Introduction
Today's National Post Cryptic Crossword from Cox & Rathvon (NP 220709) introduces tales of magic both ancient and modern.The puzzle will be posted on the blog on Saturday, July 16.
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 | Black magic // bolts encasing sacred chest (4,4) |
D(ARK) ARTS — DARTS (bolts) containing (encasing) ARK (sacred chest; Ark of the Covenant[5])
| 5a | Magician’s helper, /appearing/ pale, departs (4) |
WAN|D — WAN (pale) + D (departs; notation on a bus or train schedule)
| 9a | Magician // pair returning inside amidst greeting (7) |
H(OUD|IN)I — {reversal of (returning) DUO (pair) + IN (inside)} contained in (amidst) HI (greeting)
Harry Houdini[5] (1874–1926) was a Hungarian-born American magician and escape artist; born Erik Weisz. In the early 1900s he became famous for his ability to escape from all kinds of bonds and containers, from prison cells to aerially suspended straitjackets.
| 10a | Swedish band left, interrupting California // occult teachings (7) |
C(ABBA|L)A — {ABBA (Swedish band) + L(eft)} contained in (interrupting) CA (California)
Cabbala (variant spelling of kabbalah[10]) is used in the sense of any secret or occult doctrine or science.
| 12a | Cryptic lore // function (4) |
ROLE* — anagram of (cryptic) LORE
| 13a | Blue quarters mark // quidditch equipment (10) |
B|ROOMS|TICK — B(lue) + ROOMS (quarters) + TICK (mark)
Quidditch[5] (trademark in the UK) is a team sport played while straddling broomsticks, in which goals are scored by throwing a ball through any of three hoops fixed at either end of the pitch [playing surface].
Origin: from the name of a magical game described in J. K. Rowling's 1997 novel Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, on which the sport is based
| 15a | Rathbone’s king, capturing one // monster (8) |
BASIL(I)S|K — {BASIL (Rathbone; English actor Basil Rathbone[7]) + K (king; chess piece or playing card)} containing (capturing) I ([Roman numeral] one)
The basilisk[5] is a mythical reptile with a lethal gaze or breath, hatched by a serpent from a cock's egg ⇒
In heraldry the basilisk is represented as an animal with the head, torso and legs of a cock, the tongue of a snake and the wings of a bat.
Basilisk
| 16a | Weasleys’ friend Harry // passing by weaselly beast (6) |
P|OTTER — P (passing; result on a pass/fail exam) + (by) OTTER (weaselly beast)
Harry Potter[7] is the title character in a series of fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the life of a young wizard, Harry Potter, and his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
| 19a | Wizard // going through summer linens (6) |
_MER|LIN_ — hidden in (going through) sumMER LINens
In Arthurian legend, Merlin[5] was a magician who aided and supported King Arthur.
| 21a | Monster // used to be current, in retrospect (8) |
WERE|WOLF< — WERE (used to be) + reversal of (in retrospect) FLOW (current)
A werewolf[5] is a character in folklore who changes for periods of time into a wolf, typically when there is a full moon.
Woodcut of a werewolf attack
by Lucas Cranach der Ältere, 1512
by Lucas Cranach der Ältere, 1512
| 24a | Black magic // woman’s foremost desire: cold float (10) |
W|ITCH|C|RAFT — W (Woman's foremost [initial letter]) + ITCH (desire) + C(old) + RAFT (float)
| 25a | Sage // is in our group (4) |
W(IS)E — IS (†) contained in (in) WE (our group)
| 27a | Hands over // metal-clad funerary vessels (5,2) |
T(URNS) IN — TIN (metal) containing (-clad) URNS (funerary vessels)
| 28a | Fairy // transformed a Titian (7) |
TITANIA* — anagram of (transformed) A TITIAN
Titania[7] is a character in William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream. In the play, she is the queen of the fairies (more ).
In traditional folklore, the fairy queen has no name. Shakespeare took the name "Titania" from Ovid's Metamorphoses, where it is an appellation given to the daughters of Titans. Due to Shakespeare's influence, later fiction has often used the name "Titania" for fairy queen characters.
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In traditional folklore, the fairy queen has no name. Shakespeare took the name "Titania" from Ovid's Metamorphoses, where it is an appellation given to the daughters of Titans. Due to Shakespeare's influence, later fiction has often used the name "Titania" for fairy queen characters.
hide
Scratching the Surface
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| Titian[5] (circa 1488–1576) was an Italian painter. The most important painter of the Venetian school, he experimented with vivid colours and often broke conventions of composition. He painted many sensual mythological works, including Bacchus and Ariadne (circa 1518–23). |
| 29a | “Spellbound” // covered in audition (4) |
RAPT~ — sounds like (in audition) WRAPPED (covered)
| 30a | School of wizardry // corrected ghost about fight (8) |
{HOG(WAR)TS}* — anagram of (corrected) GHOST containing (about) WAR (fight)
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, shortened to Hogwarts[7], is a fictional British school of magic for students aged eleven to eighteen, and is the primary setting for the first six books in British novelist J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series.
Down
| 1d | Sort of fir // styled USA Gold (7) |
DOUGLAS* — anagram of (styled) USA GOLD
| 2d | Check // precipitation sonically (4) |
REIN~ — sounds like (sonically) RAIN (precipitation)
| 3d | Beekeeper // I found in a Paris airport’s terminal (8) |
A|P(I)ARIS|T — I (†) contained in (found in) {A (†) + PARIS (†) + T (airporT's terminal [final letter])}
| 4d | Arizona city // revised counts (6) |
TUCSON* — anagram of (revised) COUNTS
| 6d | Mideast expert // sitting in Ankara bistro (7) |
_ARA|BIST_ — hidden in (sitting in) AnkARA BISTro
| 7d | Toasted // friend’s final status (5) |
D|RANK — D (frienD's final [letter]) +RANK (status)
| 8d | Heavenly creatures // ordered much Brie (8) |
CHERUBIM* — anagram of (ordered) MUCH BRIE
| 11d | Roll containing feed... // fare for riding? (3,5) |
BU(S TOKE)N — BUN (roll) containing (†) STOKE (feed)
| 14d | In speech, pointedly neglects // tricks (8) |
SLEIGHTS~ — sounds like (in speech) SLIGHTS (pointedly neglects)
| 17d | Guy who shoots // film near Mobile (8) |
RIFLEMAN* — anagram of (mobile) FILM NEAR
Scratching the Surface
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| Mobile[7] is the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama and Alabama's only saltwater port. |
| 18d | Few beets ruined // hearty dish (4,4) |
{BEEF STEW}* — anagram of (ruined) FEW BEETS
| 20d | Leave sticky stuff from behind // dump (7) |
{RAT|TRAP}< — reversal of (from behind) {PART (leave) + TAR (sticky stuff)}
| 22d | Aligns // bananas in store (7) |
ORIENTS* — anagram of (bananas) IN STORE
| 23d | Assign a label to old // actor (6) |
BRAND|O — BRAND (assign a label to) + O(ld)
Marlon Brando[5] (1924–2004) was an American actor. An exponent of method acting, he first attracted critical acclaim in the stage production of A Streetcar Named Desire (1947); he starred in the film version four years later. Other notable films: On the Waterfront (1954, for which he won an Oscar) and The Godfather (1972).
| 24d | Server shedding one // tear (5) |
WA||TER — WA[
| 26d | Celebrity // opening cut short (4) |
STAR_ — STAR[
Epilogue
There is plenty of magic in the air today.
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
Hello from a summery NYC.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it natural for C&R to offer up something beyond just natural, perhaps something super-natural? There's Harry Potter stuff here for sure but plenty more. The ever-present magic theme made the solving a little easier this week.
Last in was the NE corner. 5a and 7d resisted my efforts.
21a and 25a were particularly clever. As simple as 24a seemed in retrospect it took some unpacking.
Enjoy your weekend and coming week everyone. Thanks for posting, Falcon, as always.
Richard
Good morning from Winnipeg where I haven't looked out of the window yet so I can't give a weather report.
ReplyDeleteSome very enjoyable magic stuff from C&R.
I though 21a a little 'clunky' as, for me, the clue suggested the singular for 'used to be' rather than the plural.
Smiles for 13a, 27a, and 23d.
Thanks to C&R and to Falcon.
I, too, initially looked for the singular in 21a as suggested by the surface reading -- a nice bit of misdirection.
DeleteHello Falcon and friends,
ReplyDeleteAlways love being amazed by magicians - how DO they do it? As for today's puzzle, it was wanderfully easy - pretty much a read and write.
Thank you for posting Falcon. Have a great week everyone!
Cheers,
MG
There's Magic in the Air with this week's offering from C&R. Like MG, I found it relatively easy, but like Richard, was also stuck on 5a and 7d- they were my LOIs.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was fun having a mixture from Rowling and other mystical dimensions.
Not quite spell-binding but pleasant enough. Quite liked 17d. Have a good week!
ReplyDeletePeter
This one required more Harry Potter trivia than I'd have liked, and I wasn't altogether swayed by D for depart and O for old either.
ReplyDelete