Saturday, March 16, 2013 — Wearin' o' the Green

Introduction

On the eve of St Patrick's Day, we are blessed with an appropriately themed puzzle from Cox & Rathvon. I found it a bit more challenging than usual, especially the northwest corner — and I haven't even been into the green beer yet!

Solution to Today's Puzzle

Legend:	"*" anagram; "~" sounds like; "<" letters reversed
	"( )" letters inserted; "_" letters deleted; "†" explicit in the clue

Across

1a   CHART|REUSE — CHART (plot) + (before) REUSE (second application)

6a   CHIC_ — CHIC[K] (young bird) with the final letter deleted (for the most part)

9a   SAPS|AGO — SAPS (suckers) + AGO (before now)

Sapsago^[4] is a hard greenish Swiss cheese made with sour skimmed milk and coloured and flavoured with clover.

10a   _CHER|VIL_ — hidden (used by) riCHER VILlain

12a   A(PRO)N — PRO (expert) contained in (wearing) AN (†)

13a   {O|LIVE| DRAB}< — reversal (turned) of {BARD (poet) + EVIL (bad) + O ([letter that resembles an] egg)}

14a   EA(G|E)RLY — {G (general) + (by) E (error; baseball term)} contained in (entering) EARLY (prematurely)

I searched long and hard before finding g.^[9] listed as an abbreviation for "general" in the Random House Unabridged Dictionary.

16a   GRAM(MY)S — GRAMS (small weights) containing (covering) MY (†)

A Grammy Award^[7] (originally called Gramophone Award) – or Grammy – is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry.

18a   POSTMAN* — anagram (snarled) of NO STAMP

20a   PEDDLED~ — sounds like (for an audience) PEDALED (wheeled)

22a   VERDI|GRIS — VERDI (Italian composer [Giuseppe Verdi^[7] (1813 – 1901)]) + (connected with) GRIS (Spanish painter [Juan Gris^[7], pseudonym of Spanish artist José Victoriano González-Pérez (1887 – 1927)])

24a   SOCKS — double definition; "hose" & "slugs"

25a   TEMPER|A — TEMPER (hothead's problem) + (with) A (†)

26a   {KEY LIME}* — anagram (chopped) of I MEEKLY

Key lime^[3] is a lime indigenous to the Florida Keys, having a yellow rind and yellowish-green fruit.

27a   _D|ASH — ASH (wood) following (behind) D {railroad's terminal; last (terminal) letter of railroaD}

28a   RA(INFO)REST — INFO (dope) contained in (involved in) RAREST (most unusual)

Green Acres^[7] is an American sitcom starring Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor as a couple who move from New York City to a rural country farm. A sister show to Petticoat Junction, the series was first broadcast on CBS from 1965 to 1971.

Down

1d   CAS(CAD)E — CASE (beer purchase) containing (catching) CAD (heel)

2d   A|SPAR|AG|US — A (†) + SPAR (box) + (with) AG ([symbol for the chemical element] silver) + (and) US (U.S.)

3d   TW(A)IN — TWIN (look-alike) containing (holding) A (ace)

Shania Twain^[7] (born Eilleen Regina Edwards) is a Canadian country pop singer-songwriter.

4d   E|CO(LOG)Y — E {Egypt's leader; first letter (leader) of Egypt} + COY (evasive) containing (about) LOG (record)

5d   SA(CKIN*)G — anagram (poor) of NICK contained in (stuck in) SAG (slump)

7d   H|OVER — H (high; on a weather map) + OVER (above)

8d   CELEB(E)S — CELEBS (famous people) containing (skirting; going around) E (east)

Celebes^[3,4] is the English name for Sulawesi^[3,4], an island in E Indonesia [Collins English Dictionary] or central Indonesia [The American Heritage Dictionary].

11d   EMERALD* — anagram (turned) of MERE LAD

15d   RO(MAIN)E — ROE (fish eggs) containing (on either side of) MAIN (ocean)

17d   MAL(A|CHIT)E_ — MALE (guy) containing (pocketing) {A (†) + CHIT (restaurant bill)}

Malachite^[3,4] is a bright green mineral, found in veins and in association with copper deposits. It is a source of copper and is used as an ornamental stone.

Malachite green^[7] is an organic compound that is used as a dyestuff and has emerged as a controversial agent in aquaculture. Malachite green is traditionally used as a dye for materials such as silk, leather, and paper. Although called malachite green, the compound is not related to the mineral malachite — the name just comes from the similarity of color.

18d   P|I|VOTED — P (passing) + I (†) + VOTED (cast a ballot)

The abbreviation P^[9] for "passing" comes from the field of education, where it is used as a rating of student performance. Once again, this gem of information comes to us from the Random House Unabridged Dictionary.

19d   NIR(VAN)A* — VAN (truck) contained in (entering) an anagram (mistakenly) of IRAN

In Buddhism, nirvana^[3] is the ineffable ultimate in which one has attained disinterested wisdom and compassion.

20d   PUSH|KIN — PUSH (put pressure on) + KIN (relatives)

Alexander Pushkin^[7] (1799 – 1837) was a Russian author of the Romantic era who is considered by many to be the greatest Russian poet and the founder of modern Russian literature.

21d   DESCENT — double definition (the second being cryptic); "lineage" & "free of odour" [de-scent meaning to free (something) of odour]

23d   REMUS< — reversal (seen in retrospect) of SUMER (part of Mesopotamia)

Uncle Remus^[7] is a fictional character, the title character and fictional narrator of a collection of African-American folktales adapted and compiled by Joel Chandler Harris, published in book form in 1881. A journalist in post-Reconstruction Atlanta, Georgia, Harris produced seven Uncle Remus books.

Sumer^[5] was an ancient region of SW Asia in present-day Iraq, comprising the southern part of Mesopotamia. From the 4th millennium BC it was the site of city states which became part of ancient Babylonia.

24d   {SAY SO}* — anagram (upset) AS SOY

Key to Reference Sources: 

^[1]   - The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition
^[2]   - Search Chambers - (Chambers 21st Century Dictionary)
^[3]   - TheFreeDictionary.com (American Heritage Dictionary)
^[4]   - TheFreeDictionary.com (Collins English Dictionary)
^[5]   - Oxford Dictionaries (Oxford Dictionary of English)
^[6]   - Oxford Dictionaries (Oxford American Dictionary)
^[7]   - Wikipedia
^[8]   - Reverso Online Dictionary (Collins French-English Dictionary)
^[9]   - Infoplease (Random House Unabridged Dictionary)
^[10] - CollinsDictionary.com (Collins English Dictionary)

Happy St Patrick's Day — Falcon