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
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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 | Saw // straight? (7) |
NOT|ICED — NOT ICED (straight; as an undiluted drink of spirits with no ice—or mixer, for that matter)
| 5a | Finished filming // Spellbound for an audience (7) |
WRAPPED~ — sounds like (for an audience) RAPT (spellbound)
Scratching the Surface
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| Spellbound[7] is a 1945 American psychological mystery thriller film noir directed by Alfred Hitchcock which stars Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck. |
| 9a | Sandwich shop in view, // related information (9) |
SI(DELI)GHT — DELI (sandwich shop) contained in (in) SIGHT (view)
A sidelight[3] is a piece of incidental or contrasting information.
| 10a | Parrot pinching a // portion of a bill (5) |
COP(A)Y — COPY (parrot; imitate) containing (pinching) A (†)
Copay[11] (also called copayment) is a small fixed amount required by a health insurer to be paid by the insured for each outpatient visit or prescription.
| 11a | Neighbour of Venezuela // man with an acre (6) |
GUY|AN|A — GUY (man) + (with) AN (†) + A(cre)
| 12a | Work at framing rodeo contestant // the right way (8) |
P(ROPER)LY — PLY (work at) containing (framing) ROPER (rodeo contestant)
| 14a | Measures // lawns with garden pests (10) |
YARDS|TICKS — YARDS (lawns) + (with) TICKS (garden pests)
| 16a | Conservative owned // African country (4) |
C|HAD — C(onservative) + HAD (owned)
| 18a | Guru // leaves for the kitchen (4) |
SAGE — double definition; a wise person or a leafy herb
| 19a | Davis colours // important markers (10) |
MILES|TONES — MILES (Davis; American Jazz trumpeter Miles Davis[7]) + TONES (colours)
| 22a | Masculine, in the manner of silent // dog (8) |
M|ALA|MUTE — M(asculine) + A LA (in the manner of) + MUTE (silent)
| 23a | Gag // is left out of order (6) |
STIFLE* — anagram of (out of order) IS LEFT
| 26a | Lodging // very popular with the Spanish (5) |
HOT|EL — HOT (very popular) + (with) EL (the Spanish; Spanish definite article)
| 27a | Awesome hip-hop song about skill // spotter for speed demons (5,4) |
RAD(AR T)RAP — {RAD (awesome) + RAP (hip-hop song)} containing (about) ART (skill)
| 28a | Got the best of // woollen fabric (7) |
WORSTED — double definition; to defeat or a fabric used for suits
As verbs, best and worst are synonyms meaning to defeat.
| 29a | Football player // mother clad in cloth made from flax (7) |
LINE(MA)N — MA (mother) contained in (clad in) LINEN (cloth made from flax)
Down
| 1d | Bunch of flowers // Osage scattered in New York (7) |
N(OSEGA*)Y — anagram of (scattered) OSAGE contained in (in) NY (New York)
Scratching the Surface
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| The Osage[3] are a Native American people formerly inhabiting western Missouri and later southeast Kansas, with a present-day population in north-central Oklahoma. |
| 2d | Plaything absorbing father // now (5) |
TO(DA)Y — TOY (plaything) containing (absorbing) DA (father)
| 3d | Settler, // riding, is carried by young horse (8) |
COL(ON|IS)T — {ON (riding) + IS (†)} contained in (carried by) COLT (young horse)
| 4d | Hound excellent // Venetian official (4) |
DOG|E — DOG (hound) + E (excellent; grade on a school assignment or test)
| 5d | Awfully wet ears irk // one being towed behind a boat (5,5) |
{WATER SKIER}* — anagram of (awfully) WET EARS IRK
| 6d | A vinyl recording including top // cartoonist (2,4) |
A|L (CAP)P — A (†) + LP (vinyl recording) containing (including) CAP (top)
Alfred Gerald Caplin (1909–1979), better known as Al Capp[7], was an American cartoonist and humorist best known for the satirical comic strip Li'l Abner, which he created in 1934 and continued writing and (with help from assistants) drawing until 1977.
| 7d | Extremely tenuous // Aussie city in distress (5-4) |
PA(PER-TH)IN — PERTH (Aussie city) contained in (in) PAIN (distress)
| 8d | Bread with stained exterior // not moved? (3-4) |
D(RY-E)YED — RYE (bread) contained in (with ... exterior) DYED (stained)
| 13d | Tended // tiny horse taking first in race (10) |
MINI|STE(R)ED — MINI (tiny) + STEED (horse) containing (taking) R (first [letter] in Race)
| 15d | Turned corrupt: a gun // control device (9) |
{REGUL|A|TOR}< — reversal of (turned) {ROT (corrupt) + A (†) + LUGER (gun)}
| 17d | Government-operated // nuclear fusion site breached by spud (5-3) |
S(TATE-R)UN — SUN (nuclear fusion site) containing (breached by) TATER (spud)
| 18d | In a way, // love me in performance (7) |
S(O|ME)HOW — {O (love; nil score in tennis) + ME (†)} contained in (in) SHOW (performance)
| 20d | Retracting small bite, fish // don’t rise (5,2) |
{SLEE|P IN}< — reversal of (retracting) {NIP (small bite) + EELS (fish)}
| 21d | Charm // a stubborn sort, with time (6) |
A|MULE|T — A (†) + MULE (stubborn sort) + (with) T(ime)
| 24d | Place for discussion // in favour of well (5) |
FOR|UM — FOR (in favour of) + UM (well; expression of hesitation)
| 25d | Hero // not working for auditors (4) |
IDOL~ — sounds like (for auditors) IDLE (not working)
Epilogue
In today's puzzle, achievement can be measured in small steps (14a) or large increments (19a).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
Good morning, cryptic friends! All is well here north of the GTA and I hope with all of you too.
ReplyDeleteGone too soon but thanks to C&R, certainly a fun romp. Our performance was certainly measured this morning, and the theme did provide extra speed on solving clues like 19a, 27a. Favourites included 17d and 28a. Last one in was 19a.
Really enjoyed seeing the threads last week on "lean on" vs "support." It was a good lesson for me that I did pass by it so quickly without questioning when I first solved the puzzle.
Have a nice weekend and a great week, everyone. Thanks as ever, Falcon, for the post.
Best, Heather
Good morning all from NYC where the weather is just fine.
ReplyDeleteNot much to say about today’s offering. I didn’t spot a theme unless we’re to get some distance out of YARD and MILE SOMEHOW. Maybe it’s just STICKS and STONES?
Favorite was 1a - such a neat tidy clue. Similar to 18a.
Today I learned 22a. 15d was fun to parse through.
Thanks for posting Falcon.
Be well all.
Richard
A very good morning from a sunny Winnipeg after a few days of smoke filled skies from the many wild fires in Manitoba and NW Ontario.
ReplyDeleteAn enjoyable puzzle from C&R although I did have one or two false starts - 27a for example.
And, I always forget that an adjectival antonym of best can be a verbal synonym of the same.
I really liked 12a, 29a, and 7d.
Thanks to C&R for the fun and to Falcon for his usual sterling efforts.
Hello Falcon and friends,
ReplyDeleteI would gauge this puzzle as being of intermediate difficulty and enjoyment. Lots of clever clues, notably 1a - which was my favourite although used on a regular basis by C&R. Unlike Senf, I did not know about the antonym of best and its synonym. My last one in was 15d only because I kept thinking there was an anagram in there somewhere!
Thank you for posting Falcon. Have a nice weekend everyone. We have some haze here today in southern Ontario, not sure if it is from those wildfires.
Cheers,
MG
Good afternoon all, you dedicated crypto-solvers. Today's offering from C&R definitely took my measure as I sweated through quite a few seemingly undecipherable clues - 19a, 22a, 7d, and many others.
ReplyDeleteLOI is 10a - I have some possibilities but nothing jumps at me - did look a possibility in the urban dictionary and that seems to fill the bill.
A lot of solutions came up through the use of the checking letters (thank God for them!)
Possible title for today =
MEN AT WORK
Thanks Falcon for the post, and to C&R for wracking my brain...
Naturally, right after I wrote this I had the AHA moment and figured out 10a
DeleteMy wife and I, staunch and eager C&R victims, had more fun with 19 across than C&R probably expected. We got enough from cross clues to see how "BETTE" (Davis) could fit it, and we struggled with that long enough to make us feel sheepish when the proper Davis occurred to us.
ReplyDeleteSlow start and strong finish. This was an enjoyable one. 5A made me think of "the lines... the lines" from the Hitchcock film.
ReplyDeleteBusy day.
ReplyDeleteNeed help seeing 27a.
Three letter words for awesome and hip hop song around a three letter word for skill.
ReplyDeleteEasy when you see it!!! Thanks.
DeleteOverall a bit hard. On the Davis clue, I was slowed by entering TINT rather than TONE. But for now, for 7D I have sheer nonsense, although it seems to accord with checked letters and a plausible wordplay. I'll just await the late posting.
ReplyDelete7d - try a 5 letter word for an Aussie city (west coast) inside a 4 letter word for distress.
DeleteNo, no, no. As I already said, I do have an answer in accord with wordplay and crossings. It just doesn't make any sense. But I guess there's no solution this week.
Delete@JohnH, Tell us what you have as your answer and we will help you or steer you in a different direction.
DeleteCheers,
MG
Definition is "extremely tenuous". Answer is found by placing "Perth" (Aussie city) inside "Pain" (distress) to get paper-thin.
DeleteAh, I see. I don't know why the phrase didn't register as at all idiomatic.
DeleteMost enjoyable offering. Was pleased to see the correct spelling of 'colours' in 19a.
ReplyDeletePeter
In my experience, Cox and Rathvon are generally quite diligent in respecting Canadian spelling conventions in the puzzles they compile for the National Post. Only occasionally does a US spelling creep in.
Delete