Saturday, May 7, 2022 — Knight Tyme (NP 220507)

Introduction

What better way to welcome the "lusty month of May" than a visit to Camelot in today's National Post Cryptic Crossword from Cox & Rathvon (NP 220507).

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	Party included // noble fellow (7)

GALA|HAD — GALA (party) + HAD (included)

In Arthurian legend, Sir Galahad^[5] was the noblest of the knights of the Round Table, renowned for immaculate purity and destined to find the Holy Grail.

5a	Captain’s backup // commanding officer with secret plan gaining interest (7)

CO|P(I)LOT — CO (commanding officer) + (with) PLOT (secret plan) containing (gaining) I (interest; financial term)

9a	Docent // tossed rude GI out (4,5)

{TOUR GUIDE}* — anagram of (tossed) RUDE GI OUT

10a	Inside of some bingo // place in Nebraska (5)

_OM_|AHA — OM (inside [interior letters] of [S]OM[E]) + AHA (bingo)

Bingo^[5] is an exclamation used to express satisfaction at a sudden positive event or outcome.

11a	Pop // stirs the wrong way (4)

SODA< — reversal of (the wrong way) ADOS (stirs; bustling activities)

12a	Little riders at a Renaissance fair // some evenings (10)

WEE|KNIGHTS — WEE (little) + KNIGHTS (riders at a Renaissance fair)

14a	Nomadic RV place occupied by one // seeker of the Holy Grail (8)

{PERC(I)VAL}* — anagram of (nomadic) RV PLACE containing (occupied by) {[Roman numeral] one}

In Arthurian legend, Percival^[15] (also spelled Perceval or Percevale) is a knight of King Arthur's court who sought the Holy Grail^[15].

15a	Award for some graduates // in jade green (6)

_DE|GREE_ — hidden in jaDE GREEn

17a	Mexican snack // Sancho fixed (6)

NACHOS* — anagram of (fixed) SANCHO

19a	Guinevere’s lover // cut great deal (8)

LANCE|LOT — LANCE (cut) + LOT (great deal)

In Arthurian legend, Lancelot^[5] (also Launcelot) is the most famous of Arthur's knights, lover of Queen Guinevere and father of Galahad.

22a	Stranger troubled an // Arthurian institution (5,5)

{ROUND TABLE}* — anagram of (stranger) TROUBLED AN

In Arthurian legend, the Round Table^[5] is the table at which King Arthur and his knights sat so that none should have precedence.

23a	A court’s // laws (4)

A|CT|S — A (†) + CT (court; in street addresses) + S ('s)

26a	Drive // old Ford model in tract of open land (5)

MO(T)OR — T (Old Ford model) contained in (in) MOOR (tract of open land)

Moor^[5] is a chiefly British term for a tract of open uncultivated upland, typically covered with heather.

27a	Try // writing, darling (9)

PROSE|CUTE — PROSE (writing) + CUTE (darling)

28a	Mister // Sayer embraces public relations (7)

S(PR)AYER — SAYER (†) containing (embracing) PR (public relations)

29a	Enemy of Arthur // voiced more fear (7)

MORDRED~ — sounds like (voiced) {MORE (†) + DREAD (fear)}

In Arthurian legend, Mordred^[5] is the nephew of King Arthur who abducted Guinevere and raised a rebellion against Arthur.

Down

1d	Billionaire // exits (5)

GATES — double definition

Bill Gates^[7] is an American entrepreneur who co-founded Microsoft. As of May 2022, Forbes estimates Gates to have a net worth of US$125 billion, making him the fourth-richest person in the world.

2d	Wash // Los Angeles beneath the waves (7)

LA|UNDER — LA (Los Angeles) + UNDER (beneath the waves)

3d	Audibly greeting // drunk (4)

HIGH~ — sounds like (audibly) HI (greeting)

4d	Home feature // changed yard view (8)

DRIVEWAY* — anagram of (changed) YARD VIEW

5d	Arrests // some Slavs overheard (6)

CHECKS~ — sounds like (overheard) CZECHS (some Slavs)

6d	Divine control // I’d encountered in part of France (10)

PROV(ID)ENCE — ID (I'd) contained in (encountered in) PROVENCE (part of France)

7d	Shakespearean king keeps the // tanned pelts (7)

LEA(THE)R — LEAR (Shakespearean king) containing (keeps) THE (†)

8d	Vagrant // treats inn badly (9)

TRANSIENT* — anagram of (badly) TREATS INN

13d	Dry soldier out // in a mess (10)

DISORDERLY* — anagram of (out) DRY SOLDIER

14d	Nothing right in Panama’s // vistas (9)

PAN(O|R)AMA|S — {O (nothing; letter that looks like a zero} + R(ight)} contained in (in) {PANAMA (†) + S ('s)}

16d	Everything in cleaner // place for dancing (8)

B(ALL)ROOM — ALL (everything) contained in (in) BROOM (cleaner)

18d	Argue against // work surface (7)

COUNTER — double definition

20d	Polish // queen held by a cruel revolutionary (7)

{LAC(Q)UER}* — Q(ueen) contained in (held by) anagram of (revolutionary) {A CRUEL}

21d	Indigent // guy in the middle put in document (6)

PA(U)PER — U ([G]U[Y] in the middle) contained in (put in) PAPER (document)

24d	Offspring surrounding true // horse (5)

S(T)EED — SEED ([Biblical term for] offspring) containing (surrounding) T(rue)

25d	Carry // zoo animal (4)

BEAR — double definition

Epilogue

As Guinevere sings in Camelot:

Tra la! It's May!
The lusty month of May!
That darling month when ev'ryone throws
Self-control away.
It's time to do
A wretched thing or two,
And try to make each precious day
One you'll always rue!

---

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 )

---

Signing off for today — Falcon