Saturday, June 1, 2013 — Getting Past Obstacles

Introduction

In today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon, the setters offer four routes that one might choose from when confronted by an obstacle.

As I will be travelling for the next couple of weeks, expect the Saturday blog to be delayed.

Solution to Today's Puzzle

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

Across

1a   RAPT~ — sounds like (for listeners) WRAPPED (like a birthday present)

3a   S(MOOT)H OVER — SHOVER (pusher) containing (ingests) MOOT (debatable)

9a   P|ARAGON — P ([symbol for the chemical element] phosphorus) + ARAGON (region of Spain)

11a   ER(RAT)IC — RAT (rodent) contained in (adopted by) ERIC (Clapton; English rock musician Eric Clapton^[7])

12a   {LOUNGE AROUND}* — anagram (shot) of ON A LOUDER GUN

15a   D|IS|CLOSER — D (door's front; first letter [front] of Door) + IS (†) + CLOSER (nearer)

In the whimsical dialect spoken in Crosswordland, "shower" means someone who shows or discloses.

17a   Y|EAST — Y (fork) + (with) E (point; East, a point of the compass)

18a   EV(OK)E — EVE (Adam's mate) containing (accepting) OK (fine)

According to the Abrahamic religions, Adam and Eve^[7] were the first man and woman from whom all humans are descended.

20a   S|CHILLING — S (slips at first; first letter of Slips) + CHILLING (on ice)

Curt Schilling^[7] is a former American Major League Baseball pitcher. He helped lead the Philadelphia Phillies to the World Series in 1993 and won World Series championships in 2001 with the Arizona Diamondbacks and in 2004 and 2007 with the Boston Red Sox. Schilling retired with a career postseason record of 11–2. His .846 postseason winning percentage is a major-league record among pitchers with at least 10 decisions.

22a   {BREAK|THROUGH}~ — sounds like (in the sound) {BRAKE (car part) + THREW (tossed)}

26a   OT|HELLO — OT (Old Testament) + HELLO (greeting)

Othello^[7] is the title character in a The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice, a tragedy by English playwright William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616).

27a   TEN|S(I)ON — I (interest; symbol used in financial formulae) contained in (in) SON (boy) following (after) TEN (a decade)

28a   {GOING UNDER}* — anagram (rum) of ROUND EGG IN

Rum^[5] is dated British slang meaning odd or peculiar ⇒ it’s a rum business, certainly.

29a   OT|IS — IS (†) following (†) OT (overtime)

Down

1d   {ROPE LADDER}* — anagram (improvised) of RED LEOPARD

2d   PERCUSSION* — anagram (strange) of SUPERSONIC

4d   M(ANT)A — MA (mother) containing (swallowing) ANT (insect)

5d   ONE FOURTH —

6d   HE|RON|RY — HE (this guy) + RON (Ronald) + RY (Cooder; American musician Ry Cooder^[7])

7d   _VETO_ — hidden in (some) stoVETOps

8d   RACE — double definition; "people" & "run to see who's fastest"

10d   GOGO|L — L (left) following (standing behind) GOGO (disco)

Nikolai Gogol^[7] (1809 – 1852) was a Ukrainian-born Russian dramatist, novelist and short story writer.

13d   MANIC|URIS|T — MANIC (crazed) + URIS (†) + T (tome's beginning; first letter [beginning] of Tome)

Leon Uris^[7] (1924 – 2003) was an American novelist, known for his historical fiction and the deep research that went into his novels. His two bestselling books were Exodus (published in 1958) and Trinity (published in 1976).

14d   STAGEHANDS* — anagram (off) of AGENTS DASH

16d   S|ASK|A|TOON — S (fathers finally; final letter of fatherS) + ASK (question) + A (†) + TOON (character that's animated)

For the benefit of readers beyond our borders, Saskatoon^[7] is the largest city in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan.

19d   EARP|LUG — EARP (Wild West lawman; American lawman Wyatt Earp^[7]) + LUG (to carry)

Wyatt Earp^[7] led a varied career, being at different times in his life a city policeman, county sheriff, a teamster, buffalo hunter, bouncer, saloon-keeper, gambler, brothel-owner, pimp, miner, and a boxing referee. An extremely flattering, largely fictionalized, best-selling biography published after his death created his reputation as a fearless lawman. Until the book was published, Earp had a dubious reputation as a minor figure in Western history.

21d   LORE|N — LORE (traditional wisdom) + (on; a charade indicator in a down clue) N (northern)

Sophia Loren^[7] (born Sofia Villani Scicolone) is widely recognized as Italy's most renowned and honored actress. She was the first actress of the talkie era to win an Academy Award for a non-English-speaking performance, for her portrayal of Cesira in Vittorio De Sica's Two Women.

23d   TIT|LE — TIT (songbird) + LE (the French; French word meaning "the")

A tit^{[Britannica Concise Encyclopedia]} is any of several songbirds closely related to the chickadee, including the great tit (Parus major), found in Europe, North Africa, and Asia and the tufted titmouse (Parus bicolor), native to North America. These birds are called either "chickadees" or "titmice" in North America, and just "tits" in the rest of the English-speaking world.^[7]

24d   LONG — double definition;

25d   THAI~ —  sounds like (by talking) TIE (game no one loses)

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)
^[11] - TheFreeDictionary.com (Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary)

Signing off for today — Falcon