Saturday, May 14, 2022 — Dancing on the Edge (NP 220514)

Introduction

Today's National Post Cryptic Crossword from Cox & Rathvon (NP 220514) features a quartet of American choreographers. I was familiar with one, vaguely aware of two more and never heard of the fourth. I'm sure they would not be impressed to learn this rudimentary knowledge comes not from their work but from their appearance in previous puzzles!

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	Choreographer // hit hip, disrupting poise (10)

BALANC(H|IN)E — {H (hit; baseball term) + IN (hip; fashionable)} contained in (disrupting) BALANCE (poise)

George Balanchine^[7] (1904–1983) was a Georgian-American ballet choreographer who was one of the most influential 20th-century choreographers. Styled as the father of American ballet, he co-founded the New York City Ballet and remained its Artistic Director for more than 35 years.

6a	Issue // prison sentence, in reversal (4)

EMIT< — reversal of (in reversal) TIME (prison sentence)

9a	Do battle // with one involved in bet (4,3)

WAGE (W|A)R — {W(ith) + A (one)} contained in (involved in) WAGER (bet)

10a	Kid surrounded by end of springtime // grandeur (7)

MA(JEST)Y — JEST (kid; tease) contained in (surrounded by) MAY (end of springtime)

12a	Acting group, given direction, // made a move involving the king (7)

CAST|LED — CAST (acting group) + LED (given direction)

In chess, castle^[5] means to make a special move (no more than once in a game by each player) in which the king is transferred from its original square two squares along the back rank towards a rook on its corner square which is then transferred to the square passed over by the king.

13a	Yogi, // um, wearing lingerie item (5)

B(ER)RA — ER (um; sound of hesitation) contained in (wearing) BRA (lingerie item)

Yogi Berra^[7] (1925–2015) was an American professional baseball catcher who later took on the roles of manager and coach. He played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) (1946–1963, 1965), all but the last for the New York Yankees. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest catchers in baseball history.

15a	Audibly said // “let” (7)

ALLOWED — sounds like (said) ALOUD (audibly)

17a	Teach punk about male // cat (7)

{C(HE)ETAH}* — anagram of (punk) TEACH containing (about) HE (male)

18a	Against entering non-clerical // brief (7)

LA(CON)IC — CON (against) contained in (entering) LAIC (non-clerical)

21a	Six pose for an artist or // guest (7)

VI|SIT|OR — VI ([Roman numeral] six) + SIT (pose for an artist) + OR (†)

23a	Protective clothing // article wrapping expert (5)

A(PRO)N — AN (article) containing (wrapping) PRO (expert)

24a	Skilled worker // developed a strain (7)

ARTISAN* — anagram of (developed) A STRAIN

27a	Old instrument containing final // moon-shaped detail (7)

LU(NET)TE — LUTE (old instrument) containing (†) NET (final; after expenses)

28a	Worker with a pickaxe // right behind dog (7)

COLLIE|R — R(ight) following (behind) COLLIE (dog)

29a	Boldly wear // large jewel (4)

ROCK — double definition

In the second part of the clue, rock^[5] is used in the sense of wear (a garment) or affect (an attitude or style), especially in a confident or flamboyant way ⇒ she was rocking a clingy little leopard-skin number.

30a	Clever, showboat // choreographer (10)

CUNNING|HAM — CUNNING (clever) + HAM (showboat; flamboyant actor)

Merce Cunningham^[7] (1919–2009) was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of American modern dance for more than 50 years. He frequently collaborated with artists of other disciplines. Works that he produced with these artists had a profound impact on avant-garde art beyond the world of dance.

Down

1d	Play in an alley // game on New Year’s Day (4)

BOWL — double definition

2d	Sensible // neighbourhood embracing soldier (7)

LO(GI)CAL — LOCAL (neighbourhood) containing (embracing) GI ([US] soldier)

3d	Broadcast information about true // amphibians (5)

NEW(T)S — NEWS (broadcast information) containing (about) T(rue)

4d	Damaged source of light // flashed wildly (7)

HURT|LED — HURT (damaged) + LED (source of light)

5d	Wandering // through Sonoma, dictate (7)

_NOMA|DIC_ — hidden in (through) SoNOMA DICtate

Scratching the Surface
Sonoma[7] is a city in Sonoma County, California, located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Sonoma is one of the principal cities of California's Wine Country and the center of the Sonoma Valley American Viticultural Area.

7d	Ark must put off // rodent (7)

MUSKRAT* — anagram of (put off) ARK MUST

8d	What partly disturbed // choreographer (5,5)

{TWYLA THARP}* — anagram of (disturbed) WHAT PARTLY

Twyla Tharp^[7] is an American dancer, choreographer, and author who lives and works in New York City. Her work often uses classical music, jazz, and contemporary pop music. In 1966 she formed the company Twyla Tharp Dance which, from 1971 to 1988, toured extensively around the world, performing original works. In 1988, Twyla Tharp Dance merged with American Ballet Theatre, since which time ABT has premiered 16 of Tharp's works.

11d	Girl in Little Women, before favour, // not working (7)

JO|BLESS — JO (girl in Little Women) preceding (before) BLESS (favour)

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.

14d	Choreographer // drifting up to a rally (4,6)

{PAUL TAYLOR}* — anagram of (drifting) UP TO A RALLY

Paul Taylor^[7] (1930–2018) was an American dancer and choreographer. He was one of the last living members of the third generation of America's modern dance artists. He founded the Paul Taylor Dance Company in 1954 in New York City.

16d	Secure African antelope with front of the // fastener (4,3)

WIN|G NU|T — WIN (secure) + GNU (African antelope) + (with) T (front [initial letter] of The)

19d	Tony, admitting resistance and appearing // persistent (7)

CH(R|ON)IC — CHIC (tony) containing (admitting) {R (resistance; electrical unit} + (and) ON (appearing)}

20d	Despise a copper-clad // country house (7)

C(HATE|A)U — {HATE (despise) + A (†)} contained in (-clad) CU ([chemical symbol for] copper)

21d	Palace in Rome // strangely vacant around one (7)

VATICAN — anagram of (strangely) VACANT containing (around) I ([Roman numeral] one)

The Vatican^[5] is the palace and official residence of the Pope in Rome.

22d	Hot after game on a court // midmorning (7)

TENNIS|H — H(ot) following (after) TENNIS (game on court)

25d	Old statesman // almost finished farewell (5)

SO|LON_ — SO LON[G] (farewell) with the final letter removed (almost finished)

Solon^[5] (c.630–c.560 BC) was an Athenian statesman and lawgiver. One of the Seven Sages, he revised the code of laws established by Draco, making it less severe. His division of the citizens into four classes based on wealth rather than birth laid the foundations of Athenian democracy.

26d	Stuff // Chagall brought back (4)

CRAM< — reversal of (brought back) MARC (Chagall; Russian-born French painter and graphic artist Marc Chagall^[5])

Epilogue

Richard can take credit for the title of today's review. It is clearly superior to my original idea of Square Dance.

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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