Introduction
While I found today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon a tad more difficult than usual, it all came together in the end. Perhaps I should have tackled it after lunch rather than early in the morning.You will notice a change in the blog today. I have decided to discontinue publishing the Saturday puzzle and will now provide only a review and commentary on the puzzle (as I currently do for the weekday puzzles). My reasons are explained in my post earlier this morning, Charting a New Direction. That post also explains how readers can access the puzzle, including through the PressReader service which is free to members of many public libraries (both in Canada and internationally).
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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| 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 | Player who’s throwing outside has to // be rated OK (4,6) |
PASS MUSTER — PASSER (player who's throwing) containing (outside) MUST (has to)
| 6a | Scheme for rhyming // Swedish band (4) |
ABBA — double definition; the second being a Swedish pop group from the 70s who recently reunited
| 9a | Vivian infiltrates true // evangelical meeting (7) |
RE(VIV)AL — VIV ([diminutive of] Vivian) contained in (infiltrates) REAL (true)
| 10a | Indian river covers last of their // farms (7) |
G(R)ANGES — GANGES (Indian river) containing (covers) R (last [letter] of theiR)
| 12a | Heard insect // relative (4) |
AUNT~ — sounds like (heard) ANT (insect)
Of course, for some of us, these words sound nothing alike!
| 13a | Bad temper in an // arboreal mammal (4,6) |
{PINE MARTEN}* — anagram of (bad) TEMPER IS AN
| 15a | Thoroughly search leader of our // band (5) |
COMB|O — COMB (thoroughly search) + O (leader [initial letter] of Our)
| 16a | Quickly // chant rhymes for no reason (7) |
RAP|IDLY — RAP (chant rhymes) + IDLY (for no reason)
| 19a | Big mistake by actress Falco, // with no date to meet again (4,3) |
SIN|E DIE — SIN (big mistake) + (by) EDIE (Falco; American actress Edie Falco[7])
| 20a | Impossible // present: a fork (2,3) |
NO W|A|Y — NOW (present) + A (†) + Y ([letter that looks like a] fork)
| 23a | Great artist // reworked “Spam Taster” (4,6) |
{PAST MASTER}* — anagram of (reworked) SPAM TASTER
| 25a | City // in Ontario’s locale (4) |
_OS|LO_ — hidden in OntariO'S LOcale
| 27a | Practiced riding the choo-choo? (7) |
TRAINED — cryptic definition where the first word is a precise definition
In a Different Tense
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Had the clue read:
As the clue appears today, the latter part also leads to TRAINING and so I take it to be cryptic elaboration on the precise definition rather than a definition in its own right. |
| 28a | Scanner reading // fish-filled strip (3,4) |
BAR (COD)E — COD (fish) contained in (-filled) BARE (strip; remove one's clothes)
| 29a | Pull // someone south of the border (4) |
YANK — double definition
What is a Yank?
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|---|---|
| An American visitor to Big Dave's Crossword Blog once explained how one's perception of the term Yankee changes depending on one's perspective:
To foreigners, a Yankee is an American. To Americans, a Yankee is a Northerner. To Northerners, a Yankee is an Easterner. To Easterners, a Yankee is a New Englander. To New Englanders, a Yankee is a Vermonter. To Vermonters, a Yankee is a Flatlander*. To Flatlanders, Yankees suck. * a term for newcomers to the U.S. states of Maine, New Hampshire or Vermont. According to Wikipedia, "The changing demographics between those with multi-generational ties to [Vermont] and those who are newcomers, bringing different values with them, has resulted in a degree of tension between the two perspectives. This tension is expressed in the terms, "Woodchuck", being applied to those established in the state, and "Flatlander", applied to the newcomers."[7] |
| 30a | Paint mural transforming // Stephen Harper’s predecessor (4,6) |
{PAUL MARTIN}* — anagram of (transforming) PAINT MURAL
Stephen Harper[7], the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada from 2004 to 2015, served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015.
Paul Martin Jr.[7] served as the 21st prime minister of Canada and the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2003 to 2006.
Down
| 1d | Wrongly pan clear // way of speaking (8) |
PARLANCE* — anagram of (wrongly) PAN CLEAR
| 2d | Samuel keeps still // when many an alarm goes off? (5,2) |
S(EVEN) AM — SAM ([diminutive of] Samuel) containing (keeping) EVEN (still)
| 3d | Turn // five, adopted by a Stooge (4) |
MO(V)E — V ([Roman numeral] five) contained in (adopted by) MOE (a Stooge; Moe Howard[7], leader of The Three Stooges comedy team)
The turn is an opportunity to play—in a game of chess, for example.
| 4d | Bonded together with one inside, // served in the military (9) |
SOLD(I)ERED — SOLDERED (bonded) containing (with ... inside) 1 ([Roman numeral] one)
| 5d | Bird // dog losing its head (5) |
_EAGLE — [
| 7d | Great essay possesses zero // bias (7) |
BIG(O)TRY — {BIG (great) + TRY (essay)} containing (possesses) O ([letter that looks like] zero)
| 8d | Say yes // while enraptured (6) |
AS|SENT — AS (while) + SENT (enraptured)
| 11d | For each guy, have supper // prepared with some nuts (8) |
A|MAN|DINE — A (for each;
$10 a dozen) + MAN (guy) + DINE (have supper)
| 14d | Name // fool penning aphorism (8) |
CO(GNOME)N — CON (fool; swindle) containing (penning) GNOME (aphorism)
| 17d | Echo caught by friend // not ready to speak (9) |
P(REVERB)AL — REVERB (echo) contained in (caught by) PAL (friend)
| 18d | Novice and thin // native of Innsbruck, perhaps (8) |
TYRO|LEAN — TYRO (novice) + LEAN (thin)
Tyrol[5] is an Alpine state of western Austria; the state capital being Innsbruck. The southern part was ceded to Italy after the First World War.
| 19d | Keep // our group in disgrace (7) |
S(US)TAIN — US (our group) contained in (in) STAIN (disgrace)
| 21d | Cry after Washington // failure (7) |
WA|SHOUT — SHOUT (cry) following (after) WA (Washington; postal abbreviation for the state of Washington)
| 22d | Patchy // grass in pigpen (6) |
S(POT)TY — POT (grass; marijuana) contained in (in) STY (pigpen)
| 24d | Road is returning alongside a // Mediterranean gulf (5) |
SI|DR<|A — reversal of (returning) {RD (road) + IS (†)} + (alongside) A (†)
| 26d | Song // among barbarians (4) |
_ARIA_ — hidden in (among) barbARIAns
Epilogue
The solutions to four clues in today's puzzle suggest PM—the last of them in more ways than one.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
Definitely a bit of a head scratcher with a couple of Hmms.
ReplyDelete12a - I would really like to know how you can pronounce the insect to make it sound like the relative.
23a - not much of an anagram when the last 5 letters of the answer are as they appear in the anagram material (I refuse to say fodder which is commonly used in the UK).
But, I really liked 19a. So, thanks to C&R and to Falcon.
Re 12a: You don't "pronounce the insect to make it sound like the relative" -- you pronounce the relative identical to the insect. I doubt one would ever hear this in the UK but it is very common in North America -- and still irritates my ear after seven decades.
DeleteI used press reader to access the actual puzzle in the Jan 15 2022 National Post, and it was not the one with the answers you clued above. The press reader was a copy of the actual paper (which I purchased from press reader for $2.79) and it looked like the actual newspaper. Dont konw where your copy came from?
ReplyDeleteHI Jerry,
ReplyDeleteOn Saturdays the National Post carries two cryptic crosswords. One is by Cox and Rathvon and the other is from the Daily Telegraph. The DT puzzle has this clue at 1a: Most nasty blokes.... Is that the one you saw? If so, you should be able to find the Cox and Rathvon puzzle on the previous page in the same paper.
Peter
Hi Jerry,
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the blog.
As Peter explained above, the Cox and Rathvon puzzle will be on the page before the one where the puzzle you solved is located. Beleive me, you are far from the first to solve the 'wrong' puzzle.
Several years ago, the National Post ceased publishing a print edition on Monday (however, there is still a E-Paper on Monday). A major emphasis of the Post is financial news and, with the markets being closed on the weekends, Monday is a 'slow news day'.
The Post publishes both the Saturday (Cox and Rathvon) and Monday (The Daily Telegraph) puzzles (as well as other features) on Saturday. The former on a page headed "Weekend Diversions" and the latter on a page headed "Monday Diversions". There is no puzzle in the Monday E-Paper.
You can find a review of the puzzle you solved on my blog today. The British puzzles can be a bit of challenge to North Americans who are new to them. However, the one you solved is fairly gentle and should be quite accessible to a newcomer. Hope you enjoyed it.
If you have a local public library that offers the PressReader service, all you need is a library card to have free access to PressReader. You can easily determine that by choosing to Sign In using the 'Library or Group' option. You will be presented with a drop-down list of libraries which offer the service. I've posted an article on how to access PressReader with a library card and included a link to it in the sidebar of the blog so that it will be a permanent resource.
Hi everyone! This is from the other Henry on this blog, the first being the more famous. I'm late in posting my comments as I haven't had the opportunity yet to visit my local library. Soon maybe.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with the above comments, this puzzle was a head scratcher, I will have to get ointment.
In looking at a possible theme, i see 1a and 23a, and 13a and 30a as copies of each other with a few different letters (or if you will rhyming couplets). I think the PM is a coincidence.
Loved the parsing for 7d, 11d (a lift and separate). I thought 29a 'cute.'
Well, there you go. Hope to see you all next week.
Hello, Henry too! Enjoyed your views and lightheartedness. Glad you did this as I will save my puzzle now because it is easier to follow comments from the previous week when one is looking at one's own puzzle and scribbles.
DeleteHave a good weekend. Heather
Hi Henry,
DeleteHappy to see you are still with us.