Saturday, June 7, 2014 — Celebrating Satisfaction

Introduction

Today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon certainly should have 14d with most solvers. It would have been nice to celebrate the completion of the puzzle with a couple of 3a, but I had to settle for a beer.

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   Poet forbidden to be heard (4)

BARD~ — sounds like (to be heard) BARRED (forbidden)

3a   Victor Moorehead's celebratory drinks (10)

Agnes Moorehead as Endora

CHAMP|AGNES — CHAMP (victor) + AGNES ([actress Agnes] Moorehead)

Agnes Moorehead (1900–1974) was an American actress whose career of more than three decades included work in radio, stage, film, and television. She is chiefly known for her role as Endora on the television series Bewitched [which aired on ABC from 1964-72].

9a   Spare tent reconstructed now (2,7)

{AT PRESENT}* — anagram (reconstructed) of SPARE TENT

11a   Stick bee next to a heap (5)

B|A|TON — B (bee) + (next to) A (†) + TON (heap; "a heap of trouble" or "a ton of difficulty")

12a   Old Italian family involved in some dicing (6)

_ME|DICI_ — hidden (involved in) soME DICIng

Medici^[5] is the name of a powerful Italian family of bankers and merchants whose members effectively ruled Florence for much of the 15th century and from 1569 were grand dukes of Tuscany. Cosimo and Lorenzo de’ Medici were notable rulers and patrons of the arts in Florence; the family also provided four popes (including Leo X) and two queens of France (Catherine de’ Medici and Marie de Médicis).

13a   Said, "Hurry—a big country" (6)

RUSSIA~ — sounds like (said) {RUSH (hurry) + A (†)}

16a   Showered after others held back (10)

REST|RAINED — RAINED (showered) following (after) REST (others)

18a   Opera star eager when making a comeback (4)

DIVA — reversal (when making a comeback) of AVID (eager)

20a   Pull down wages near Mobile (4)

EARN — anagram (mobile) of NEAR

The anagram indicator ("mobile") is misleadingly capitalized to make it appear to be the name of a city in Alabama.

21a   More than all, enterprise includes furniture store (5,5)

_ETHAN ALLEN_ — hidden in (includes) morE THAN ALL ENterprise

Ethan Allen Global, Inc.^[7] is a North American furniture chain with almost 300 stores across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Ethan Allen^[5] (1738–1789) was an American soldier who fought the British in the War of Independence and led the irregular force the Green Mountain Boys in their campaign to gain independence for the state of Vermont.

23a   Spare me, changing gear (6)

ME|AGER* — ME (†) + anagram (changing) of GEAR

24a   Iceman playing in movie house (6)

CINEMA* — anagram (playing) of ICEMAN

Take your pick of cinematic entertainment:

• Iceman^[7] is a 1984 science fiction film from Universal Studios.
• The Iceman^[7] is an American crime thriller film (initially shown in 2012) based on the true story of longtime notorious hitman Richard Kuklinski.
• The Iceman Cometh^[7] is a play written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill in 1939. First published in 1946, the play premiered on Broadway on October 9, 1946, and ran for 136 performances before closing on March 15, 1947. The story made it to the big screen in a 1973 film adaptation directed by John Frankenheimer.

28a   Auditioner's formal wear stories (5)

TALES~ — sounds like (auditioner's) TAILS (formal wear)

29a   Helps Peg, having spots that need scratching (7,2)

P(ITCHES) IN — PIN (peg) containing (having) ITCHES (spots that need scratching)

The word "spots" is used in the sense of locations, rather than referring to a rash such as measles.

30a   Peter's circling covered stadium with measuring devices (10)

PE(DOME)TERS — {PETER (†) + S ('s)} containing (circling) DOME (covered stadium)

31a   Happy debut of Girl and Boy (4)

G|LAD — G (debut [initial letter] of Girl) + (and) LAD (boy)

It would appear that the artistic work Girl and Boy may be an invention of the setters.

Down

1d   Wager about identifying sign in a time of falling stocks (4,6)

B(EAR MARK)ET — BET (wager) containing (about) EARMARK (identifying sign)

2d   Quick raid catches chief of police (5)

RA(P)ID — RAID () containing P (chief [initial letter] of Police)

4d   Pay attention to that guy and Edward (4)

HE|ED — HE (that guy) + ED ([diminutive of] Edward)

5d   He must heal terribly old man (10)

METHUSELAH* — anagram (terribly) of HE MUST HEAL

In the Bible, Methuselah^[5] was a patriarch, the grandfather of Noah, who is said to have lived for 969 years (Gen. 5:27). The term is now used to refer to a very old person ⇒ I’m feeling older than Methuselah.

6d   Surprise attack in the morning on former U.S. president (6)

AM|BUSH — AM (in the morning; ante meridiem) + (on [top of]; a charade indicator in a down clue) BUSH (former U.S. president)

George Bush^[5] is an American Republican statesman, 41st President of the US 1989–93; full name George Herbert Walker Bush.

George W. Bush^[5] is an American Republican statesman, 43rd President of the US 2001–2009; full name George Walker Bush. He is the son of George Bush.

7d   Hawthorne's sporting a linen hat (9)

NATHANIEL* — anagram (sporting) of A LINEN HAT

As an anagram indicator, sport^[5] is used in the sense of to play in a lively, energetic way [in other words, to run around] ⇒ the children sported in the water.

Nathaniel Hawthorne^[5] (1804–1864) was an American novelist and short-story writer. Much of his fiction explores guilt, sin, and morality. Notable works: Twice-Told Tales (short stories, 1837), The Scarlet Letter (1850), and The House of the Seven Gables (1851).

8d   Delivered penny, reportedly (4)

SENT~ — sounds like (reportedly) CENT (penny)

10d   Chaperon's corset coming undone (6)

ESCORT* — anagram (coming undone) of CORSET

14d   Hottest hip shaking was quite satisfying (3,3,4)

{HIT THE SPOT}* — anagram (shaking) of HOTTEST HIP

15d   Kept Indian team confused (10)

MAINTAINED* — anagram (confused) of INDIAN TEAM

17d   Pair of Scots wandered and ran (9)

SC|RAMBLED_ — SC (pair [two initial letters] of SCots) + RAMBLED (wandered)

19d   Disappear like a mover's truck? (6)

VANISH — double definition; the second one being whimsical (as indicated by the question mark)

22d   Mom's laboratory brought back aromatic and soothing stuff (6)

{BAL|S|AM}< — reversal (brought back) of {MA (mom) + S ('s) + LAB (laboratory)}

25d   Lee's a new supporter of the arts? (5)

EASEL* — anagram (new) of LEES A

As indicated by the question mark, the definition is whimsical.

26d   Check vessels on the way back (4)

STOP — reversal (on the way back) of POTS (vessels)

27d   Celebrity beginning, not ending (4)

STAR_ — STAR[T] (beginning) with the final letter deleted (not ending)

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