Introduction
Today's National Post Cryptic Crossword from Cox & Rathvon (NP 220219) will likely prove to be a bit of a geography lesson—not only for solvers from outside our borders but maybe even for some Canadians as well.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
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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 | Nab weasel around head of polluted // river (10) |
COP(P)ERMINE — {COP (nab) + ERMINE (weasel)} containing (around) P (head [initial letter] of Polluted)
The Coppermine River[7] is a river in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut in Canada. It is 845 kilometres (525 mi) long. It rises in Lac de Gras, a small lake near Great Slave Lake, and flows generally north to Coronation Gulf, an arm of the Arctic Ocean.
| 6a | Hitched pair // sleeps facing the wrong way (4) |
SPAN< — reversal of (facing the wrong way) NAPS (sleeps)
Span[5] is a North American term for a matched pair of horses, mules, or oxen.
| 9a | Butterfly // appearing in late winter (7) |
M(ON)ARCH — ON (appearing) contained in (in) MARCH (late winter)
| 10a | Useless harbouring sick // scoundrel (7) |
V(ILL)AIN — VAIN (useless) containing (harbouring) ILL (sick)
| 12a | Tube containing a // gold or silver coin (5) |
DUC(A)T — DUCT (tube) containing (†) A (†)
| 13a | Make nice moves on either side of zigzag // river (9) |
{MACKEN(Z)IE}* — anagram of (moves) MAKE NICE containing (on either side of) Z ([letter shaped like a] zigzag)
Z[5] is used in the sense of a shape like that of a capital Z ⇒
the Z-shaped crack in the paving stone.
The Mackenzie River[5] is the longest river in Canada, flowing 1,700 km (1,060 miles) north-westwards from the Great Slave Lake to the Beaufort Sea, a part of the Arctic Ocean.
| 14a | Inventor’s call might set back // Japanese company (6) |
{YAM|AHA}< — reversal of (set back) {AHA (inventor's call) + MAY (might)}
| 16a | I like being in the sack, // favouring one side (6) |
B(I|AS)ED — {I (†) + AS (like)} contained in (being in) BED (the sack)
| 19a | Country // politician, too (6) |
POL|AND — POL (politician) + AND (too)
| 21a | Tap // souse hugging slob (6) |
S(PIG)OT — SOT (souse) containing (hugging) PIG (slob)
| 25a | Rogue getting hot next to cool // river (9) |
C(H)UR|CHILL — CUR (rogue) containing (getting) H(ot) + (next to) CHILL (cool)
The Churchill River[7] is a major river in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, Canada. From the head of the Churchill Lake it flows eastward 1,609 kilometres (1,000 mi) to Hudson Bay.
| 26a | Fresh // chance to talk about shortstop (5) |
SA(SS)Y — SAY (chance to talk) containing (about) SS (shortstop)
| 27a | Record about a pop // classic book for kids (3,1,3) |
L(A|D A D)OG — LOG (record) containing (about) {A (†) + DAD (pop)}
Lad: A Dog[7] is a 1919 American novel written by Albert Payson Terhune. Composed of twelve short stories first published in magazines, the novel is based on the life of Terhune's real-life Rough Collie, Lad.
| 28a | Evergreens inside received // start (2,5) |
GO (FIRS)T — FIRS (evergreens) contained in (inside) GOT (received)
| 29a | By the sound of it, fog // periods (4) |
DAYS~ — sounds like (by the sound of) DAZE (fog)
| 30a | Right in Newcastle, meandering river (2,8) |
{ST LAW(R)ENCE}* — R(ight) contained in (in) anagram of (meandering) NEWCASTLE
The St. Lawrence River[7] flows for some 1,200 km (750 miles) from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St Lawrence on the Atlantic coast, for part of its course forming the border between Canada and the US.
Down
| 1d | Yours truly in Buffalo Bill // show that’s funny (6) |
CO(ME)DY — ME (yours truly) contained in (in) CODY (Buffalo Bill)
(1846–1917), American showman; born William Frederick Cody. He gained his nickname for killing 4,280 buffalo in eight months to feed the Union Pacific Railroad workers, and subsequently devoted his life to his travelling Wild West Show.
| 2d | Cut in salary // more than alarmed (7) |
PA(NICK)Y — NICK (cut) in (†) PAY (salary)
| 3d | Feel sorry for missing the first // bird (5) |
_EGRET — [
| 4d | Echoed mother greeting // dolphin (4,4) |
MA|HI MA|HI — {MA (mother) + HI (greeting)} repeated (echoed)
Mahi mahi[5,7] is a Hawaiian name for the dorado (also called dolphinfish or dolphin). The dolphin in question is not the aquatic mammal with which most people will be familiar but a salt water fish most commonly found in the waters around the Gulf of Mexico, Costa Rica, Hawaii and the Indian Ocean.
| 5d | Rookie // not at all failing (6) |
NO|VICE — NO (not at all) + VICE (failing)
| 7d | Some pies seen around firstrate // marketplaces in Italy (7) |
PI(A)ZZAS — PIZZAS (some pies) containing (seen around) A (firstrate)
| 8d | Game system // found in seven in ten dorms (8) |
_NINTENDO_ — hidden in (found in) seveN IN TEN DOrms
| 11d | Shelter band, // acting like a wolf (7) |
LEE|RING — LEE (shelter) + RING (band)
| 15d | Threatened // fellows performed very well (7) |
MEN|ACED — MEN (fellows) + ACED (performed very well)
| 17d | Spotted // Gregory riding in vehicle with runners (8) |
S(PECK)LED — PECK (Gregory; American actor Gregory Peck[7]) contained in (riding in) SLED (vehicle with runners)
| 18d | Soldier in a horseback game with a // formal defence (8) |
A|POLO(GI)A — GI ([US] soldier) contained in (in) {A (†) + POLO (horseback game)} + (with) A (†)
| 20d | Note damp // wash (7) |
LA|UNDRY — LA ([musical] note) + UNDRY (damp)
| 22d | Pilot // turns E.T. off (4,3) |
{TEST RUN}* — anagram of (off) TURNS ET
| 23d | With identification, obtain // thingamabob (6) |
W|ID|GET — W(ith) + ID (identification) + GET (obtain)
| 24d | Evergreen // tree pierced by shot on the way back (6) |
{M(YRT)LE}< — reversal of (on the way back) {ELM (tree) containing (pierced by) TRY (shot; attempt)}
| 26d | Run behind couch // to date (2,3) |
SO FA|R — R(un) following (behind) SOFA (couch)
Epilogue
The puzzle features four major Canadian rivers—all found in across clues.
References
Key to Reference Sources:
[1] - The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition
[14] - CollinsDictionary.com (COBUILD Advanced English Dictionary)
[15] - CollinsDictionary.com (Penguin Random House LLC/HarperCollins Publishers Ltd )
Signing off for today — Falcon
Good day all from NYC where the past week has had sun, rain, wind, warmth and cold. Almost got all four seasons in a few days.
ReplyDeleteToday's puzzle -- no fair! Took me on a winding Canadian river cruise ride. 30a was all I knew beforehand.
Last in was 24d. Got it from the parsing. Didn't know it as an evergreen.
I thought 2d, 17d, and 18d were particularly fresh. For 17d I was stuck at first on where I could put "Greg" into the answer. Oh well.
Have a nice weekend and good next week all.
Falcon, thanks for your efforts.
Richard
Good morning from an increasingly snowy Winnipeg. The 'Alberta Clippers' keep on coming!
ReplyDeleteThis watery head scratcher was quite a challenge and I needed e-help on the 27a kids' book to finish.
Smiles for 16a, 28a, and 24d.
Thanks to C&R and to Falcon.
Hello to Falcon and C&R fans ; Such a pleasant surprise to realize the major clues were our Canadian rivers (thank you, C&R) ... plus a nod to our Henry in 19a! I must admit that I didn't see the Canadian connection for a while and amongst other missteps, was trying to start 30a with 'Et"... It's a good thing we can laugh at ourselves. LOI was 7d. I enjoyed 16a, 25a, 27a (did not know that book either), 20d, 24d. All in all, a fine puzzle for a cold and windy morning north of the GTA. I'm off now to snowblow the driveway and shovel a few runs for the dog. May you all have a relaxing weekend, enjoyable Family Day if it is a holiday you share, and good week ahead. Thank you, Falcon, for all that you do.
ReplyDeleteBest always, Heather
Good morning,
ReplyDeleteWell, that was rather a poser. But quite fun. I had to look up 6a, 27a, and 4d. As to 20d: ‘undry’ – really?? I, too, did not realise 24d is an evergreen. I think my favourites were 16a and 18d. Have a good weekend!
Peter
Today's offering from C&R (thanks for tha, by the way) didn't exactly flow for me. OMG, embarrassing that I didn't get 19a until I had the checking letters. So much for the nod!
ReplyDeleteThis one was strange in that the convoluted and misleading clues all popped into my head, but I had to get help with 20d (ok undry is not what I expected), 17d (I was working on sleigh).
But as noted, it was fun. Liked 23d. LOI was 27a as I had never heard of it.
A great snowy weekend to all!
Thanks Falcon!
See you all next week.
Hello Falcon and friends,
ReplyDeletePretty challenging puzzle today, even for us Canadians. I think I had 4 solved on my first pass through the across clues. I really liked 20d and 11d (when I saw wolf, I thought of howling, "loboing", etc.) LOI was 6a for me, still don't quite understand hitched pair.
Thank you for posting Falcon. Hoping that winter is starting to wind down.
Cheers,
MG
A span is a pair of horses, mules or oxen in harness or yoked.
DeleteI had the same problem with 6a. I found this in Chambers Online: "US a pair of horses or oxen, especially two that are very alike in size and colouring."
ReplyDelete