Saturday, August 6, 2022 — Rolling in the Aisles (NP 220806)

Introduction

After solving today's National Post Cryptic Crossword from Cox & Rathvon (NP 220806), tears of joy may be running down your cheeks.

The puzzle will be posted on the blog on Saturday, August 13, 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

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	Changing light, perhaps; // something hilarious (5-7)

{THIGH SLAPPER}* — anagram of (changing) LIGHT PERHAPS

10a	Fate among menial // group of cyclists (7)

PE(LOT)ON — LOT (fate) contained in (among) PEON (menial; as a noun)

11a	Sri Lanka’s capital // band capturing look (7)

CO(LO)MBO — COMBO (band)containing (capturing) LO (look; archaic term)

12a	With fear, chewed // cookie (5)

W|AFER — W(ith) + anagram of (chewed) FEAR

13a	Turning carsick, we // gag? (9)

WISECRACK* — anagram of (turning) CARSICK WE

14a	Scornful // father retreating into seedy bar (8)

D(ERIS<)IVE — reversal of (retreating) SIRE (father) contained in (into) DIVE (seedy bar)

16a	Know-it-all // hurt in pigpen (6)

S(MAR)TY — MAR (hurt) contained in (in) STY (pigpen)

19a	There, a different // microwave setting (6)

REHEAT* — anagram of (different) THERE A

20a	Don’t draw // street as well as Patricia (5,3)

ST|AND| PAT — ST (street) + AND (as well as) + PAT ([diminutive of] Patricia)

23a	Fixed lunch, interrupting long // joke’s climax (9)

PUNCHLINE — anagram of (fixed) LUNCH contained in (entering) PINE (long; yearn)

25a	From the countryside // in Peru, rallied (5)

_RU|RAL_ — hidden in (in) PeRU RALlied

26a	Short excursion // struck paydirt? (3,4)

{DAY TRIP}* — anagram of (struck) PAYDIRT

27a	Accommodation for a guest // of Lincoln in South Dakota (4,3)

S(OF|A BE)D — OF (†) + ABE (Lincoln)}contained in (in) SD (South Dakota; postal designator)

28a	Joke // salt I’d refuse, claiming sixth sense (4-8)

S|ID(E-SP)LITTER} — {S (salt; symbol on a salt shaker) + ID (I'd) + LITTER (refuse; mind the pronunciation)} containing (claiming) ESP (sixth sense)

Down

2d	Sank a putt after three others listened to // talk at length (4,5)

{HOLD FORTH}~ — sounds like (listened to) {HOLED (sank a putt ...) + FOURTH (... after three others)}

3d	Georgia hill // reptile (5)

GA|TOR — GA (Georgia; postal designator) + TOR (hill [in Devon or Cornwall, England])

4d	Rescue requiring one novel // curve (4,4)

S(I|NE W)AVE — SAVE (rescue) containing (requiring) {I ([Roman numeral] one) + NEW (novel)}

5d	Expert accepting copper’s // charge (6)

AC(CU|S)E — ACE (expert) containing (accepting) {CU ([chemical symbol for] copper) + S ('s)}

6d	Menial cop, in another guise? (9)

POLICMAN* — anagram of (in another guise) MENIAL COP

As Richard has mentioned in a comment, this is an &lit. clue^[7] in which the entire clue is a cryptic definition as well as wordplay.

Taken as the definition, I would say the clue is implying that policeman is a more respectful title for a cop.

7d	Eccentric bishop leading a // dance (5)

RUMBA — RUM (eccentric; dated British slang) + B (bishop; chess notation) preceding (leading) A (†)

8d	Expelled leader of Wales in haste (6)

SPE(W)ED — W (leader [initial letter] of Wales) contained in (in) SPEED (haste)

9d	Equine // put on island off Florida’s coast (6)

DON|KEY — DON (put on; wear) + KEY (island off Florida's coast)

15d	That woman inside scheduled // spread generously (9)

SLAT(HER)ED — HER (that woman) contained in (inside) SLATED (scheduled)

17d	Not a total loss // with regard to allegory (9)

RE|PARABLE — RE (with regard to) + PARABLE (allegory)

18d	In crust, reuse leftover // crumb topping (8)

_ST|REUSE|L_ — hidden in (in) cruST REUSE Leftover

19d	Whitewater // talks about identification (6)

RAP(ID)S — RAPS (talks) containing (about) ID (identification)

21d	Spanish city // also gaining modern form of lighting (6)

TO(LED)O — TOO (also) containing (gaining) LED (modern form of lighting)

22d	Cool Italian river’s // large beasts (6)

HIP|PO|S — HIP (cool; trendy) + PO (Italian river) + S ('s)

24d	Poet // answers with contradictory meanings (5)

NO|YES — NO and YES are "answers with contradictory meanings"

Alfred Noyes^[7] (1880–1958) was an English poet, short-story writer and playwright.

25d	Put back in service, // I fret terribly (5)

REFIT* — anagram of (terribly) I FRET

Epilogue

I hope everyone enjoyed a good laugh 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