Introduction
Today's National Post Cryptic Crossword from Cox & Rathvon (NP 220723) leaves the solver with no clear choice.The puzzle will be posted on the blog on Saturday, July 30, 2022.
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
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| Symbols and Markup Conventions | |
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| Click here for further explanation and usage examples of the symbols and markup conventions used on this blog. | |
Across
| 1a | Victorian carrying baloney // stick out (8) |
P(ROT)RUDE — PRUDE (Victorian) containing (carrying) ROT (baloney; pointless talk or nonsense)
| 5a | PCs are converting // distance in space (6) |
PARSEC* — anagram of (converting) PCS ARE
Scratching the Surface
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|---|---|
| Perhaps someone can suggest a more appropriate interpretation of the surface reading, but it may allude to the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada (PC)[7], a centre-right federal political party in Canada that existed from 1942 to 2003 when the party merged with the Canadian Alliance to form the Conservative Party of Canada. While the national party no longer exists, PC parties still exist in many Canadian provinces. |
| 9a | Bone // left among Greek crosses (5) |
TA(L)US — L(eft) contained in (among) TAUS (Greek crosses)
Tau[5] is the nineteenth letter of the Greek alphabet (Τ, τ), the upper case version of which is shaped like a cross. A tau cross[5] is a T-shaped cross.
* A tau cross is also known as the St Anthony cross (also St Anthony's cross) ⇒
The type of cross actually used by Romans for crucifixion is now known as St. Anthony's Cross, shaped like the letter "T", unlike the traditionally depicted Latin cross.
| 10a | Limit // price drops around mid-month (9) |
CO(N)ST|RAIN — {COST (price) + RAIN (drops)} containing (around)} N (mid-month; middle letter of moNth)
| 12a | Smashed TV near a // cafe in Athens (7) |
TAVERNA* — anagram of (smashed) TV NEAR A
A taverna[2] is a Greek restaurant.
| 13a | City // revels initially airing in toto (7) |
TO(R|ON)TO — {R (revels initially; initial letter of Revels) + ON (airing; being broadcast)} contained in (in) TOTO (†)
| 14a | Earliest history // article found in French region (10) |
PROVEN(AN)CE — AN ([grammatical] article) contained in (found in) PROVENCE (French region)
| 16a | Part of a prison // sketch seen from the rear (4) |
WARD< — reversal of (seen from the rear) DRAW (sketch)
A ward[10] is one of the divisions of a prison.
| 19a | Job // put up on a blog (4) |
POST — double definition
| 20a | One who advises // new ruler in bed (10) |
CO(N|SULTAN)T — {N(ew) + SULTAN ([Muslim] ruler)} contained in (in) COT (bed)
| 23a | Piece of raft swallowed by stupid // sea serpent (7) |
OARFISH — R (piece [initial letter] of Raft) contained in (swallowed by) OAFISH (stupid)
The oarfish[5] (also called ribbonfish or king of the herrings) is a very long, narrow silvery marine fish of deep water, with a deep red dorsal fin running the length of the body. One species, the giant oarfish, is the longest bony fish alive, growing up to 8 m (26 ft) in length. Their large size and eel-like appearance would make them a a probable source of many sea serpent tales.
United States Navy SEALS holding a 23-foot (7.0 m) giant oarfish, found washed up on the shore near San Diego, California, in September 1996
| 25a | Published about a crazy // month of fasting (7) |
R(A|MAD)AN — RAN (published) containing (about) {A (†) + MAD (crazy)}
| 26a | Watched test-takers // record top bananas (9) |
PROCTORED* — anagram of (bananas) RECORD TOP
| 27a | Thrash, then leave // dance (5) |
TAN|GO — TAN (thrash) followed by (then) GO (leave)
| 28a | Pasta // container eaten by French king (6) |
RO(TIN)I — TIN (container) contained in (eaten by) ROI (French king)
| 29a | Think about // novel I scorned (8) |
CONSIDER* — anagram of (novel) I SCORNED
Down
| 1d | Break // stones with head (3,4) |
PIT S|TOP — PITS (stones) + (with) TOP (head)
| 2d | Unaware // lithium is found in plain (9) |
OB(LI)VIOUS — LI ([chemical symbol for] lithium) contained in (is found in) OBVIOUS (plain)
| 3d | Beads // various fish eggs around Indian wrap (8) |
RO(SARI)ES — ROES (various fish eggs) containing (around) SARI (Indian wrap)
Usage Note
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|---|---|
| The setters are being meticulous when they insert the word "various" in the clue. Similar to the plurals fish and fishes, eggs from a single species of fish would be roe but eggs from several species of fish collectively would be roes. |
| 4d | Orders // element from periodic table (5) |
_DIC|TA_ — hidden in (element from) perioDIC TAble
| 6d | Wear // a ring of rubber in the ear (6) |
ATTIRE~ — sounds like (in the ear) {A TIRE (ring of rubber)}
| 7d | Mineral spring in // European land (5) |
SPA|IN — SPA (mineral spring) + IN (†)
| 8d | Sergeant, perhaps, involved in string // harmony (7) |
CO(NCO)RD — NCO (sergeant, perhaps) contained in (involved in) CORD (string)
| 11d | Recognizes // renovated section (7) |
NOTICES* — anagram of (renovated) SECTION
| 15d | Some different // alto, not that woman (7) |
A|NOT|HER — A(lto) + NOT (†) + HER (that woman)
| 17d | Finished inside, a group // left (9) |
A|BAN(DONE)D — DONE (finished) contained in (inside) {A (†) + BAND (group)}
| 18d | Flower // spike is gaining mass (8) |
CLE(M)AT|IS — {CLEAT (spike) + IS (†)} containing (gaining) M (mass; symbol used in physics)
| 19d | Fare well: // second in meet (7) |
PRO(S)PER — S(econed) contained in (in) PROPER (meet)
Meet[5] is an archaic term meaning suitable or proper ⇒
it was not meet for us to see the king’s dishonour.
| 21d | Oven // temperature next to one door (7) |
T|AN|DOOR — T(emperature) + (next to) AN (one) + DOOR (†)
| 22d | Handle Ontario // hotel chain (6) |
HILT|ON — HILT (handle [of a sword]) + ON ([postal designator for] Ontario)
| 24d | Cheer, given small // place to spend the night (5) |
ROO(S)T — ROOT (cheer) containing (given) S(mall)
| 25d | Western show // went on with nothing (5) |
RODE|O — RODE (went on) + (with) O (nothing; letter that looks like a zero)
Epilogue
As Peter has identified in his comment below, the PROs (1a, 14a, 26a and 19d) in today's puzzle are balanced by the CONs (10a, 20a, 29a and 8d).
References
Key to Reference Sources:
[1] - The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition
[14] - CollinsDictionary.com (COBUILD Advanced English Dictionary)
[15] - CollinsDictionary.com (Penguin Random House LLC/HarperCollins Publishers Ltd )
Signing off for today — Falcon
A very good Saturday morning from Winnipeg, where according to the forecast, it will be another fine day in the neighbourhood except for a chance of light precipitation early this afternoon.
ReplyDeleteA mixed bag from C&R - a Greek café serving pasta with Latin-American dancing in the city which may be 'the centre of the universe' or maybe not - OK, its BB team did give the Beantowners a shellacking last night.
23a was a little tricky and one source I checked it in has it as (3,4).
Smiles for 10a, 3d, and 8d.
Thanks to C&R and to Falcon.
I could live with Athens being considered the centre of the universe.
DeleteGood day from across the sea today. We’re over in Europe for a few weeks. Hot and humid here as you’ve heard.
ReplyDeleteSome new words for me in 14a, 23a and 18d.
I sensed a bit of international cuisine today with 12a, 28a and 21d. Such a scattered sampling does not a theme make.
Enjoy your weekend and coming week everyone.
Thanks to Falcon.
Richard
I hope you have a wonderful trip!
DeleteGood morning,
ReplyDeleteToday's offering from C & R has a lot of pros and cons! Not sure what Athens has to do with 12a. The sea serpent in 23a is new to me. I particularly liked 8d, 15d and 19d. Have a good weekend!
Peter
PS: I hope Heather is still with us...!
Peter - that is where 12a originated, the country at least, so probably some helping direction in the clue.
DeleteHello Falcon and friends,
ReplyDeleteYes, many pluses and minuses today! Thought 10a was cute. LOI was 6d as the NE corner was last to fall for me. 19d also gave me quite a bit of pause - while I knew the answer, I did have to dig around to understand the reference.
Thank you for posting Falcon. Have a nice weekend all.
Cheers,
MG
PS. I agree Peter - where has our friend Heather disappeared to?
I think the heat was getting into my head till I got going. Still can't fathom the parsing for 6d. Should be simple.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, stay cool all.
I think "ring of rubber in the ear" is supposed to refer to 5 letters beginning with "tt" that sould like one of four round things you have on your car. That, combined with 'a' from the clue gives a word that means "wear" when it's a noun.
DeleteThanks. So simple when you get it!
ReplyDeleteThis offering from C&R had me going to Google a number of times, and a lot of clever misdirections had me going down the wrong path more than once. Top right was also the last in, when I figured out what type of rubber ring we were looking at (I kept thinking of some sort of washer). And as noted above, figuring out the parsing was a major battle. Liked 3d. Don't know what baloney they were referring to in 1a.
ReplyDeletet's true no theme sticks out today Indian, Greek and Ontario references maybe looking at "Summer in the City."
Thanks again for supporting the blog, Falcon and thanks to C&R for the entertaining.
I see four 'pro's' (1a, 14a, 26a, 19d) and four 'con's' (10a, 20a, 29a, 8d). I think that must be the theme.
DeleteHi Henry,
Delete"Rot" is an old term for nonsense or rubbish - often seen in books by British authors.
Regards,
MG