Saturday, December 21, 2013 — Legends On Ice

Introduction

Today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon places us on the ice with a pair of Canadian sporting legends. If today's weather forecast holds up, we may literally be on the ice.

Solution to Today's Puzzle

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

Across

1a   BOW L|EG|S — BOWL (play tenpins) + EG (for example) + (with) S (small)

5a   DEF(ICI)T — DEFT (agile) containing (bears) ICI (here in Quebec; French word for 'here')

9a   SO(L)AR — SOAR (coast like an eagle) containing (around) L (central [letter of] obeLisk)

10a   COSTA R|ICA* — COSTAR (share  the leading role) + (with) anagram (radical) of CIA

11a   L|EECHES — L (left) + anagram (crackers) of CHEESE

12a   GA(BRIE)L — GAL (miss) containing (eating) BRIE (cheese)

13a   BRIA(N ORSE)R — BRIAR (something prickly) containing (about) NORSE (old Scandinavian)

Brian Orser^[7] is a Canadian retired competitive and professional figure skater. He is one of the most accomplished skaters in Canada's history, with eight national titles (1981-1988), two Olympic medals (silver in both 1984 and 1988), and a world title (1987) to his credit.

15a   OLE|O — OLE (cheer) + (and) O (love; score of nil in tennis)

18a   DUEL~ — sounds like (speaker's) DUAL (twin)

19a   GOR(DIE| HOW)E — {DIE (pass) + HOW (in whatever way)} contained in (involved in) GORE (carnage)

Gordie Howe^[7] is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey player who played for the Detroit Red Wings and Hartford Whalers of the National Hockey League (NHL), and the Houston Aeros and New England Whalers in the World Hockey Association (WHA). Howe is often referred to as Mr. Hockey, and is generally regarded as one of the greatest hockey players of all time.

21a   P(ARLO)UR_ — ARLO (Woody [Guthrie]'s kid) contained in (sits in) PUR {almost PURE (spotless)}

Arlo Guthrie^[7] is an American folk singer. Like his late father, Woody Guthrie, Arlo is known for singing songs of protest against social injustice. Guthrie's best-known work is "Alice's Restaurant Massacree", a satirical talking blues song about 18 minutes in length. His song "Massachusetts" was named the official folk song of the state in which he has lived most of his adult life.

23a   BA(THE)RS — BARS (pubs) containing (occupied by) THE

25a   LI|FELINES — LI ([Roman numeral for] fifty-one) + FELINES (cats)

26a   A|ISLE — A (†) + ISLE (key)

27a   SHE|AT|HE — SHE (the woman) + AT (near) + HE (the guy)

28a   O(VERSE)E — VERSE (poem) contained in (in) OE (Old English)

Down

1d   BASIL* — anagram (out) of BAILS

2d   WOLVERINE* — anagram (mistaken) of WINE LOVER

3d   EARP|HONE — EARP (U.S. Marshal; Wyatt Earp^[7]) + (with) HONE (perfect)

Wyatt Earp's brothers, Virgil and Morgan, were also U.S. Marshals.

4d   SACKS~ — sounds like (in audition) SAX (jazz instrument)

5d   D|IS|A|GREED — D (defence in sports) + IS (†) + A (†) + GREED (form of selfishness)

6d   FL(A|BB)Y — FLY (insect) containing (eating) {A (†) + BB (small pellet)}

7d   CHILI — sounds like (so to speak) CHILLY (cold)

8d   TEA|R (LO)OSE — TEA ROSE (shrub with showy flowers) containing (taking ... inside) LO (look)

13d   BAD APPLES — {B (black) + DAPPLES (spots)} containing (on the outside of) A (†)

Now be honest, who thought that the "spots" might be ADS.

14d   {RIO GRANDE}* — anagram (new) of ORDERING A

The Rio Grande^[5] is a river 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   LIONESSES* — anagram (stray) of NOISELESS

17d   HEA(T WA)VE — HEAVE (cast) containing (about) TWA (old transatlantic carrier; Trans World Airlines^[7])

Not quite the "unpleasant weather" that first comes to mind today!

20d   COO|L IT — COO (murmur) + LIT (settled on the ground)

22d   RI(F)LE — RILE (anger) containing (about) F (failing [grade at school])

23d   B(A|S)SO — BSO (Boston Symphony Orchestra^[7]) containing (taking on) {A (†) + S (soprano)}

24d   SUEDE~ — sounds like (at hearing) SWAYED (influenced)

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