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 | Traumas roiled // Indonesian island (7) |
SUMATRA* — anagram of (rolled) TRAUMAS
| 5a | Copy Company in recording // house of a sort (4,3) |
C(APE| CO)D — {APE (copy) + CO (company)} contained in (in) CD (recording)
A Cape Cod[10] (also Cape Cod cottage) is a one-storey cottage of timber construction with a simple gable roof and a large central chimney: originated on Cape Cod in the 18th century.
| 9a | Superfluous // socialist and German worker (9) |
RED|UND|ANT — RED (socialist) + UND (and German; German word meaning 'and') + ANT (worker [insect])
| 10a | Suggestive of singing // in early Richmond (5) |
_LY|RIC_ — hidden in (in) earLY RIChmond
| 11a | Ohio resident // flying around on Delta (7) |
TOLEDAN* — anagram of (flying around) ON DELTA
| 12a | Bunch of flowers, // for example, found in no state (7) |
NO|S(EG)AY — EG (for example) contained in (found in) {NO (†) + SAY (state)}
| 13a | Not too swift, // having a channel about global conflict (4-6) |
SLO(W-WI)TTED — SLOTTED (having a channel) containing (about) WWI (global conflict; World War I)
| 16a | Poet // forbidden to speak (4) |
BARD~ — sounds like (to speak) BARRED (forbidden)
| 18a | Husband feasted on // hostility (4) |
H|ATE — H(usband) + ATE (feasted on)
| 19a | Hefty hag embracing saint, // muscular sort (4-6) |
FA(ST)-T|WITCH — {FAT (hefty) + WITCH (hag)} containing (embracing) ST (saint)
Fast-twitch[5] (adjective describing a muscle fibre) denotes contracting rapidly, thus providing strength rather than endurance.
| 22a | Fable about fermented honey // fruit drink (7) |
LI(MEAD)E — LIE (fable) containing (about) MEAD (fermented honey)
| 23a | Alphabet soup // container for cooking green butter? (7) |
PAN|G|RAM — PAN (container used for cooking) + G(reen) + RAM (butter; male goat)
False Alarm
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| Upon solving this clue, my pangram* alarm was naturally triggered and I remained on the lookout for the missing letters. Alas, it was a red herring. A half dozen of the less commonly used letters failed to make an appearance. * A pangram is a crossword puzzle in which every letter of the alphabet appears at least once in the completed grid. |
| 25a | Storyline involving one // person in control (5) |
P(I)LOT — PLOT (storyline) containing (involving) I ([Roman numeral] one)
| 26a | Perform music, and feign // something unique (9) |
SING|LET|ON — SING (perform music) + (and) LET ON (feign)
| 27a | Cereal with coloured coating // not moved (3-4) |
D(RY-E)YED — RYE (cereal) contained in (with ... coating) DYED (coloured)
| 28a | Robot // and French designer going the other way (7) |
AND|ROID< — AND (†) + reversal of (going the other way) DIOR (French [fashion] designer [Christian Dior[7]])
Down
| 1d | Cloud // standing around river (7) |
ST(R)ATUS — STATUS (standing) containing (around) R(iver)
| 2d | Award // low grade in set of courses? (5) |
ME(D)AL — D (low [academic] grade) contained in (in) MEAL (set of courses)
| 3d | Moderate // town done with changes (4,4) |
{TONE DOWN}* — anagram of (with changes) TOWN DONE
| 4d | A profit // once more (5) |
A|GAIN — A (†) + GAIN (profit)
| 5d | Darken in compelling // trigonometric function (9) |
CO(TAN)GENT — TAN (darken) contained in (in) COGENT (compelling)
| 6d | Buff // from central Europe (6) |
POLISH — double definition; to give a shine to furniture (for example) and an adjective denoting a European nationality
"?" AWOL
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| As the second definition is by example, the clue could well have been terminated by a question mark. |
| 7d | Wagon conveying angry, hurt // actor (4,5) |
CAR(Y GRAN*)T — CART (wagon) containing (conveying) anagram of (hurt) ANGRY
| 8d | Maverick Dee Cody // lured into a trap (7) |
DECOYED* — anagram of (maverick) DEE CODY
Scratching the Surface
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| I'm not aware that Dee Cody is anything other than a convenient invention of the setters. |
| 14d | At best, // I’m included in Old Possum’s head count (9) |
O|P|T(IM)ALLY — IM (I'm) contained in (included in) {O(ld) + P (Possum's head [initial letter]) + TALLY (count)}
Scratching the Surface
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| "Old Possum" is a pseudonym adopted by American-born British poet T. S. Eliot (1888–1965) for a collection of whimsical light poems about feline psychology and sociology sent in letters to his godchildren. The collection was published in 1939 under the title Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats[7]. It serves as the basis for English composer Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1981 musical Cats. |
| 15d | Came across // poetry with traditional framing (9) |
TRA(VERSE)D — VERSE (poetry) contained in (with ... framing) TRAD (traditional; attribution found on music scores)
| 17d | Aboard luge, breeze // stung (8) |
S(WIND)LED — WIND (breeze) contained in (aboard) SLED (luge)
| 18d | Landing area // edge enclosed by boss (7) |
HE(LIP)AD — LIP (edge) contained in (enclosed by) HEAD (boss)
| 20d | Member of our family // kept out of sight, taking zero minutes (7) |
H(O|MIN)ID — HID (kept out of sight) containing (taking) {O ([letter that looks like] zero) + MIN (minutes)}
| 21d | Ferret catching insect pest // where food is stored (6) |
P(ANT)RY — PRY (ferret) containing (catching) ANT (insect pest)
| 23d | Ale order connected with a // caravel of old (5) |
PINT|A — PINT (ale order) + (connected with) A (†)
La Pinta[7], a caravel*, was the fastest of the three Spanish ships used by Christopher Columbus in his first transatlantic voyage in 1492.
| 24d | Relative amount // in consideration (5) |
_RATIO_ — hidden in consideRATIOn
Epilogue
The title of today's post is based on 13a and 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 all from wintery NYC.
ReplyDeleteThis one stretched me more than usual. Deciding which end was the definition eluded me on several. 23d was new but the parsing was straight forward to get me there. A Google check confirmed.
No "softballs" here but two varieties of that game perhaps were "pitched" to us to make a theme. We'll see what others think.
Hope you all are staying safe and warm. Just waiting for this latest surge to peak so we can again resume some degree of normality.
Thanks, Falcon, for posting.
Have a good weekend and next week everyone.
Richard
Yeah, Saturday! Puzzle Day with Falcon and C&R friends;
ReplyDeleteI was feeling competitive this morning but alas, a little too 13a for my 19a desires. Congratulations, Richard!
Really enjoyed the puzzle though. Some words fell in so quickly and then there were the rest. LOI was 26a. Like you, Richard, I too had a few problems deciding which end of the clue was the answer, 15d being one, and it turned out to be a favourite. Guess it was overcoming the challenge that promoted it to the top.
It is a beautiful winter morning here north of the GTA - even the birds slept in. They are usually waiting for the feeders to come out but no one was there first thing.
Have a lovely weekend everyone - always nice to connect. Thank you, Falcon, for the posting and C&R for the mental workout.
Best always, Heather
A good wintry morning from Winnipeg where we are cycling through several days of extreme cold followed by a couple of days of warm enough for snow, rinse and repeat. Still, when all this (frozen) moisture gets into the water table during the Spring thaw we may not be in 'drought conditions' any more.
ReplyDeleteGood fun from C&R today although I did get slowed down in the SE. I really liked 5a and 27a.
Thanks to C&R and to Falcon.
Hello Falcon and friends,
ReplyDeleteAlas, today's puzzle was over far too quickly for me. Mostly a read and write. Favourite was 16a and LOI was 20d.
Thank you for posting Falcon. Have a nice weekend everyone!
Cheers,
MG
It took me 19.48 nanoseconds to solve 6d, even without the question mark. As noted by Falcon, the top half went in quickly, but at 13a and downwards, things took a lot longer.
ReplyDeleteLOI for me was 20d - I was looking for a family relative. Liked 14d (Cats is my favourite musical), 17d, 27a, 28a.
Thanks for the post and early solve, Falcon. Nice not to have to wait. And thanks to C&R - I wonder if they ever read this blog (we should write them a letter and invite them to tell us their side of the story).
You can thank C&R for constructing the puzzle. Or thank Falcon for pirating their work. But how, in good conscience, can you thank both?
DeleteLOL, well, I don't see Falcon pirating the work, but making it available to us at a very reasonable cost to access it, He does do a prodigious amount of work providing the solution and the notes attached thereto. This is extra to the creation of the puzzle itself and worthy of a separate thanks in my opinion.
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DeleteHenry I like that idea. I too have wondered.
ReplyDeleteThis certainly gives structure to my week. With so much off the table, how many days till C&R day. 7d gave me some trouble which is surprising as his mother lived round the corner from my parents. Maybe a bit of 13a-ness. See you all next week.
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ReplyDeleteI note the comment by Richard McCallum. I am not a subscriber to the National Post and would be reluctant to access a puzzle that is supposed to be protected by a paywall. I know that there are certain puzzles published by newspapers and magazines which require a subscription for access to content but allow access to current puzzles (such as the WSJ, Washington Post and Harper's).
ReplyDeleteIf anyone can shed further light on the weekly C&R puzzle that would be appreciated.
Anyone in Canada who has a library card can pretty well access any publication through PressReader online. I think that only the Globe and Mail does not participate in PressReader. So I get my copy of Harper's monthly puzzle using my library card. I was not aware that Harper's offers their puzzle for free but will now look for it. On the rare occasion that Falcon is AWOL, I have gotten my National Post fix from PressReader. I am a little surprised by your comment Richard as I do see you posting the link to this site's puzzle on another forum every week.
ReplyDeleteFalcon's site is not exactly a "for profit" site. And I suspect that Falcon has a subscription. He is just sharing his newspaper with his neighbours after reading it.
Regards,
MG
MG,
DeleteMy intent in posting a link to this site elsewhere is to share an enjoyable experience with other members of the cryptic solving community. I have enjoyed not only the puzzles but the interactions to be had with fellow cryptic solvers on this site as well as the one you reference. If the C&R puzzle is not rightfully available to the public via this site, I will no longer provide the link. I have already so stated on the other site.
As for the monthly cryptic from Harper’s, my understanding is that the current month’s puzzle is free to the public but not older ones.
Richard
I have been a subscriber to the National Post since its creation more than twenty years ago. So I have access to the online version. The last time I checked, the cryptic crosswords are not available in the online version. I think MG is right. Falcon is only sharing his newspaper (and only a tiny portion of it) with his neighbours. I will say that I've always appreciated the very polite interaction that I've always found on this site. This is a happy contrast to most online fora. I think there is generally far too much incivility to be found in online comments.
ReplyDeletePeter
C&R make their living by constructing puzzles. The National Post pays them for the right to print the Saturday cryptic. NP has a paywall. The content is provided to subscribers and purchasers of the newspaper. I don't know the legalities involved when NP content is reproduced on a website like this. But I can't imagine C&R would welcome contact from people who are regularly circumventing the business model that makes their puzzles possible.
ReplyDeleteLike Peter, I too am a long-term National Post subscriber. Like Peter, I, who have no other social media presence, have welcomed this forum and its civil embrace. If there is a need to increase awareness about copyright, there are ways it can be raised that illuminate and inspire the principle . As Richard from NYC has written, my paraphrase, facts would help.
ReplyDeleteWithout this blog and Falcon's detailed write-up's, it would have been difficult for me to have learned how to complete a cryptic puzzle as the answers with no explanations published each week in the newspaper were not helpful. It's been a wonderful journey to acquire that accomplishment because of Falcon's work. Then when I started to show up each week on the blog - and that took some courage as you were all very erudite with your explanations - you made it that much more fun, especially alone through Covid. Somehow tonight, I just feel sad for us all.