Saturday, September 28, 2013 — Taking the Bad with the Good

Introduction

In today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon, the setters lay before us a meal in which the main course is  heavenly and the dessert is sinfully good.

Solution to Today's Puzzle

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

Across

1a   GUM(DR|O)P — {DR (doctor) + O (chocolate's centre; letter at the centre of chocOlate)} contained in GUMP (Forrest)

Forrest Gump^[7] is a 1994 American film based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Winston Groom. The following line from the film has become very well known: "Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.".

5a   PUMP|KIN — PUMP (shoe for a woman) + KIN (relative)

9a   AS|SAM — AS (playing; Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump) + SAM (surface-to-air missile)

10a   PANORAMIC* — anagram (convertible) of A CAR MOP IN

11a   DO(NOVA)N — DON (Mafia boss) containing (holding) NOVA (star)

Donovan^[7] (born Donovan Phillips Leitch) is a Scottish singer, songwriter and guitarist whose song "Mellow Yellow" reached #2 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1966.

12a   CO(MES A)T — MESA (Western [geographic] feature) contained in (in) COT (bed)

13a   {ANGEL HAIR PASTA}* — anagram (cracked) of A PLATE SHARING A

17a   {DEVIL'S FOOD CAKE}* — anagram (exotic) of FIVE LADS COOKED

Devil's food cake^[5] is a chiefly North American name for a rich chocolate cake.

By the way, it is not unusual for apostrophes to be omitted from the enumeration.

21a   TUR(N)KEY — N (north) contained in (in) TURKEY (Anatolian land)

Anatolia^[5] is the western peninsula of Asia, bounded by the Black Sea, the Aegean, and the Mediterranean, that forms the greater part of Turkey.

23a   RAN (A|MO)K — {A (one) + MO (month)} contained in (in) RANK (class)

25a   {ISLE OF}~|MAN — sounds like (said) I LOVE (Isle of) + MAN (our kind)

The Isle of Man (abbreviation IOM)^[5] is an island in the Irish Sea which is a British Crown dependency having home rule, with its own legislature (the Tynwald) and judicial system. The island was part of the Norse kingdom of the Hebrides in the Middle Ages, passing into Scottish hands in 1266 for a time, until the English gained control in the early 15th century. Its ancient language, Manx, is still occasionally used for ceremonial purposes.

26a   BAT|ON — BAT (flying mammal) + ON (atop)

27a   LE(ADS) ON — LEON (Trotsky) containing (about) ADS (spots)

Leon Trotsky^[5] (1879 – 1940) was a Russian revolutionary; born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein. He helped to organize the October Revolution with Lenin, and built up the Red Army. He was expelled from the Communist Party by Stalin in 1927 and exiled in 1929. He settled in Mexico in 1937, where he was later murdered by a Stalinist assassin.

28a   ENTERED* — anagram (on the move) of TEN DEER

Down

1d   _GUAR|DIAN_ — hidden in (riding in) JaGUAR DIANa

2d   MA|SON — MA (mother) + (and) SON (child)

3d   REM|OVAL — REM ("Stand" band) + OVAL (track)

"Stand"^[7] is a song by the American alternative rock band R.E.M., released as the second single from the album Green in 1989.

4d   POPINJAYS* — anagram (cast; moulded) of JOIN SAPPY

5d   P(AN)IC — PIC (movie) containing (about) AN (†)

6d   MAR|I|MBA — MAR (spoil) + I ([Roman numeral for] one) + MBA (business grad)

7d   {KAMA SUTR}*|A — {anagram (ruined) of A MUSKRAT} + A (†)

The Kama Sutra^[5] is an ancient Sanskrit treatise on the art of love and sexual technique.

8d   N(ICE|T)Y — NY (New York) containing (about) ICE T ("Rhyme Pays" rapper)

Rhyme Pays^[7] is the debut album of American rapper Ice-T (born Tracy Marrow), released in 1987.

14d   GUERRILLA* — anagram (breaking) of RULE A GIRL

15d   {RIO GRANDE}* — anagram (swimming) of ROGER AND I

The Rio Grande^[5] is a river of North America which rises in the Rocky Mountains of SW Colorado and flows 3,030 km (1,880 miles) generally south-eastwards to the Gulf of Mexico, forming the US-Mexico frontier from El Paso to the sea.

16d   WEAKENED~ — sounds like (you might say) WEEKEND (Saturday and Sunday)

18d   IN K(NOT)S — INKS (signs) containing (outside) NOT (†)

19d   D|IN|GB|A|T — D (daughter) + IN (†) + GB (Great Britain) + A (†) + T (tenor)

20d   A|T WILL — A (†) + TWILL (woven fabric)

22d   YEMEN* — anagram (destroyed) of ENEMY

24d   MO(T)OR — T (Ford Model) contained in (into) MOOR (open tract of land)

The Ford Model T^[7] (colloquially known as the Tin Lizzie, T‑Model Ford, 'Model T Ford', or T) is an automobile that was produced by Henry Ford's Ford Motor Company from October 1, 1908 to May 27, 1927.

Moor^[5] is a British term for a tract of open uncultivated upland, typically covered with heather.

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