20 Down: "Everyone is attached to singer Crowe (7)"

20 Down: “Everyone is attached to singer Crowe (7)”

We’ve an head-start on The National Post’s Saturday Cryptic Crossword (August 9, 2014 edition) - the newest creation of a legendary partnership, one that’s central to these puzzles-within-a-puzzle becoming so loved in North America. (Cryptic crosswords originated in the United Kingdom where they’ve long been favourites.)

“Hex” is the nom-de-plume of puzzle constructors Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon, explains aficionado Barry Haldiman, “though one might think it is the effect of their cryptics on solvers' minds. They are the quintessential, or as they would clue ‘Ideal crazy quilt seats nine (14)’, ambassadors of wordplay puzzledom.” http://home.everestkc.net/nytxword/hexplex.htm 

“Cryptic Royalty” they’ve been crowned by The Nation. Of Cox & Rathvon’s decades-long artistry in such publications as The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe and Canada’s National Post, it’s said: “Their impact cannot be overestimated.” http://www.thenation.com/blog/176152/cryptic-royalty

For a printable version of this sing-ular fun in pdf format – visit https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4apux86ICY4OHBSRTNwc3BYMDg/edit - answers to this NP Cryptic Crossword will be published across this land in the newspaper on Saturday, August 16.

Often in this puzzling world, it can seem we just don’t have a clue. Not this time!

click on crossword image above to see fuller-sized puzzle

Enjoy :)

"I saw rock and roll future..."

Tom Harrison, dean of Canadian rock music critics, writes for The Province newspaper - the most widely-read daily in the province of British Columbia.

It's a long holiday weekend across Canada - and, due to a quirk in the world of online/print media, we're able to read what's published next Tuesday in the paper - and, therein his weekly Garage column, Harrison selects:

CD OF THE WEEK 

"Allison Crowe is bi-coastal and her latest record on her own Rubenesque label isn’t a CD. She is from Nanaimo and her manager still lives on Vancouver Island, so, the island ties are there even if she now lives most of the time in Corner Brook, Nfld. Crowe’s ninth record is weirdly typical of her in that it defies convention, stick-handles around the pop idiom, shows imagination and daring, and opts for vinyl. Her Newfoundland Vinyl balances traditional folk and more contemporary sounds that serves as well as a soundtrack to a Newfoundland festival. A marvellous singer, Crowe plays down vocal gymnastics in favour of restraint, which translates as respect. The arrangements are minimal — often no more than guitar enhanced by background vocals — with a little humour thrown in to lighten the load."

http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/08/01/tom-harrisons-garage-for-aug-6

Alongside those fine stores in Newfoundland and on Vancouver Island previously noted, "Newfoundland Vinyl", ((limited-edition 180 gr. vinyl LP incl. digital d/l code), is now available in Vancouver, Canada at:

Highlife Records (1317 Commercial Drive); Neptoon Records (3561 Main); Red Cat Records (4332 Main); and Zulu Records (1972 - 1976 West 4th)