Introduction
Depending on when one got to do today's
National Post Cryptic
Crossword from Cox & Rathvon (NP 220917), it could be Saturday Night
at the Movies (Henry's apparent homage to the old TV Ontario television
series) or a Saturday matinee.
The puzzle will be posted on the blog on Saturday, September 25, 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 | Clear Toronto International Film Festival // figure in court (9) |
— PLAIN (clear) + TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival)
| 6a | New topic: // loopy fringe material (5) |
— anagram of (
new) TOPIC
Scratching the Surface
|
|---|
In
keeping with the theme, the surface read might suggest material
exhibited at a fringe event associated with the main festival.
|
| 9a | Caught by sharp fastener, desire // help (5,2) |
— ITCH (desire) contained in (
caught by) PIN (sharp fastener)
| 10a | Married a sweet new // star in I’m No Angel (3,4) |
— M(arried) + A (†) + anagram of (
new) SWEET
I'm No Angel[7] is a 1933 film starring Mae West and Cary Grant.
| 11a | Pay // game official back (5) |
— reversal of (
back) TIMER (game official)
| 12a | Five non-mainstream films by the Spanish // actor (3,6) |
— V ([
Roman numeral] five) + INDIES (non-mainstream films) + (
by) EL (the Spanish;
Spanish word meaning 'the')
Vin Diesel[7] is the professional name of American actor and producer Mark Sinclair.
| 13a | Note about exotic Thai // location for Mutiny on the Bounty (6) |
— TI ([
musical] note) containing (
about) anagram of (
exotic) THAI
Mutiny on the Bounty is the name of two films (the first in 1935 starring Charles Laughton and Clark Gable
[7] and the second in 1962 starring Marlon Brando, Trevor Howard and Richard Harris
[7]) based on the 1932 novel of the same name
[7] by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall. They tell a fictionalized story of the real-life mutiny
[7]
led by Fletcher Christian against William Bligh, captain of the Royal
Navy vessel HMS Bounty, in 1789. The ship was carrying a cargo of
breadfruit plants from Tahiti to the Caribbean. The mutiny occurred just
over three weeks into the trip.
| 15a | A simple vessel carrying a // PLO leader (6) |
— A (†) + RAFT (simple vessel) containing (
carrying) A (†)
Yasser Arafat[7]
(1929–2004) was a Palestinian political leader who was Chairman of the
Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from 1969 to 2004.
| 19a | Glutton eating last of popcorn in // hunger (6) |
— PIG (glutton) containing (
eating) {N (last [
letter] of popcor
N) + IN (†)}
| 20a | Mongrels or // pointer (6) |
— CURS (mongrels) + OR (†)
| 23a | South American land admitting writer and one returning // film buff (9) |
— CHILE (South American land) containing (
admitting) reversal of (
returning) {PEN (writer) + I ([
Roman numeral] one) }
| 25a | Ring inset with red // gem (5) |
— PEAL (ring) containing (
inset with) R(ed)
| 26a | Italian stream // image on a computer after massage (7) |
— ICON (image on a screen) following (
after) RUB (massage)
| 27a | Necessity with director Lee: // wild horse (7) |
— MUST (necessity) + (
with) ANG (director Lee;
Taiwanese filmmaker Ang Lee[7])
| 28a | Furry burrowers’ // dark spots (5) |
— double definition
| 29a | Members of a film crew // arrived
with noodle soup (9) |
— CAME (arrived) + (
with) RAMEN (noodle soup)
Down
| 1d | Ceramic vessel bearing standard // Warhol work (3,3) |
— POT (ceramic vessel) containing (
bearing) PAR (standard)
Andy Warhol[7]
(1928–1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer
who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art.
| 2d | Android // article about menu’s last salad ingredient (9) |
— AN ([
grammatical] article) containing (about) {U (menU's last [
letter]) + TOMATO (salad ingredient)}
| 3d | Possibly perfect in hot tossing? (2-3) |
— anagram of (
tossing) IN HOT
I would say we can consider the entire clue to be a cryptic definition in which the wordplay is embedded.
In baseball,
no-hit[3] denotes a period of play during which a pitcher allows no hits ⇒
(i) Jones pitched seven no-hit innings
; (ii) Smith tossed a no-hit game
.
A
perfect game[3]
is one in which no opposing batter reaches first base. A no-hit game
would be a perfect game only if no opposing player reached first base on
a walk or an error.
| 4d | Pioneer // lodge having a roundish shape (8) |
— INN (lodge) + OVATE (having a roundish shape)
| 5d | Incite // leader of our guys in fort (6) |
— {O (
leader [
initial letter]
of Our) + MEN (guys)} contained in (
in) FT (fort)
| 6d | First shows // seem riper, in a strange way (9) |
— anagram of (
in a strange way) SEEM RIPER
| 7d | Guevara’s second // game (5) |
— CHE (Guevara;
Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara[7]) + S ('s) + S(econd)
| 8d | All // Italy wandering after youngster (8) |
— anagram of (
wandering) ITALY following (
after) TOT (youngster)
| 14d | Deliberately chooses // low-quality movie, consumed by Tom, the actor (4-5) |
— {D (low-quality) + PIC (movie)} contained in (
consumed by) HANKS (Tom, the actor;
American actor Tom Hanks[7] )
| 16d | Company importing concrete and a // warning device (4,5) |
— FIRM (company) containing (
importing) {REAL (concrete) + (
and) A (†)}
| 17d | Crumpets damaged // range (8) |
— anagram of (
damaged) CRUMPETS
| 18d | Domestic hero // for every month, in aggregate (8) |
— {PER (for every) + MO (month)} contained in (
in) SUM (aggregate)
| 21d | Mechanically augmented // bass of a certain Greek order (6) |
— B (bass;
deep singing voice) + IONIC (of a certain Greek order [
of architecture)}
| 22d | Connect // plum mostly with gin (4,2) |
— PLU[M] (plum mostly;
discarding the final letter) + (
with) GIN
| 24d | Realize ringer in the audience // coveted prize (5) |
— sounds like (
in the audience) {KNOW (realize) + BELL (ringer;
on a telephone)}
The
Nobel Prizes[7] are five separate prizes
*
that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those
who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to
mankind."
* in the fields of Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace
| 25d | Tangled ropes // conundrum (5) |
— anagram of (
tangled) ROPES
Epilogue
Today's puzzle has a cinematic theme in honour of he 47th
annual Toronto International Film Festival which wrapped up on the
weekend this puzzle appeared (having been held from September 8 to 18,
2022).
