Saturday, June 11, 2022 — Solitary Genius (NP 220611)

 

Introduction

Today's National Post Cryptic Crossword from Cox & Rathvon (NP 220611) pays tribute to a renowned Canadian pianist who passed away forty years ago this year.

The puzzle will be posted on the blog on Saturday, June 18.

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	Pianist, // drifting long, lunged (5,5)

{GLENN GOULD}* — anagram of (drifting) LONG LUNGED

Glenn Gould^[5] (1932–1982) was a Canadian pianist and composer. Best known for his performances of works by Bach, he retired from the concert platform in 1964 to concentrate on recording and broadcasting.

6a	Love hurt // Khayyam (4)

O|MAR — O (love; nil score in tennis) + MAR (hurt)

Omar Khayyám^[10] (?1050–?1123) was a Persian poet, mathematician, and astronomer, noted for the Rubáiyát, a collection of quatrains, popularized in the West by Edward Fitzgerald's version (1859).

9a	Rulers going after six // pirates (7)

VI|KINGS — KINGS (rulers) following (going after) VI ([Roman numeral] six)

10a	Denied // deficiency, holding revolver (7)

NE(GAT)ED — NEED (deficiency) containing (holding) GAT (revolver; pistol)

Gat^[10] is mainly US slang for a pistol or revolver.

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Origin: The expression derives — directly, or indirectly — from Gatling gun^[5] (the first practical machine gun which was developed during the US Civil War). In the following, I have attempted to track down how the name of a machine gun became slang for a pistol. (show more )

Most sources seem to suggest that the term arose as gangster slang and dates from the prohibition era (the 1920s and early 1930s) in the United States. Wiktionary claims that gat is additionally an archaic slang term for a Gatling gun which was used in old westerns. However, that may simply be a case of early 20^th century screenwriters misapplying what was then current-day lingo to a past period of history.

The American Heritage Dictionary, Lexico (Oxford English Dictionary). and Collins English Dictionary all define gat^[3,5,10] as meaning a pistol or revolver (despite its etymology) while Wiktionary says a gat is "Any type of gun; usually a pistol".

The Online Etymology Dictionary perhaps gives a hint as to the evolution of the word gat which it defines as a revolver, and dates the usage to 1904 (pre-prohibition). It also says that the etymology is a "slang shortening of Gatling (gun)". Furthermore, it goes on to say that "by 1880, gatlin was slang for a gun of any sort".

So, one can surmise that the word Gatling meaning a specific type of machine gun (from the 1860s) might first have been shortened to 'gatlin' which came to mean a gun of any sort (by the 1880s), and — in a second stage of evolution — was further shortened to 'gat' in the early 1900s. The word would now seem to have largely lost its sense of a gun of any sort and refer almost exclusively to a pistol or revolver.

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12a	Traumas reshaped // part of Indonesia (7)

SUMATRA* — anagram of (reshaped) TRAUMAS

Sumatra^[5] is a large island of Indonesia, situated to the south-west of the Malay Peninsula, from which it is separated by the Strait of Malacca.

13a	Evergreen // a river apart from you and me (7)

A|R|BUT|US — A (†) + R(iver) + BUT (apart from) + US (you and me)

An arbutus^[5] is an evergreen tree or shrub of a genus that includes the strawberry tree^*.

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^* Not to be confused with the trailing arbutus^[5,7] (also called mayflower), a creeping North American plant of the heather family, with leathery evergreen leaves and clusters of pink or white flowers which is the floral emblem of both Nova Scotia and Massachusetts.

14a	Ruin // feature of found object (4)

_UND|O_ — hidden in (feature of) foUND Object

15a	Day broke after moving // piano (8)

KEYBOARD* — anagram of (after moving) DAY BROKE

19a	Rube // awfully boggled about rap at first (8)

{GOLDBE(R)G}* — anagram of (awfully) BOGGLED containing (about) R (rap at first; initial letter of Rap)

Rube Goldberg^[5] (1883–1970) was an American cartoonist whose illustrations often depicted devices that were ingeniously or unnecessarily complicated in design or construction.

22a	In comeback, broadcast a // song (4)

  {A|RIA}< — reversal of (in comeback) {AIR (broadcast) + A (†)}

25a	Take most of paintings by hot // painter (7)

HOG|ART|H — HOG (take most of) + ART (paintings) + (by) H(ot)

William Hogarth^[7] (1697–1764) was an English painter and engraver. Notable works include his series of engravings on ‘modern moral subjects’, such as A Rake’s Progress (1735), which satirized the vices of both high and low life in 18th-century England.

27a	Featured performer // is in very large number (7)

SO|LO(IS)T — IS (†) contained in (in) {SO (very) + LOT (large number)}

28a	Brandenburg town // pool’s next to structure on a river (7)

POTSDAM — POT (pool; gambling kitty) + S ('s) + (next to) DAM (structure on a river)

Potsdam^[5] is a city in eastern Germany, the capital of Brandenburg, situated just south-west of Berlin on the Havel River. It is the site of the rococo Sans Souci palace built for Frederick II between 1745 and 1747.

29a	Hearing “tavern,” mention // realization (7)

{IN|SIGHT}~ — sounds like (hearing) {INN (tavern) + CITE (mention)}

Realization^[5] is used in the sense of an act of becoming fully aware of something as a fact.

30a	Sister said // zip (4)

NONE~ — sounds like (said) NUN (sister)

31a	Caricatured aviators in // different forms (10)

VARIATIONS* — anagram of (caricatured) AVIATORS IN

Down

1d	American composer, seized by joint pain, // breaks down (5,3)

G(IVES) OUT — IVES (American composer) contained in (seized by) GOUT (joint pain)

Charles Ives^[5] (1874–1954) was a US composer, noted for his use of polyrhythms, polytonality, quarter-tones, and aleatoric techniques. Notable works: The Unanswered Question (1906), Three Places in New England (1903–14), and Concord (1915).

2d	Mike’s good new // musher (6,3)

{ESKIMO DOG}* — anagram of (new) MIKES GOOD

The term Eskimo dog can refer to either:

• Canadian Eskimo dog^[3,5]: a large, powerful dog developed by the Inuit in the Arctic and used to pull sleds and aid in hunting, having a thick double coat of various colours, pointed muzzle, bushy curved tail, and erect ears.
• American Eskimo dog^[3,5]: a dog of a small to medium-sized breed developed in the United States from European spitzes as a pet rather than a working dog, having a thick white or white and cream coat, erect ears, and a plumed tail, and formerly popular in circus acts.

As the term Eskimo is considered offensive in Canada^*, I wondered about the acceptability of the name Eskimo dog. I discovered that, in 2020, the Canadian Eskimo Dog Club petitioned the Canadian Kennel Club to change the name of the breed to Inuit Qimmiq (qimmiq being the Inuit word for 'dog'). The proposal itself generated controversy with some Inuit pointing out the proposed name was grammatically incorrect and translated roughly as "Inuit are dogs". I was unable to discover the outcome of this initiative but doubt it was successful. You can read the full article at Push underway to rename Canadian Eskimo Dog as Inuit Qimmiq.

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^* but apparently not in Alaska

3d	Number // one profit in New York (6)

N(I|NET)Y — {I ([Roman numeral] one) + NET (profit)} contained in (in) NY (New York)

4d	Doctored ages not // visible to the audience (7)

{ON STAGE}* — anagram of (doctored) AGES NOT

5d	Old script // Liberal keeps handy (6,1)

LI(NEAR) B — LIB (Liberal; Canadian political party) containing (keeps) NEAR (handy)

Linear B^[5] is a form of Bronze Age writing discovered on tablets in Crete, dating from c.1400 to 1200 BC. In 1952 it was shown to be a syllabic script composed of linear signs, derived from Linear A^* and older Minoan scripts, representing a form of Mycenaean Greek.

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^* Linear A is an earlier form of writing discovered at Knossos in Crete between 1894 and 1901, found on tablets and vases dating from c.1700 to 1450 BC and still largely unintelligible.

7d	Opera house filled with Old Testament // choral piece (5)

M(OT)ET — MET (opera house; the Met, an informal term for the Metropolitan Opera House in New York) containing (filled with) OT (Old Testament)

A motet^[5] is a short piece of sacred choral music.

8d	Veggie /that’s/ sort of awesome? (6)

RADISH — double definition, the latter being a whimsical construction of RAD (awesome) + -ISH (a suffix denoting 'sort of')

11d	Soldier and bishop raced // mystic poet (6)

GI|B|RAN — GI ([US] soldier) + B (bishop; chess piece) + RAN (raced)

Khalil Gibran^[5] (1883–1931) was a Lebanese-born American writer and artist. His writings in both Arabic and English are deeply romantic, displaying his religious and mystical nature.

16d	Heroism // going astray in strange retrospective (7-2)

D(ERRING-)DO< — ERRING (going astray) contained in (in) reversal of (retrospective) ODD (strange)

17d	Ornate // lid for nuts (6)

FLORID* — anagram of (nuts) LID FOR

18d	Vocal pieces // terminate with farewells (8)

CAN|TATAS — CAN (terminate; dismiss from employment) + (with) TATAS (farewells)

Ta-ta^[5] is an informal British way to say goodbye ⇒ well, I’ll say ta-ta, love.

20d	Snake spanning border, half in // Czech region (7)

BO(HEM|I||)A — BOA (snake) containing (spanning) {HEM (border) + I (half [of] I[N])}

Bohemia^[5] is a region forming the western part of the Czech Republic. Formerly a Slavic kingdom, it became a province of the newly formed Czechoslovakia by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919.

21d	Irons is playing // composer (7)

ROSSINI* — anagram of (playing) IRONS IS

Gioacchino Antonio Rossini^[5] (1792–1868) was an Italian composer, one of the creators of Italian bel canto. He wrote over thirty operas, including The Barber of Seville (1816) and William Tell (1829).

Scratching the Surface
Jeremy Irons[7] is an English actor. He is one of the few actors who have won the "Triple Crown of Acting", winning an Academy Award (for film), an Emmy Award (television) and a Tony Award (for theatre).

23d	Cut popular // concert pianist (6)

CHOP|IN — CHOP (cut) + IN (popular)

Frédéric Chopin^[5] (1810–1849) was a Polish-born French composer and pianist. Writing almost exclusively for the piano, he composed numerous mazurkas and polonaises inspired by Polish folk music, as well as nocturnes, preludes, and two piano concertos (1829; 1830).

24d	In court, forfeit // small room (6)

C(LOSE)T — LOSE (forfeit) contained in (in) CT (court; abbreviation in street addresses)

26d	Ape, taking time, // made progress (3,2)

GO(T) ON — GOON (ape) containing (taking) T(ime)

Goon^[3] is used in the sense of a stupid or oafish person rather than a thug hired to intimidate or harm opponents.

Epilogue

The title employs two of the terms commonly used to describe Canadian pianist Glenn Gould (Glenn Gould, the Solitary Genius). A third would be eccentric.^[7]

The Goldberg Variations^[7] (19a, 31a) is a musical composition for keyboard (15a) by Johann Sebastian Bach, consisting of an aria (22a) and a set of 30 variations . First published in 1741, it is named after Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, who may also have been the first performer of the work.

In 1955, Gould recorded Bach: The Goldberg Variations for Columbia Records. The recording, his first for the label, proved to be his breakthrough work. It received extraordinary praise and was among the best-selling classical music albums of its era. Gould became closely associated with the piece, playing it in full or in part at many recitals. A new recording of the Goldberg Variations, in 1981, was among his last albums; the piece was one of a few he recorded twice in the studio.^[7]

Gould died in 1982 at the age of 50 following a stroke. He is buried in Toronto's Mount Pleasant Cemetery. The first few bars of the Goldberg Variations are carved on his grave marker.^[7]

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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