Saturday, October 26, 2013 — Hodge Podge

Introduction

Today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon contains a rather eclectic collection of clues. It takes us from 18th century painting to 20th century sci-fi, travels from the ocean depths to outer space, and refreshes us with French wine and Irish beer.

Solution to Today's Puzzle

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

Across

1a   PAST|EL — PAST (former) + EL (train of Chicago)

In the US, the El^[5] is (1) an elevated railway, especially that in Chicago; or (2) a train running on an elevated railway ⇒ the El rumbled by.

4a   H(ANGS T)EN — HEN (chick's mother) containing (admitting) ANGST (dread)

Hang ten^[5] is a surfing term meaning to ride a surfboard with all ten toes curled over the board’s front edge.

Note: in the clue, the setters utilise an inverted sentence structure.

9a   RE(LIE)F — REF (boxing official) containing (about) LIE (deceptive story)

10a   S|TALKING — S (first [letter] of Seals) + (and) TALKING (chewing the fat)

12a   PINOT NOIR — anagram (agitated) of PORTION IN

Pinot Noir^[5] is the name of a black grape or the wine made from it.

13a   _M|I|AM|I_ — hidden in (caught in) scaM I AM In

14a   {THE IRON GIANT}* — anagram (roaming freely) of ITINERANT HOG

The Iron Giant^[7] is a 1999 American animated science fiction film using both traditional animation and computer animation, produced by Warner Bros. Animation, and based on the 1968 novel The Iron Man by Ted Hughes. The film was critically acclaimed but a box office flop.

18a   GAINS|BO|ROUGH — {GAINS (gets) + ROUGH (coarse)} containing (about) BO (body odour)

Thomas Gainsborough^[7] (1727–1788) was an English portrait and landscape painter. Perhaps his most famous work is The Blue Boy (c. 1770).

21a   HA|I|TI — HA (that's funny) + I (†) + TI (note)

Ti^[5] is the North American spelling of the the seventh note of a major scale in tonic sol-fa — the British spelling being te.

22a   T(OLE)RANCE — OLE (cheer) containing (in) TRANCE (dazed state)

Standing is the gerund form of the verb to stand^[5] which is used in the sense of to endure or tolerate. Grammatically, "standing", as a gerund, is a verb form which functions as a noun. However, I cannot think of a single instance where I might use it as a substitute for the noun "tolerance". For instance, I would say "My tolerance of his rudeness had reached its limit" but not "My standing of his rudeness had reached its limit".

24a   CAPE T|OWN — CAPET (family of French rulers) + OWN (have)

The House of Capet^[7] ruled the Kingdom of France from 987 to 1328.

25a   A|GREED — A (†) + GREED (selfish impulse)

26a   S(IN)ECURE — SECURE (safe) containing (holding) IN (popular)

27a   C(LOSE)D< — LOSE (ditch) contained in (in) a reversal (going back) of DC (Washington; District of Columbia)

Down

1d   PAR(APE)TS — PARTS (sections) containing (caging) APES (simians)

2d   S(A)LINGER — SLINGER (pitcher) containing (embracing) A (†)

J. D. Salinger^[5] (1919–2010) was an American novelist and short-story writer best known for his novel of adolescence The Catcher in the Rye (1951).

3d   _EVENT_ — hidden in (featured in) SEVENTeen

Seventeen^[7] is an American magazine whose audience is teenage girls.

5d   {ASTEROID BELT}* — anagram (recycled) of OLD BATTERIES

6d   {GOLD MINER}* — anagram (rudely) of GLOM DINER

7d   TRI(B)AL — B (band's leader; leader [first letter] of Band) contained in (involved in) TRIAL (court case)

8d   NOG|GIN — NOG (Yuletide drink) + (with) GIN (booze)

11d   CONNING TOWER — CONNING (fooling) + TOWER (tug boat, perhaps)

15d   REALISTIC* — anagram (false) of ARTICLE IS

16d   GU(INN)ESS — GUESS (speculate) containing (about) INN (tavern)

Guinness^[7] is a popular Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness (1725–1803) at St. James's Gate, Dublin. The company has had its headquarters in London since 1932 and is now part of the British based multinational alcohol conglomerate Diageo.

17d   THRE(AD)ED — AD (advertisement) contained in (in) {THREE (3) + D (†)}

The solution is used in the sense "He threaded his way through the masses of sunbathers stretched out on the beach".

19d   CHECKS~ — sounds like (in conversation) CZECHS (some Europeans)

20d   P(I|GP)EN — PEN (write) containing (about) {I ([Roman numeral for] one) + GP (doc; general practitioner)}

23d   REGAL< — reversal (brought back) of LAGER (beer)

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