Saturday, June 18, 2022 — Let The Bells Ring (NP 220618)

Introduction

The review of today's National Post Cryptic Crossword from Cox & Rathvon (NP 220618) comes to you from southern Manitoba where I am visiting family. I'm about an hour south of Senf in Winnipeg and possibly a couple of degrees hotter (the temperature reached 37 C here today).

The puzzle will be posted on the blog on Saturday, June 25.

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	Spray used to debilitate // staff (4)

MACE — double definition

3a	Old Greek // aimlessly reads about ring (10)

{AR(CHIME)DES}* — anagram of (aimlessly) READS containing (about) CHIME (ring)

9a	Wrinkly dog // has ripe bananas (4-3)

{SHAR PEI}* —  anagram of (bananas) HAS RIPE

11a	Sweetheart taking a start-of-year // break in a journey (7)

L(A|Y)OVER — LOVER (sweetheart) containing (taking) {A (†) + Y (start [initial letter] of Year)}

12a	Attractive // ring involved in copying (9)

AP(PEAL)ING — PEAL (ring) contained in (involved in) APING (copying)

13a	Pluck // some thinner verbenas (5)

_NER|VE_ — hidden in (some) thinNER VErbenas

14a	Answer about a // second look for sports fans (6)

REPL(A)Y — REPLY (answer) containing (about) A (†)

16a	Relish on the back of one // movie director (3,3)

AN|G LEE — GLEE (relish) following (on back of) AN (one)

20a	Verse // type, or novel (6)

POETRY* — anagram of (novel) TYPE OR

21a	Perfect // grass fenced by boy (4-2)

S(POT) ON — POT (grass; marijuana) contained in (fenced by) SON (boy)

24a	I’m embracing God in Italian dialect (5)

I(DIO)M — IM (I'm) containing (embracing) DIO (God in Italian; Italian word for 'God')

26a	Check ring around a backwater in Australia (9)

BILL(A)BONG — {BILL (check) + BONG (ring)} containing (around) A (†)

28a	Japanese dictator adopts sort of square // shooter (7)

SHO(T)GUN — SHOGUN (Japanese dictator) containing (adopts) T (sort of square; T-square, a draughtsman's tool)

29a	Country // road ran hither and yon (7)

ANDORRA* — anagram of (hither and yon) ROAD RAN

30a	Shiite leaders // cryptically say “Aha” when accepting ring (10)

{AYA(TOLL)AHS}* — anagram of (cryptically) SAY AHA containing (when accepting) TOLL (ring)

31a	Endlessly pursue // son of Eliz. II (4)

CHAS_ — CHAS[E] (pursue) with the final letter removed (endlessly)

Down

1d	Destroy // large-scale farm parcel (8)

MASS|ACRE — MASS (large scale) + ACRE (farm parcel)

2d	Noisily munch // hero (5)

CHAMP — double definition

4d	Mostly cultivating // vineyard fruit (6)

RAISIN_ — RAISIN[G] (cultivating) with the final letter removed (mostly)

5d	Keeping a journal, layers // certain elements (8)

H(A|LOG)ENS — HENS (layers) containing (keeping) {A (†) + LOG (journal)}

6d	Brought back North American tuber /from/ a Mexican culture (5)

{MAY|AN}< — reversal of (brought back) {NA (North American) + YAM (tuber)}

7d	Different // fellow like Cousteau? (9)

DIVER|GENT — DIVER (like Cousteau; noun used as a modifier) + GENT (fellow)

8d	Actress // Peters getting confused (6)

STREEP* — anagram of (getting confused) PETERS

10d	Make calm // by resting in position (7)

PLAC(AT)E — AT (by) contained in (resting in) PLACE (position)

15d	Converted Episcopal // pop (5,4)

{PEPSI COLA}* — anagram of (converted) EPISCOPAL

17d	Arctic area // boy holding blueprint (7)

LA(PLAN)D — LAD (boy) containing (holding) PLAN (blueprint)

18d	Roll into experimental // court proceeding (8)

TRI(BUN)AL — BUN (roll) contained in (into) TRIAL (experimental)

19d	A no-good horse runs into // literal mix-ups (8)

A|NAG|RAMS — A (†) + NAG (no-good horse) + RAMS (runs into)

22d	Changed sites before a // break in the afternoon (6)

SIEST*|A — anagram of (changed) SITES preceding (before) A (†)

23d	Laundry additive // left in oceanside strip (6)

B(L)EACH — L(eft) contained in (in) BEACH (oceanside strip)

25d	One nearsighted // mother with icky stuff (5)

MA|GOO — MA (mother) + (with) GOO (icky stuff)

27d	Talk show host // Groucho’s brother viewed from behind (5)

OPRAH< — reversal of (viewed from behind) HARPO (Groucho's brother)

Epilogue

I think the theme rang out loud and clear today.

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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