Saturday, February 12, 2022 — Misdirection (NP 220212)

Introduction

I found the top half of today's National Post Cryptic Crossword (NP 20220212) from Cox & Rathvon to be more of a challenge than the bottom half. My lack of knowledge on the subjects of Australian tennis and Italian opera proved to be a handicap. For obvious reasons, I'll have to designate 18a as my clue of the day.

The puzzle will be posted on the blog next Saturday.

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

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

9a	Aussie tennis player // playing with eye covering outside (3,4)

PAT C(AS)H — AS (playing; Sir Laurence Olivier as Hamlet) contained in (with ... outside) PATCH (eye covering)

Pat Cash^[7] is an Australian former professional tennis player. After winning the men's singles championship at Wimbledon in 1987, Cash climbed into the stands to celebrate, starting a tradition which has continued ever since by many winners.

Post Mortem
I'm afraid my knowledge of Aussie tennis players does not go much beyond Rod Laver and Evonne Goolagong. I tried to construct the name from the wordplay but none of PAT ONCH, PAT CONH, PAT INCH, or PAT CINH made the cut.

10a	Keyboard player: // one is in pit (7)

PI(AN|IS)T — {AN (one) + IS (†)} contained in (in) PIT (†)

11a	Legendary boat builder forgoes a // form of drama (3)

NO||H — NO[A]H (legendary boat builder) with the A removed (foregoes A)

Noh^[5] (also spelled No) is traditional Japanese masked drama with dance and song, evolved from Shinto rites ⇒ a Noh play. (show more )

Noh dates from the 14th and 15th centuries, and its subject matter is taken mainly from Japan's classical literature. Traditionally the players were all male, with the chorus playing a passive narrative role.

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12a	Bum steer can get // prominent spot for an actor (6,5)

{CENTRE STAGE}* — anagram of (bum) STEER CAN GET

13a	Burlesque // ticket price is about 100 (5)

FAR(C)E — FARE ([bus or train] ticket price) containing (is about) C ([Roman numeral] 100)

14a	Lack of stability // breaking main cable (9)

IMBALANCE* — anagram of (breaking) MAIN CABLE

16a	Snake in loop // making a grating sound (7)

R(ASP)ING — ASP (snake) contained in (in) RING (loop)

18a	Falcon // nesting in Duke’s trellis (7)

_KES|TREL_ — hidden in (nesting in) DuKES TRELlis

20a	Dog Eliot watched // showed deference (9)

CUR|TS|EYED — CUR (dog) + TS (Eliot; American British writer T. S. Eliot^[7]) + EYED (watched)

22a	Sport // wig with blue and yellow (5)

RUG|B|Y — RUG (wig) + B(lue) + (and) Y(ellow)

24a	Bum steer can get // someone involved in espionage (6,5)

{SECRET AGENT}* — anagram of (bum) STEER CAN GET

26a	Seating assignment // quarrel (3)

ROW — double definition

28a	Football player // Mom dressed in sheets (7)

LINE(MA)N — MA (Mom) contained in (dressed in) LINEN (sheets)

29a	Sleepwear // near neckwear (7)

NIGH|TIE — NIGH (near) + TIE (neckwear)

Down

1d	Turn // part of a book’s cover most of the way (4)

SPIN_ — SPIN[E] (part of a book's cover) with the final letter removed (most of the way)

2d	Glass artist, // and others with her (6)

ETC|HER — ETC (and others) + (with) HER

3d	Direct an odd // Rossini opera (8)

TANCREDI* — anagram of (odd) DIRECT AN

Tancredi^[7] is an opera by Italian composer Gioachino Rossini, first performed in 1813, based on Voltaire's play Tancrède (1760).

4d	Slender and regal // in a smart way (10)

THIN|KINGLY —

5d	Returning blows, // practice boxing (4)

SPAR< — reversal of (returning) RAPS (blows)

6d	Maid in a melodrama // blocks train in Chicago (6)

DAMS|EL — DAMS (blocks) + EL (train in Chicago; elevated railroad)

7d	Strip // laboratory aboard ship (3,5)

LI(L AB)NER — LAB (laboratory) contained in (aboard) LINER (ship)

Li'l Abner^[7] is a satirical comic strip written and drawn by American cartoonist Al Capp that appeared in many newspapers in the United States, Canada and Europe from 1934 to 1977, featuring a fictional clan of hillbillies in the impoverished mountain village of Dogpatch, USA.

8d	E.T. precedes the boy very // spacily (10)

ET|HE|REALLY — ET (†) + (precedes) HE (the boy) + REALLY (very)

Scratching the Surface

It was far easier to solve this clue than it was to find the definition in a dictionary. In fact, I failed to find it in any dictionary. However, I presume it to be the adverbial form of the adjective spacey. Spacey[5] (adjective, also spelled spacy) is an informal term meaning out of touch with reality, as though high on drugs ⇒ I remember babbling, high and spacey. Applied to popular, especially electronic, music, it denotes drifting and ethereal ⇒ a spacey ballad.

13d	Predict what to expect from the French // part of a ship (10)

FORECAST|LE — FORECAST (predict what to expect from) + LE (the French; French masculine singular definite article)

15d	Naked babes disturbed // picnic dish (5,5)

{BAKED BEANS}* — anagram of (disturbed) NAKED BABES

17d	Hurry inside without // fighters in the Crusades (8)

SA(RACE)NS — RACE (hurry) contained in (inside) SANS (without; word borrowed from French meaning 'without' ⇒ a bird sans feathers^[11])

19d	Get back in errant // plan of action (8)

STRA(TEG<)Y — reversal of (back) GET (†) contained in (in) STRAY (errant)

21d	My tea’s awfully // hot (6)

STEAMY* — anagram of (awfully) MY TEAS

23d	Turn // fork in lattice (6)

G(Y)RATE — Y ([letter that looks like a] fork) contained in (in) GRATE (lattice)

25d	River // essential to barn owls (4)

_ARN|O_ — hidden in (essential to) bARN O wls

The Arno^[5] is a river which rises in the Apennines of northern Italy and flows westwards 240 km (150 miles) through Florence and Pisa to the Ligurian Sea.

27d	White chicken, // once (4)

W|HEN — W(hite) + HEN (chicken)

Epilogue

Setters are always delivering "bum steers" but never so obviously as today.

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References

Sources referenced in the blog are identified by the following symbols. The reference numbers themselves are hyperlinks to the entry in the source being referenced. Click on the number to view the source.

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