Saturday, April 23, 2022 — All Present and Accounted For (NP 220423)

Introduction

There's certainly no excuse not to recognize the nature of today's National Post Cryptic Crossword from Cox & Rathvon (NP 220423). It's handed to us on a silver platter right off the top.

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

1a	Complete set of letters // thrust behind reminder of regret (7)

PANG|RAM — RAM (thrust) following (behind) PANG (reminder of regret)

The phrase "reminder of regret" alludes to the expression 'pang of regret'^[14]. Pangs can be caused by virtually any negative emotion—including sadness, jealousy, guilt, and remorse.

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A pangram is a puzzle in which every letter of the alphabet appears at least once in the solutions to the clues.

5a	Quite an unusual // relic (7)

ANTIQUE* — anagram of (unusual) QUITE AN

9a	Prevarication- // prone? (5)

LYING — double definition

10a	Smothering yawn, Joyce // rallies (9)

JAM(BORE)ES — JAMES (Joyce; Irish writer James Joyce^[7]) containing (smothering) BORE (yawn)

Yawn^[5] is used in the informal sense of a thing that is considered boring or tedious ⇒ the film is just one big yawn.

11a	Wow— // two eggs and ham on the side? (3)

O|O|H_ — {O + O} (two [letters that look like] eggs) + (and) H (ham on the side; a letter on the side of Ham)

12a	Classic // meat recipes revised (11)

MASTERPIECE* — anagram of (revised) MEAT RECIPES

14a	A bathroom bug // giving a cool impression (7)

A|LOO|FLY — A (†) + LOO (bathroom) + FLY (bug)

Loo^[5] is an informal British term for a toilet [either as a plumbing fixture or a room].

Here and There

It is interesting to see "bathroom" used to clue LOO as the British certainly do not consider a loo to be a bathroom. Lexico (Oxford Dictionaries) defines a bathroom[5] as follows: (British) a room containing a bath or shower and typically [but not necessarily] also a washbasin and a toilet. (North American) a room containing a toilet and washbasin and typically [but not necessarily] also a bath or shower. So, in the UK, be careful what you ask for. If you ask to use the bathroom, you might be handed a towel and bar of soap and ushered to a room with no toilet. As one British reader commented on one blog I follow I usually respond to anyone offering a bathroom with I don’t want a bath just a **** !.

15a	Entrust new // beta release (4,3)

{TEST RUN}* — anagram of (new) ENTRUST

17a	Red // sestet back in store (7)

MAR(XIS<)T — {reversal of (back) SIX (sestet)} contained in (in) MART (store)

19a	“What fun!” the last of the Brits // gasped (7)

WHEE|ZED — WHEE (What fun!) + ZED (the last [letter] of the Brits)

The wordplay works especially well in the expression from A to Z (from the first to the last).

This is not only "the last of the Brits" but equally "the last of the Canadians".

21a	Rudely, boss crashed // mating spots? (11)

CHESSBOARD* — anagram of (rudely) BOSS CRASHED

In chess, mate^[5] (short for checkmate^[5]) as a verb means to put one's opponent into checkmate, a position in which a player's king is directly attacked by an opponent's piece or pawn and has no possible move to escape the check.

23a	Harry Potter’s pal // in front (3)

_RON_ — hidden in (in) fRONt

Ron Weasley^[7] is a fictional character in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series of books. His first appearance is in the first book of the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone^* as the best friend of Harry Potter and Hermione Granger.

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^* published in the US as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

24a	Contradictory // guy in scuba gear? (9)

DIVER|GENT — DIVER ([one] in scuba gear) + GENT (guy)

For the wordplay to make sense, it must be read as a phrase; thus a "guy in scuba gear" is a "DIVER GENT".

26a	Old actor Kilmer’s // tracks (5)

O|VAL|S — O(ld) + VAL (actor Kilmer; American actor Val Kilmer^[7]) + S ('s)

27a	Seafood, // reduced in amount, sent back (7)

{MU(SSEL)S}< — reversal of (sent back){LESS (reduced) contained in (in) SUM (amount)}

28a	Speaks badly before club // opener (7)

PASSKE*|Y — anagram of (badly) SPEAKS + Y (club; YMCA/YWCA, an athletic club)

Down

1d	Pop appearance with a big oaf (7)

PA|LOOK|A — PA (pop) + LOOK (appearance) + (with) A (†)

2d	Live near // renovated Hub region (9)

NEIGHBOUR* — anagram of (renovated) HUB REGION

3d	Marian’s guff confused // urchins (11)

RAGAMUFFINS* — anagram of (confused) MARIANS GUFF

4d	Sovereign // joke in springtime (7)

MA(JEST)Y — JEST (joke) contained in (in) MAY (springtime)

5d	Check about medium // chair part (7)

AR(M)REST — ARREST (check) containing (about) M (medium; clothing size)

6d	Couple // excessively outspoken (3)

TWO~ — sounds like (outspoken) TOO (excessively)

7d	Heard actor’s prompt // line (5)

QUEUE~ — sounds like (heard) CUE (actor's prompt)

8d	Error in the rear // time zone (7)

EASTERN — E (error; baseball terminology) + ASTERN (in the rear)

13d	What you have: // post office’s meetings (11)

PO|SESSIONS — PO (post office) + SESSIONS (meetings)

16d	Oven frame holding the Greek // hog (9)

RA(ZORBA)CK — RACK (oven frame) containing (holding) ZORBA (the Greek; in reference to the 1946 novel and 1964 film Zorba the Greek^[7])

17d	Psycho with a camera brought back // street material (7)

{MAC|A|DAM}< — MAD (psycho) + (with) A (†) + CAM (camera)

18d	Horn players // listened to teachers (7)

TOOTERS~ — sounds like (listened to) TUTORS (teachers)

19d	Waiter smashed soft // bug (7)

WIRETAP* — anagram of (squashed) WAITER + P (soft; piano, a musical direction to play softly)

20d	Day without a cruel // family in power (7)

D||Y|NASTY — DY {D[A]Y with the letter A removed (without A)} + NASTY (cruel)

22d	Pop icon // featured in “Tunnel Vision” (5)

_EL|VIS_ — hidden in (featured in) TunnEL VISion

Scratching the Surface
I see the most likely interpretation of the surface reading to be a reference to the 2013 song "Tunnel Vision"[7] recorded by Amerian singer Justin Timberlake. A possible—but, to my mind, less probable—alternative reference would be the 1976 film Tunnel Vision[7] which starred "a raft of future comedy stars" including Chevy Chase, John Candy, Joe Flaherty, and Al Franken.

25d	Regret // bitter herb (3)

RUE — double definition

Epilogue

Apart from being a pangram, there does not appear to be any particular theme to the puzzle. There is one clear reference to chess (21a) and a second (12a) that at a stretch might be seen to be an allusion to the game.

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^* The solution to 21a can be decomposed into two chess terms. A master^[5] is a very strong chess player, especially one who has qualified for the title at international tournaments and a piece^[5] is a king, queen, bishop, knight, or rook, as opposed to a pawn.

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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