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) |
— SMASH (big success) containing (
involving) OUR (†)
| 5a | Church celebration provided // rocky prominence (6) |
— MASS (church celebration) + IF (provided)
| 9a | Chinese book about true // yearning (7) |
— {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) |
— THERE (yonder) + S ('s) + A (†)
| 11a | Spinning plate, // jumped (5) |
— anagram of (
spinning) PLATE
| 12a | Taking little time, pursue // flattery (5,4) |
— STALK (pursue) containing (
taking) {WEE (little) + T(ime)}
| 13a | In return, a great many help // girl with a milk pail (9) |
— reversal of (
in return) MYRIAD (a great many) + AID (help)
| 15a | Like the twilight // of the French firmament (5) |
— DU (of the French;
French word meaning 'of the') + SKY (firmament)
| 17a | Embrace halfway through Oslo // sci-fi awards (5) |
— 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.
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) |
— anagram of (breaking up) LOVE SPREE
| 21a | Brewpub’s offering // bite later, after mixing (6,3) |
— anagram of (
after mixing) BITE LATER
| 24a | Caterpillar, e.g., // right inside volcanic rock (5) |
— R(ight) contained in (
inside) LAVA (volcanic rock)
| 25a | Fancy car included in whatever // divorce payment (7) |
— LIMO (fancy car) contained in (
included in) ANY (whatever)
| 26a | Libyan port // said to be very wide? (7) |
— sounds like (
said to be) TRIPLE E (very wide;
EEE, a very wide shoe size)
| 27a | Significant other covers // figures in geometry (6) |
— 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) |
— 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) |
— anagram of (
bum) IN DEBT A HELPLESS
| 2d | Continuous // error in opening (9) |
— E (error;
abbreviation used in baseball) contained in (in) UNCASING (opening;
unwrapping)
| 3d | Largely covering one // with a little dampness (7) |
— MOSTLY (largely) containing (
covering) I ([
Roman numeral] one)
| 4d | Droop in the middle, like // long yarns (5) |
— SAG (droop in the middle) + AS (like)
| 6d | Helped // Ms. Midler in commercial (7) |
— BETTE (Ms. Midler;
American singer Bette Midler[7]) contained in (
in) AD (commercial)
| 7d | Tuscan town // processed anise (5) |
— anagram of (
processed) ANISE
| 8d | To be honest, // pilot’s in top form, holding level (7,8) |
— {FLY (pilot;
control an aircraft) + S ('s) + PEAKING (in top form)} containing (
holding) RANK (level)
| 10d | Engineer altered // foot device (7) |
— anagram of (
engineer) ALTERED
| 14d | For the audience, an Amelie // oddity (7) |
— 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) |
— SWORD (blade) containing (
catching) WEAR (clothes;
used as a noun as in 'sportswear')
| 18d | New editors // banned drug for many athletes (7) |
— anagram of (
new) EDITORS
| 20d | Lois grabbed by tosspot // musician in the spotlight (7) |
— LOIS (†) contained in (
grabbed by) SOT (tosspot)
| 22d | Tailor’s foremost desire: // weave (5) |
— T (
Tailor's
foremost [
initial letter]) + WILL (desire)
| 23d | Bit player // in Sussex tragedy (5) |
— hidden in (
in) Suss
EX 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)."
