5d | Pointed out // one held by accused (9) |
INDIC(A)TED — A (one) contained in (held by) INDICTED (accused)
| 6d | Object coated in honey gold draws // swimsuit contestants (7,8) |
BA(THING) BE|AU|TIES — THING (object) contained in (coated in) BABE (honey; term of endearment) + AU ([chemical symbol for] gold) + TIES (draws; competitions with no winners)
| 7d | Private // duel isn’t out of order (8) |
UNLISTED* — anagram of (out of order) DUEL ISNT
| 10d | Boy present for a // concert piece (6) |
SON|AT|A — SON (boy) + AT (present for) + A (†)
| 14d | Military bigwigs in front of lake // tavern (9) |
BRASS|ERIE — BRASS (military bigwigs) preceding (in front of) ERIE (lake)
| 16d | Sacred songs, // by the way, help for the poor (6) |
PS|ALMS — PS (by the way) + ALMS (help for the poor)
| 17d | Live outside of a quiet // French fort (8) |
B(A|STILL)E — BE (live) containing (outside of) {A (†) + STILL (quiet)}
| 20d | Attention-getting words for a stooge from a speaker // stack up in a barn? (6) |
HAYMOW~ — [supposedly] sounds like (from a speaker) HEY MOE (attention getting words for a stooge)
Moe Howard[7], the professional name of Moses Harry Horwitz (1897–1975), was an American actor and comedian, best known as the leader of the Three Stooges, the farce comedy team who starred in motion pictures and television for nearly five decades (1922–1970).
A haymow[4] (another term for hayloft) is the upper part of a barn, used for storing hay.
It Depends on How You Say It
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| This homophone clue does not work for me as I pronounce haymow to rhyme with 'now' rather than 'know'. However, I am surprised to discover that dictionaries offer both pronunciations—but not as alternatives and it does not come down to a divide between British and US publications. The following gives (where available) the phonetic spelling and recorded speech samples provided by several US and British dictionaries (note that the American Heritage Dictionary uses a different system of phonetic spelling than that used by the other dictionaries):
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| 21d | Support // article penned by Uris (4,2) |
LE(AN) ON — AN ([indefinite] article) contained in (penned by) LEON (Uris; American author Leon Uris[7])
I don't think this clue works for anyone. 'Lean on' and 'support' are reciprocal actions with 'lean on' meaning to be supported by and not support. 'Lean on' bears pretty much the same relationship to 'support' as 'borrow' does to 'lend'.
| 23d | Police parked next to empty // patch of woods (5) |
COPS|E — COPS (police) + (parked next to) E (empty; fuel gauge reading)
Epilogue
I had a moment of divine insight while solving this puzzle. The answer to 1a came to me immediately as I read the clue and saw the numeration. Then, before even having read 26a, I thought to myself, "I bet the answer is Gershwin".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
A very good Saturday morning from a sunny Winnipeg but, in reality, we badly need some rain.
ReplyDeleteC&R not as challenging as they have been in recent week although I did have to seek electronic assistance for 2d.
Favourites have to be the 'top and tail' 1a and 26a.
Thanks to CR and to Falcon for his continuing sterling efforts.
Ditto
DeleteGood morning, everyone. Hope this finds you all well. I agree with Senf - I enjoy a two coffee puzzle most and I am not finished my first today. Nonetheless, still fun - just over way too soon. Last one in was 2d; I was guessing for a physical structure along the lines of an open hall but I think the answer aligns with the meaning of a dynasty. No real favourites.
ReplyDeleteHave a great week everyone. Will check again for more comments as I always enjoy to read your views and news. Sending good wishes to Winnipeg for rain. Thanks to C&R for the puzzle, and you, Falcon, for the post. Best, Heather
Hello Falcon and friends,
ReplyDeleteI agree with Senf that today's puzzle did not exactly have its usual fascinating rhythm but I will take what I can get from C&R! Last one in was 20d which I deciphered from the clue but had to verify with my friend google - guess I don't have a farming background.
Thank you for posting Falcon. Have a nice, if soggy, weekend all. My neighbour's lawn is a bed of mushrooms!
Cheers,
MG
Not quite a bright Saturday to all! My neighbour's lawn is sprouting rust so we're getting quite a bit of rain in the GTA.
ReplyDeleteAt first read the clues seemed to be difficult but that quickly passed, as as noted, the puzzle was quickly completed. I also had to look up the Greek house or the House of Greek, as the case may be. And like MG, had to ask Moe what the hay 20d was. easy to spot the theme today, my favourite music with my favourite composer. LOI was 20d. Tried putting in Pilot into 25a - but it required a different flyboy. Liked 3d - another favourite piece.
Thanks for the post Falcon, i hear the rain is moving into Ottawa.
No, Henry, your rain didn't arrive in the Ottawa area (it may have gone south of us). I spent the weekend northwest of Ottawa where Saturday was hazy and bright and Sunday was clear and sunny. Both days (and nights) were very warm.
DeleteFalcon - I saw your note on 'Divine Inspiration.' I suppose you were divinely inspired to omit the much awaited title for the Puzzle?
DeleteMay I suggest 'Fascinating Rhythm'
This is a song by Gershwin and alludes to the various musical numbers in the puzzle.
Henry, thank you for the suggestion. I noticed the omission just prior to scanning down the screen to look for new comments -- so your contribution is very timely.
DeleteGood morning,
ReplyDeleteYes, it was easier than usual today. I do, however, have a question. Does 21d make sense?
Peter
Hi Peter -
DeleteThat's the whole premis of Cryptic clues, do they make sense? As Falcon is fond of saying:
The setter doesn't have to mean what he says, but he has to say what he means.
So in 21d we have Leon Uris around an article giving us something to support us.
Does that make sense?
Very interesting question and certainly something I blew right by. It does seem completely contradictory now that you have caused me to think on it. As a noun, it certainly doesn't work, and every sentence I think of as a verb, I have to flip the subject and predicate, supporting (sorry) what I believe is your point. Good catch! Looking forward to what others think.
DeleteEnjoyable as usual. I don't share the concern re 21d. In this case, support is a verb and the answer is a phrase meaning support.
ReplyDeleteHope y'all have a good weekend. We finally got some rain (not much unfortunately) overnight in Vancouver.
Cheers.
Unlike others, I didn't find this an easy one, mostly because of such long answers. I also didn't know the farming term. And I have to say, I'm still puzzled by 21D after the comments here.
ReplyDeleteThe definition calls for "support," which can be a verb (a cane supports someone with trouble walking) or a noun (a cane is a support for that person). But the answer I have is a verb meaning to seek support from. (Someone using a cane is using it for support.)
I have the same issue with 21 down that many have expressed here. 'Lean on' and 'support' are reciprocal actions with 'lean on' meaning to be supported by and not support. 'Lean on' bears pretty much the same relationship to 'support' as 'borrow' does to 'lend'.
ReplyDeleteThere's a problem with 20d. That word isn't pronounced the way you might expect it to be.
ReplyDeleteI had the same thought. The pronunciation used by the setters certainly is not the way I pronounce the word. While most of the dictionaries I consulted confirm my pronunciation, I did find a few which give the other pronunciation. (See the review which has now been posted).
DeleteI had to think twice about 21D, but a thing you rest against can be called a "support" or a "lean on".
ReplyDeleteI wondered if that might be the case but I consulted at least nine dictionaries (both British and US) and that meaning is not to be found in any of them. Perhaps it is a regional colloquialism that has not made it into the dictionaries.
Delete