Saturday, June 28, 2014 — Spending Time in the Sun

Introduction

I found one of the clues in today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon to be very apropos. I solved the puzzle while basking in the sun beside a lake.

Solution to Today's Puzzle

Falcon's Experience ┌────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┐ ███████████████████████████████████ └────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┘ Legend: █ - solved without assistance █ - incorrect prior to use of puzzle solving tools █ - solved with assistance from puzzle solving tools █ - solved with aid of checking letters provided by puzzle solving tools █ - solved but without fully parsing the clue █ - yet to be solved

Legend:	"*" anagram; "~" sounds like; "<" letters reversed
	"( )" letters inserted; "_" letters deleted; "†" explicit in the clue
	Primary indications (definitions) are marked with a solid underline in the clue; subsidiary indications (be they wordplay or other) are marked with a dashed underline in all-in-one (& lit.) clues, semi-all-in-one (semi-& lit.) clues and cryptic definitions.

Across

1a   Brief message, not by error (4)

NOT|E — NOT (†) + (by) E (error)

3a   Sloppy part of a meal the First Lady started (10)

DISH|EVE|LED — DISH (part of a meal) + EVE (the First Lady) + LED (started; e.g., played the first card in a trick in a game of bridge)

In the Bible, Eve^[5] is the first woman, companion of Adam and mother of Cain and Abel.

9a   Kind of ice cream truck sickened one (7)

VAN|ILL|A — VAN (truck) + ILL (sickened) + A (one)

11a   Slows down sailor in Reds (7)

RE(TAR)DS — TAR (sailor) contained in (in) REDS (†)

12a   Drops off buildings (5)

SHEDS — double definition

13a   Give birth to alien in chopper (7)

HATCH|ET — HATCH (give birth to) + ET (alien)

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial^[7] (often referred to simply as E.T.) is a 1982 American science fiction film co-produced and directed by Steven Spielberg. It tells the story of a lonely boy who befriends an extraterrestrial, dubbed "E.T.", who is stranded on Earth. He and his siblings help the extraterrestrial return home while attempting to keep it hidden from their mother and the government.

15a   Awfully tedious in the open air (7)

OUTSIDE* — anagram (awfully) of TEDIOUS

16a   Veggie sack in taxi, empty (7)

CAB(BAG)E — BAG (sack) contained in (in) {CAB (taxi) + E (empty)}

18a   Understanding of night is confused (7)

INSIGHT* — anagram (confused) of NIGHT IS

21a   Model passing with a tattered item on (7)

P|A|RAG|ON — P (passing; a successful outcome on a pass/fail exam) + (with) A (†) + RAG (tattered item) + ON (†)

23a   Virginia forest animal split (7)

VA|MOOSE — VA ([US Postal Service abbreviation for] Virginia) + MOOSE (forest animal)

25a   Atmosphere in a city of Italia (5)

A|ROMA — A (†) + ROMA (city of Italia)

Rome^[5] (Italian name Roma) is the capital of Italy (Italian name Italia) and of the Lazio region, situated on the River Tiber about 25 km (16 miles) inland; population 2,724,347 (2008).

27a   Shorten a bird's front crest (7)

A|B|RIDGE — A (†) + B (bird's front; initial letter (front) of the word "Bird") + RIDGE (crest)

28a   For a second time, saint opposed (7)

AGAIN|ST — AGAIN (for a second time) + ST (saint)

29a   Let's create new Fender guitar model (10)

TELECASTER* — anagram (new) of LETS CREATE

The Fender Telecaster^[7] is the world's first commercial solid-body, single-cutaway electric guitar made by Fender, typically dual-pickup in configuration.

30a   Mostly make high-fiber food (4)

BRAN_ —BRAN[D] (make) with the final letter removed (mostly)

Fiber is the US spelling of fibre^[5].

Down

1d   Weird avocations in a Canadian province (4.6)

{NOVA SCOTIA}* — anagram (weird) of AVOCATIONS

2d   Touching line for a guy who's been in the sun? (7)

TAN|GENT — TAN GENT (a guy who's been in the sun)

4d   I have no moves for a knight (7)

IVANHOE* — anagram (moves) of I HAVE NO

Ivanhoe^[7] is a historical novel by Sir Walter Scott published in 1820 and set in 12th-century England. Wilfred of Ivanhoe, the titular character, is a knight and son of Cedric the Saxon.

5d   A kind of rebel stirred the rice (7)

HERETIC* — anagram (stirred) of THE RICE

6d   Plant found in privet chopped (5)

_VET|CH_ — hidden in (found in) priVET CHopped

7d   Rum or latte for Ms. Lynn (7)

LORETTA* — anagram (rum) of OR LATTE

Rum^[5] is a dated informal British term meaning odd or peculiar ⇒ it’s a rum business, certainly. It is used frequently in British cryptic crosswords as an anagram indicator — and not so much in American puzzles.

Loretta Lynn^[5] is a US country singer and songwriter; born Loretta Webb. She had hits with songs such as “Honky Tonk Girl” (1960), “Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin' (With Loving on Your Mind)” (1966), and “Coal Miner’s Daughter” (1970). The movie Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980) was based on her 1976 autobiography of the same name. She was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1988.

8d   500 = 100 = O (4)

D|IS|C — D ([Roman numeral for] 500) + IS (=) + C ([Roman numeral for] 100)

The definition is given by "O", a letter that looks like a disc. The second equals sign serves as a link between the wordplay and definition.

10d   Los Angeles con going on and on (7)

LA|STING — LA (Los Angeles) + STING (con)

14d   Strange man at diner is a singer (4.6)

{DEAN MARTIN}* — anagram (strange) of MAN AT DINER

Dean Martin^[5] (1917–1995) was an American singer and actor; born Dino Paul Crocetti. He joined with Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr in a number of films, including Bells are Ringing (1960), and had his own television show from 1965.

17d   Two taverns with a tag for a woman (7)

BAR|BAR|A — BAR ([first] tavern) + BAR ([second] tavern) + (with) A (†)

Tag is a slang term for name — although I did not find it defined explicitly as such in any of the several dictionaries that I consulted.

19d   Cut off a large, unspecified number (7)

SEVER|A|L — SEVER (cut off) + A (†) + L (large)

20d   Listened to teacher's flute players (7)

TOOTER|S — sounds like (listened to) TUTOR (teacher) + S ('s)

21d   Clip including official introduction (7)

P(REF)ACE — PACE (clip) containing (including) REF (official)

22d   Bad pun on range roving (7)

GROANER* — anagram (roving) of ON RANGE

24d   Some dictator's keeping doctor in the army (5)

_ME|DIC_ — hidden in (keeping) soME DICtators

26d   Leave snare set the wrong way (4)

PART< — reversal (set the wrong way) of TRAP (snare)

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