Saturday, September 17, 2022 — Movie Time (NP 220917)

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|TIFF — PLAIN (clear) + TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival)

6a	New topic: // loopy fringe material (5)

PICOT* — 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)

P(ITCH) IN — ITCH (desire) contained in (caught by) PIN (sharp fastener)

10a	Married a sweet new // star in I’m No Angel (3,4)

M|A|{E WEST}* — 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)

REMIT< — reversal of (back) TIMER (game official)

12a	Five non-mainstream films by the Spanish // actor (3,6)

V|IN DIES|EL — 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)

T(AHIT*)I — 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|RAF(A)T — 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)

PI(N|IN)G — PIG (glutton) containing (eating) {N (last [letter] of popcorN) + IN (†)}

20a	Mongrels or // pointer (6)

CURS|OR — CURS (mongrels) + OR (†)

23a	South American land admitting writer and one returning // film buff (9)

C({I|NEP}<)HILE — CHILE (South American land) containing (admitting) reversal of (returning) {PEN (writer) + I ([Roman numeral] one) }

25a	Ring inset with red // gem (5)

PEA(R)L — PEAL (ring) containing (inset with) R(ed)

26a	Italian stream // image on a computer after massage (7)

RUB|ICON — ICON (image on a screen) following (after) RUB (massage)

27a	Necessity with director Lee: // wild horse (7)

MUST|ANG — MUST (necessity) + (with) ANG (director Lee; Taiwanese filmmaker Ang Lee^[7])

28a	Furry burrowers’ // dark spots (5)

MOLES — double definition

29a	Members of a film crew // arrived with noodle soup (9)

CAME|RAMEN — CAME (arrived) + (with) RAMEN (noodle soup)

Down

1d	Ceramic vessel bearing standard // Warhol work (3,3)

PO(P AR)T — 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)

A(U|TOMATO)N — AN ([grammatical] article) containing (about) {U (menU's last [letter]) + TOMATO (salad ingredient)}

3d	Possibly perfect in hot tossing? (2-3)

{NO-HIT}* — 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|OVATE — INN (lodge) + OVATE (having a roundish shape)

5d	Incite // leader of our guys in fort (6)

F(O|MEN)T — {O (leader [initial letter] of Our) + MEN (guys)} contained in (in) FT (fort)

6d	First shows // seem riper, in a strange way (9)

PREMIERES* — anagram of (in a strange way) SEEM RIPER

7d	Guevara’s second // game (5)

CHE|S|S — CHE (Guevara; Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara^[7]) + S ('s) + S(econd)

8d	All // Italy wandering after youngster (8)

TOT|ALITY* — anagram of (wandering) ITALY following (after) TOT (youngster)

14d	Deliberately chooses // low-quality movie, consumed by Tom, the actor (4-5)

HAN(D|-PIC)KS — {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)

FI(RE AL|A)RM — FIRM (company) containing (importing) {REAL (concrete) + (and) A (†)}

17d	Crumpets damaged // range (8)

SPECTRUM* — anagram of (damaged) CRUMPETS

18d	Domestic hero // for every month, in aggregate (8)

SU(PER|MO)M — {PER (for every) + MO (month)} contained in (in) SUM (aggregate)

21d	Mechanically augmented // bass of a certain Greek order (6)

B|IONIC — B (bass; deep singing voice) + IONIC (of a certain Greek order [of architecture)}

22d	Connect // plum mostly with gin (4,2)

PLU||G IN — PLU[M] (plum mostly; discarding the final letter) + (with) GIN

24d	Realize ringer in the audience // coveted prize (5)

{NO|BEL}~ — 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."

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^* in the fields of Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace

25d	Tangled ropes // conundrum (5)

POSER* — 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).

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References

Sources referenced in the blog are identified by the following reference numbers. 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 )

^[16]    - Dictionary.com (Random House Unabridged Dictionary)

^[16B]  - Dictionary.com (Collins English Dictionary )

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Signing off for today — Falcon