Saturday, November 16, 2013 — Baseball, Movies, Television & Books

Introduction

Today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon covers the entertainment gamut. With the broad choice laid out before us, it would be difficult not to find something of interest.

Solution to Today's Puzzle

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

Across

1a   C|ASTRO — ASTRO (ballplayer) following (behind) C (catcher; position in baseball)

The Houston Astros^[7] are a professional baseball team located in Houston, Texas. The team is a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League, having moved in 2013 after spending their first 51 seasons in the National League.


Fidel Castro^[5] is a Cuban statesman, Prime Minister 1959–76 and President 1976–2008. After overthrowing President Batista he set up a communist regime which survived the abortive Bay of Pigs invasion, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the collapse of the Soviet bloc. In 2008 he stood down in favour of his brother Raúl Castro.

4a   STUB|BORN — STUB (ticket remnant) + BORN (delivered)

9a   PAR(AD)E — AD (advertisement) contained in (in) PARE (trim)

10a   SKELETON* — anagram (rough) of NOT SLEEK

11a   DO|MINI|CAN — DO (make) + MINI (small-size) + CAN (fire; dismiss)

A Dominican^[5] is a member of the Roman Catholic order of preaching friars founded by St Dominic, or of a religious order for women founded on similar principles .

13a   _EXIST — SEXIST (biased) without the first letter (after introduction; the portion of the word that follows the introduction [first letter])

14a   {THE LION KING}* — anagram (psycho) of NOTHING LIKE

Psycho is a 1960 American suspense horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

The Lion King^[7] is a 1994 American animated epic musical drama film released by Walt Disney Pictures.

18a   S|ALES|PER|SON — S (small) + ALES (drinks) + PER (for each) + SON (boy)

21a   R|OVER — R (run; baseball or cricket term) + OVER (through)

22a   {LEE MAJORS}* — anagram (crackers) of JAM OR ELSE

Lee Majors^[7] (born Harvey Lee Yeary) is an American television, film and voice actor, best known for his roles as Heath Barkley in the TV series The Big Valley (1965–69), as Colonel Steve Austin in The Six Million Dollar Man (1973–78) and as Colt Seavers in The Fall Guy (1981–86).

24a   SANTIAGO* — anagram (adapted) of INTO SAGA

Santiago is the title character in The Old Man and the Sea^[7], a novel by American author Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) that was published in 1952.

25a   SP|RITE — SP (Spanish) + RITE (ceremony)

26a   _OME|LETTE_ — hidden in (offering) sOME LETTErs

27a   C(ACHE)T — ACHE (hurt) contained in (in) CT (court)

Down

1d   C(UP|ID}ITY — {UP (finished; as in the expression "Time's up.") + ID (papers)} contained in (going into) CITY (municipality)

2d   S|TRUMPET — S (small) + TRUMPET (horn)

Drab^[5] is an archaic term for (1) a slovenly woman or (2) a prostitute.

3d   RAD|ON — RAD (cool) + ON (in performance; on stage)

5d   T(A|KING) ISSUE — {A (†) + KING (ruler)} contained in (in) TISSUE (paper)

6d   B(ALD*) EAGLE — {anagram (shot) of LAD} contained in (eaten by) BEAGLE (dog)

7d   OBTAIN* — anagram (shakily) of IN BOAT

8d   N(I|NET)Y — {I ([Roman numeral for] one + NET (catch)} contained in (in) NY (New York)

12d   CAN|D(L)ELIGHT — {CAN (may) + DELIGHT (be pleasing)} containing (around) L (front [first letter] of Lobby)

15d   {IN SER}*|VICE — anagram (adjusted) of SIREN + VICE (wrong)

16d   AS(TONI|S)H — {TONI (Morrison; American novelist Toni Morrison^[5]) + S ('s)}contained in (in) ASH (tree)

Thank you to an anonymous reader for pointing out the oversight in my original parsing of the clue.

17d   _ANT|SIEST_ — hidden in (stretch of) pleasANT SIESTas

19d   P(REST)O — REST (take five) contained in (into) PO (Italian waterway; the Po^[5] is a river in northern Italy)

20d   YVONNE* — anagram (stirred) of NO ENVY

23d   ALP|HA — ALP (Swiss mountain) + HA (I showed you; "I showed you!")

Alpha^[5] is the first letter of the Greek alphabet (Α, α).

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