Saturday, October 8, 2022 — Flavourful (NP 221008)

Introduction

Today's National Post Cryptic Crossword from Cox & Rathvon (NP 221008) presents us with four of the five recognized fundamental flavours.

The puzzle will be posted on the blog on Saturday, October 15, 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	Big success involving our // whisky (4,4)

S(OUR) MASH — SMASH (big success) containing (involving) OUR (†)

5a	Church celebration provided // rocky prominence (6)

MASS|IF — MASS (church celebration) + IF (provided)

9a	Chinese book about true // yearning (7)

I(T)CHING — {I CHING (Chinese book)} containing (about) T(rue)

The I Ching^[16B] (also called Book of Changes) is an ancient Chinese book of divination and a source of Confucian and Taoist philosophy. Answers to questions and advice may be obtained by referring to the text accompanying one of 64 hexagrams, selected at random.

10a	Yonder’s a // name for a woman (7)

THERESA — THERE (yonder) + S ('s) + A (†)

11a	Spinning plate, // jumped (5)

LEAPT* — anagram of (spinning) PLATE

12a	Taking little time, pursue // flattery (5,4)

S(WEE|T) TALK — STALK (pursue) containing (taking) {WEE (little) + T(ime)}

13a	In return, a great many help // girl with a milk pail (9)

{DAIRY M}<|AID — reversal of (in return) MYRIAD (a great many) + AID (help)

15a	Like the twilight // of the French firmament (5)

DU|SKY — DU (of the French; French word meaning 'of the') + SKY (firmament)

17a	Embrace halfway through Oslo // sci-fi awards (5)

HUG|OS_ — HUG (embrace) + OS (halfway through Oslo; initial half of the word 'Oslo')

The Hugo Award^[7] (widely considered the premier award in science fiction) is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention and chosen by its members.

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Origin: named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories

19a	Get out of bed late, // breaking up love spree (9)

OVERSLEEP* — anagram of (breaking up) LOVE SPREE

21a	Brewpub’s offering // bite later, after mixing (6,3)

{BITTER ALE}* — anagram of (after mixing) BITE LATER

24a	Caterpillar, e.g., // right inside volcanic rock (5)

LA(R)VA — R(ight) contained in (inside) LAVA (volcanic rock)

25a	Fancy car included in whatever // divorce payment (7)

A(LIMO)NY — LIMO (fancy car) contained in (included in) ANY (whatever)

26a	Libyan port // said to be very wide? (7)

TRIPOLI~ — sounds like (said to be) TRIPLE E (very wide; EEE, a very wide shoe size)

27a	Significant other covers // figures in geometry (6)

SO|LIDS — SO (significant other; in Twitterspeak, perhaps) + LIDS (covers)

In geometry, a solid^[16B] is (a) a closed surface in three-dimensional space or (b) such a surface together with the volume enclosed by it.

28a	Cocktail // got sadly ruined (5,3)

{SALTY DOG}* — anagram of (ruined) GOT SADLY

A salty dog^[16] is a cocktail of gin or vodka and grapefruit juice, traditionally served in a salt-rimmed glass.

Down

1d	In debt, a helpless bum // gave up secrets (7,3,5)

{SPILLED THE BEANS}* — anagram of (bum) IN DEBT A HELPLESS

2d	Continuous // error in opening (9)

UNC(E)ASING — E (error; abbreviation used in baseball) contained in (in) UNCASING (opening; unwrapping)

3d	Largely covering one // with a little dampness (7)

MO(I)STLY — MOSTLY (largely) containing (covering) I ([Roman numeral] one)

4d	Droop in the middle, like // long yarns (5)

SAG|AS — SAG (droop in the middle) + AS (like)

6d	Helped // Ms. Midler in commercial (7)

A(BETTE)D — BETTE (Ms. Midler; American singer Bette Midler^[7]) contained in (in) AD (commercial)

7d	Tuscan town // processed anise (5)

SIENA* — anagram of (processed) ANISE

8d	To be honest, // pilot’s in top form, holding level (7,8)

F(RANK)LY| S|PEAKING — {FLY (pilot; control an aircraft) + S ('s) + PEAKING (in top form)} containing (holding) RANK (level)

10d	Engineer altered // foot device (7)

TREADLE* — anagram of (engineer) ALTERED

14d	For the audience, an Amelie // oddity (7)

ANOMALY~ — sounds like (for the audience) AN AMELIE

This homophone may work for some but is pretty dubious in my books – but I'll let you be the judge.

16d	Curse // blade catching clothes (5,4)

S(WEAR)WORD — SWORD (blade) containing (catching) WEAR (clothes; used as a noun as in 'sportswear')

18d	New editors // banned drug for many athletes (7)

STEROID* — anagram of (new) EDITORS

20d	Lois grabbed by tosspot // musician in the spotlight (7)

SO(LOIS)T — LOIS (†) contained in (grabbed by) SOT (tosspot)

22d	Tailor’s foremost desire: // weave (5)

T|WILL — T (Tailor's foremost [initial letter]) + WILL (desire)

23d	Bit player // in Sussex tragedy (5)

_EX|TRA_ — hidden in (in) SussEX TRAgedy

Epilogue

According to Wikipedia "Taste receptors in the mouth sense the five taste modalities: sweetness, sourness, saltiness, bitterness, and savoriness (also known as savory or umami)."

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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