Saturday, December 25, 2021 — Colours of the Season

Merry Christmas

Introduction

Today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon has a light seasonal theme.

I hope everyone is having a joyful holiday despite the circumstances in which we currently find ourselves. Thank you for being part of our little community. Your participation in the discussion and encouraging comments are the fuel that keeps me going.

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

Notes

This puzzle appears on the Weekend Diversions page in the Friday, December 24, 2021 edition of the National Post.

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	A bug almost getting into fruit // mush (7)

P(A|BU)LUM — {A (†) + BU (bug almost; BU[G] with the final letter removed)} contained in (getting into) PLUM (fruit)

5a	Bit // of a lyric poem retained by mother (7)

M(ODIC)UM — ODIC (of a lyric poem) contained in (retained by) MUM (mother)

9a	Asian fare // gives us hiccups to some extent (5)

_S|US|HI_ — hidden in (to some extent) giveS US HIccups

10a	Decade // unvarying in pens (9)

S(EVEN)TIES — EVEN (unvarying) contained in (in) STIES (pens)

11a	Study // South American country’s one lake (7)

PERU|S|A|L — PERU (South American country) + S ('s) + A (one) + L(ake)

12a	Truly keeping grand, in a majestic way (7)

RE(G)ALLY — REALLY (truly) containing (keeping) G (grand; gangland slang for $1000)

13a	Occasion to remember // date Terry led astray (3,6,3)

{RED LETTER DAY}* — anagram of (astray) DATE TERRY LED

18a	Playing seven reels; e.g., // Yuletide song (12)

GREENSLEEVES* — anagram of (playing) SEVEN REELS EG

Making the Connection

What, one may ask, is the connection between the traditional English folk song "Greensleeves"[7] and Christmas? The folk song is a lament by a rejected lover to the woman who has discourteously cast him off. I presume the answer may lie in the song "What Child Is This?"[7], a Christmas carol with lyrics written by William Chatterton Dix in 1865, subsequently set to the tune of "Greensleeves" in 1871. Although written in Great Britain, the carol today is more popular in the United States than its country of origin. Should anyone have a better explanation, please share it with us. That the tune was adopted for a religious song is a bit incongruous given some of the interpretations of the folk song. A possible interpretation of the lyrics is that Lady Green Sleeves was a promiscuous young woman, perhaps even a prostitute. At the time [15th century or earlier], the word "green" had sexual connotations, most notably in the phrase "a green gown", a reference to the grass stains on a woman's dress from engaging in sexual intercourse outdoors. An alternative explanation is that Lady Green Sleeves was, through her costume, incorrectly assumed to be sexually promiscuous. Her "discourteous" rejection of the singer's advances supports the contention that she is not.

21a	Devise extraterrestrial // chopper (7)

HATCH|ET — HATCH (devise) + ET (extraterrestrial; Spielberg film, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial^[7])

23a	Carol // was put out to sea (7)

WAS|SAIL — WAS (†) + SAIL (put out to sea)

25a	Doctor can corrupt // official agreement (9)

CONCORDAT* — anagram of (corrupt) DOCTOR CAN

26a	Heard roller // give up (5)

WAIVE~ — sounds like (heard) WAVE (roller)

27a	Elastic // band in sight (7)

SP(RING)Y — RING (band) contained in (in) SPY (sight)

28a	Jewel taking French from boor (7)

RU(DES)BY — RUBY (jewel) containing (taking) DES (French from; French word meaning 'from')

Down

1d	Need for globetrotting // dad’s physical recreation (8)

PA|S|SPORT — PA (dad) + S ('s) + SPORT (physical recreation)

2d	Straddle // superlative transportation (8)

BEST|RIDE — BEST (superlative) + RIDE (transportation)

3d	Channel ultimately broadcasts // retreats (5)

L|AIRS — L (channeL ultimately [final letter]) + AIRS (broadcasts)

4d	Title some novel // Evergreen (9)

MISTLETOE* — anagram of (novel) TITLE SOME

5d	Relocation expert // married again (5)

M|OVER — M(arried) + OVER (again)

6d	Malign // study with one framework (9)

DEN|I|GRATE — DEN (study) + (with) I ([Roman numeral] one) + GRATE (framework)

7d	Cold // bean dish, by the sound of it (6)

CHILLY~ — sounds like (by the sound of it) chili (bean dish)

8d	Taking year, Hebrew prophet // ambles (6)

MOSE(Y)S — MOSES (Hebrew prophet) containing (taking) Y(ear)

14d	Reformed abhorrent // mortal (9)

EARTHBORN* — anagram of (reformed) ABHORRENT

15d	Perfume ingredient // list including wonder from the East (9)

ROS(EWA<)TER — ROSTER (list) containing (including) a reversal of (from the East) AWE (wonder)

Heading in the Wrong Direction
This clue is clearly designed to appear in a puzzle as an across clue where "from the East" would indicate a reversal. However, in a down clue, a reversal should be indicated by "from the South". Of course, that would destroy the Christmas theme. After all, who ever hear of a star or wise men from the South?

16d	Ram goes around by way of // bird enclosures (8)

A(VIA)RIES_ — ARIES (Ram; constellation or sign of the Zodiac) containing (goes around) VIA (by way of)

17d	Old instrument, // new rap style (8)

PSALTERY* — anagram of (new) RAP STYLE

19d	Small Twain boy’s // disappointed interjection (6)

S|HUCK|S — S(mall) + HUCK (Twain boy; Huckleberry Finn^[7], the protagonist of a Mark Twain novel) + S ('s)

20d	A solution that cleanses // repentant sinner (6)

A|TONER — A (†) + TONER (solution that cleanses)

22d	Cobb swallows strange // hot drink (5)

T(ODD)Y — TY (Cobb; baseball legend Ty Cobb^[7]) containing (swallows) ODD (strange)

24d	Subsequently, we had // scattered (5)

SO|WED — SO (subsequently) + WED (we had; "we'd" as a contraction)

Epilogue

The title for this week's review is drawn from 13a and 18a.

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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 )

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Signing off for today — Falcon