Introduction
You might say that today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon (NP 220129) strikes the right note. As a regular often observes on Big Dave's Crossword Blog (a British blog where I review puzzles published in London's The Daily Telegraph), the puzzle was easy until it wasn't. Most of it seemed like a hot knife going through butter but a handful at the end proved rather testing.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 | Secret raid busted // religious ceremony (6,4) |
{SACRED RITE}* — anagram of (busted) SECRET RAID
| 6a | Boxer swallows large // chaw of tobacco (4) |
P(L)UG — PUG[3,4,11] (boxer; slang, short for pugilist) containing (swallows) L(arge)
| 10a | Indian pancake // Patrick dipped into Indian tea (7) |
CHA(PAT)I — PAT ([diminutive for] Patrick) contained in (dipped into) CHAI (Indian [word for] tea)
| 11a | Picture, as true // modern artist (7) |
PIC|AS|SO — PIC ([diminutive for] picture) + AS (†) + SO (true;
I swear it to be so)
Pablo Picasso[5]
(1881–1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, and graphic artist,
resident in France from 1904. Regarded as one of the most influential
artists of the 20th century, he is known (among other things) for
co-founding the Cubist movement.[7] (more )
Picasso’s prolific inventiveness and technical versatility made him the dominant figure in avant-garde art in the first half of the 20th century. Following his Blue Period (1901-4) and Rose Period (1905-6), Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907) signalled his development of cubism (1908–14). In the 1920s and 1930s he adopted a neoclassical figurative style and produced semi-surrealist paintings using increasingly violent imagery, notably The Three Dancers (1935) and Guernica (1937).
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Picasso’s prolific inventiveness and technical versatility made him the dominant figure in avant-garde art in the first half of the 20th century. Following his Blue Period (1901-4) and Rose Period (1905-6), Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907) signalled his development of cubism (1908–14). In the 1920s and 1930s he adopted a neoclassical figurative style and produced semi-surrealist paintings using increasingly violent imagery, notably The Three Dancers (1935) and Guernica (1937).
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| 12a | Party animal // caught at first with stirrer (8) |
C|AROUSER — C (caught at first; initial letter of Caught) + (with) AROUSER (stirrer)
| 13a | Concerning // a ring engagement (5) |
A|BOUT — A (†) + BOUT (ring engagement; one involving the tobacco-chewing chap from 6a)
| 15a | Taxes // rings (5) |
TOLLS — double definition; government-imposed levies and the sounds of bells
| 17a | Keeping time, change // cockpit instrument (9) |
AL(TIME)TER — ALTER (change) containing (keeping) TIME (†)
| 19a | GI captures a vulgar // Italian hero (9) |
G(A|RIBALD)I — GI (†) containing (captures) {A (†) + RIBALD (vulgar)}
Giuseppe Garibaldi[5] (1807–1882) was an Italian patriot and military leader of the Risorgimento. With his volunteer force of ‘Red Shirts’ he captured Sicily and southern Italy from the Bourbons in 1860–1, thereby playing a key role in the establishment of a united kingdom of Italy.
| 21a | Opening // university in financial trouble (5) |
DEB(U)T — U(niversity) contained in (in) DEBT (financial trouble)
| 23a | Act like a loon with northern // bird (5) |
RAVE|N — RAVE (act like a loon) + (with) N(orthern)
| 24a | Meg’s sister, regal // in a funny way (8) |
JO|KINGLY — JO (Meg's sister) + KINGLY (regal)
Little Women[7] is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888), which was originally published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869. The novel follows the lives of four sisters—Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March—detailing their passage from childhood to womanhood, and is loosely based on the author and her three sisters. Little Women is set in the Alcott family home, Orchard House, in Concord, Massachusetts.
| 27a | Left inside eating strangely // jiggly dessert (7) |
{GE(L)ATIN}* — L(eft) contained in (inside) anagram of (strangely) EATING
| 28a | Spin // shingle all around (7) |
ENGLISH* — anagram of (all around) SHINGLE
... the spin one might put on a billiard ball.
| 29a | Rise and fall // in a draw, from the sound of it (4) |
TIDE~ — sounds like (from the sound of it) TIED (in a draw)
| 30a | Wagon maker // revised Whig tract around mid-march (10) |
CARTWRIGHT* — anagram of (revised) WHIG FIRST containing (around) R (mid-march; middle letter of maRch)
Down
| 1d | Item for carrying // fire (4) |
SACK — double definition, a type of tote and to dismiss from employment
| 2d | Cry about crone // painter (7) |
C(HAG)ALL — CALL (cry) containing (about) HAG (crone)
Marc Chagall[5] (1887–1985) was a Russian-born French painter and graphic artist. His work was characterized by the use of rich emotive colour and dream imagery, and had a significant influence on surrealism.
| 3d | Significant period, to // one of the Muses (5) |
ERA|TO — ERA (significant period) + TO (†)
| 4d | Put back // equestrian control before delay (9) |
REIN|STALL — REIN (equestrian control) preceding (before) STALL (delay)
| 5d | Narrow // recorder? (5) |
TAPER — double definition, a verb meaning to reduce in width and a noun denoting a recording device or the person operating it
| 7d | Yell after the Spanish // attack (4,3) |
LA|SH OUT — SHOUT (yell) following (after) LA (the Spanish; feminine singular definite article in Spanish)
| 8d | Author secretly // wore tights when dancing (5,5) |
{GHOST WRITE}* — anagram of (when dancing) WORE TIGHTS
| 9d | Got out // sardines, initially packed (8) |
S|CRAMMED — S (sardines, initially: initial letter of Sardines) + CRAMMED (packed)
| 14d | Great sight, changing // theatrical direction (5,5) |
{STAGE RIGHT}* — anagram of (changing) GREAT SIGHT
... the direction here is an orientation rather than an acting instruction.
| 16d | Roll taken by executive’s // constituents (8) |
SU(BUN)IT|S — BUN (roll; type of bread) contained in (taken by) SUIT (executive) + S ('s)
| 18d | Most complex // expression of disgust in essays by leader of Tories (9) |
TR(ICK)IES|T — ICK (expression of disgust) contained in (in) TRIES (essays; attempts) + (by) T (leader [initial letter] of Tories)
On seeing "expression of disgust", the word that immediately came to mind was UGH and I quickly bunged TOUGHEST into the grid—only to find it did not fill all the available spaces.
Note to readers outside our borders
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|---|---|
| Members of Canada's Conservative Party are informally known as Tories. The party's current leader is Erin O'Toole[7]. |
| 20d | Disparaged, // like Satan dressed in red (7) |
R(EVIL)ED — EVIL (like Satan) contained in (dressed in) RED (†)
| 22d | Overstuffed // pest consuming last of ethyl alcohol (7) |
BU(L|GIN)G — BUG (pest) containing (consuming) {L (last [letter] of ethyL) + GIN (alcohol)}
| 24d | Military cabal // appearing in Cajun tale (5) |
_JUN|TA_ — hidden in (appearing in) CaJUN TAle
| 25d | Reign ruined // African land (5) |
NIGER* — anagram of (ruined) REIGN
| 26d | Cool // piano lid (4) |
P|HAT — P (piano; musical direction to play softly) + HAT (LID)
Epilogue
The title of today's post is inspired by 1 and 30 Across and 8 and 14 Down. No matter how you spell it, it still sounds right to me.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
Greetings from snowy cold (-8C) NYC. Brrr. We call these a nor'easter.
ReplyDeleteOn to better things -- perhaps today's C&R has All the Right (sp.?) Stuff or What's Right is Write is ...
Not too much difficulty in today's puzzle. As always, a distinct pleasure in a C&R puzzle is deciding where the wordplay ends and the definition begins or visa versa. 13a was particularly devious. Almost made a misstep in 4d. I couldn't get my first thought (REINSTATE) to match the parsing. I needed 19a to steer me in the "right" direction.
Hope you all are staying safe and warm this weekend. Enjoy the upcoming week.
Falcon, thanks for your efforts here. Seems like you've hit on the right approach to satisfy all with the twin postings.
Until next week,
Richard
Also from NYC. Richard, I go w/ "blizzard" Falcon thanks so much. I'm gonna be indoors all day and this will enable me to forestall the dreaded
ReplyDeletecleaning of the closets which I promised myself would be done during the storm.
Good morning from Winnipeg.
ReplyDeleteAn enjoyable challenge from C&R. With 11a and 2d, I though we were heading for an 'arty' theme but that did not last very long. I did wonder if 19a might have been an artist as well as being a military man and a British biscuit (cookie).
No standouts today.
Thanks to C&R and to Falcon.
Good morning, Falcon and C&R friends, from a very cold but sunny day north of the GTA. I have three pairs of cardinals waiting at the feeder as I type, and the contrast of the red against the white snowy fields is stunning.
ReplyDeleteWell, our Saturday morning rite of getting it right? This was over a little quickly - I always want the enjoyment to go on and on. (I fear, puzzled, that there will be more than enough time left for you to tackle the closets.) In spite of it going too fast, please tell me I am not the only one that was trying to understand what the word sounding like "sue-bun-its" meant with relation to constituents? Too much isolation, you think? My last one in was 2d but just because the NW corner was my last to fall. That pancake thing at 10a had me held up on the initial run.
Guess we are off then? You NYC folk, please stay safe and warm and enjoy your snow day.
To all the rest, always my best. So glad we are on stride once more. Thank you, as always, to C&R for the fun and Falcon, for the posting.
Take care out there. Heather
Oh I forgot - Happy National Puzzle Day to all of us!
DeleteI didn't run into your problem with 16d as I "saw" the entire word from the checking letters and definition first and then reverse engineered the wordplay.
DeleteWe once had a pair of cardinals nesting nearby but they were orange rather than red. I searched extensively in an effort to find out what these orange birds were. Apparently, though rare, some cardinals are orange. It appears their colouration is also somewhat dependent on the amount of carotene in their diet.
My wife and I went for a walk in a nearby golf course on Thursday this week. We were very surprised when we came across four robins. The temperature was a frigid -10 C. I've never seen robins in Ontario in January.
DeletePeter
Peter,
DeleteRobins are known to overwinter if they have a source of food - usually dried fruit and berries. They tend to stay in groups in winter although I saw a loner looking at my feeders yesterday - unfortunately I did not have anything for him or her.
MG
Falcon, that's an interesting fact that there are orange cardinals. I always understood that the redder the feathers, the more attractive the male is to the female, so one would think they must be highly motivated to find and eat the right stuff. Of course, they may be going with being "different" and seeing how lucky they get!
DeleteThat must have been a beautiful sight, Peter, with the robins' bright colours in the snow. I know they can withstand more cold than we typically think they can but as MG says, they have to be near a food source. They won't eat at most feeder types even if the feeder has the right food in them. I still get excited when I see the first one each spring but hard to do that on one of our coldest, snowiest days in January.
Always find these experiences interesting - thanks for sharing.
I doubt it was a conscious decision on his part to be orange ;). Of course, only the male is red (or orange) so my description above implying the pair were orange is rather imprecise.
DeleteThe wright was right to write about the rite. Good morning from a rather brisk London. I got a bit bogged down in the SE corner of today's offering. Had to look up 26d which was my last one in. Have a good weekend!
ReplyDeletePeter
Hello Falcon and friends,
ReplyDeleteToday's puzzle was more than just all right with me! There were some really clever clues such as 1d and 13a. LOI was 22d.
I had a bit of a glitch with PressReader today and will be sending you an email Falcon. Thank you for posting.
Have a nice weekend everyone!
Cheers,
MG
I found, as Falcon said, it was easy till it wasn't. Trouble with 16d for sure and missed the gin in 22d. But it all came out right in the end. 28a had a new to me definition.
ReplyDeleteThanks all, and stay warm
Hello all from the end of a cold snap in Mississauga. Thanks to MG, I registered myself on the Library system and got into PressReader.
ReplyDeleteAfter maneuvering around the weekend NP, I took a screen shot of the puzzle and proceeded to solve it. The resolution wasn't as good as the pdf versions of old. I will have to look at Falcon's precise instructions on how to print it off Pressreader.
I enjoyed this puzzle, again C&R made me dig deep into my stored memories (24a, 8d) to get the answers.
I thought there were some 'spoonerisms' going on with the clue and the answer in 1a and 14d, but then caught on to the right way to look at the theme.
LOI was 16d - very smooth surface read, and second to last was 8d, also very smooth.
Thanks everyone for the words of encouragement and help - my Saturdays would be far less compelling without the weekly puzzle.
Glad to see you got the PressReader access sorted out. Once you figure out how to print the puzzles, you'll be soaring. Although navigating and printing seems a bit complicated at the beginning, it soon becomes second nature.
Delete