Saturday, May 2, 2020 — New Times ... All's Clear

Introduction

Today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon features a couple of transformations that marked the transition from the Middle Ages to Modern Times in which everything seems to show up in pairs. We have Noah and his animal kingdom matchmaking, a couple of noises made by members of his cargo, a couple of far-flung countries, a couple of acclaimed dramatists, and a pair of garments that could outfit a restrained flasher.

I invite you to leave a comment to let us know how you fared with the puzzle.

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

Symbols and Markup Conventions
"*" - anagram "~" - sounds like "<" - indicates the preceding letters are reversed "( )" - encloses contained letters "_" - replaces letters that have been deleted  "†" - indicates that the word is present in the clue	"//" - marks the boundary between wordplay and definition when no link word or link phrase is present "/[link word or phrase]/" - marks the boundary between wordplay and definition when a link word or link phrase is present "solid underline" - precise definition "dotted underline" - cryptic definition "dashed underline" - wordplay "double underline" - both wordplay and definition
Click here for further explanation and usage examples of the symbols and markup conventions used on this blog.

Across

9a	Car, in a sense, stirred // new awakening (11)

RENAISSANCE* — anagram of (stirred) CAR IN A SENSE

The Renaissance^[5] was the revival of European art and literature under the influence of classical models in the 14th–16th centuries. (show more )

The Renaissance is generally regarded as beginning in Florence, where there was a revival of interest in classical antiquity. Important early figures are the writers Petrarch, Dante, and Boccaccio and the painter Giotto. Music flourished, from madrigals to the polyphonic masses of Palestrina, with a wide variety of instruments such as viols and lutes. The period from the end of the 15th century has become known as the High Renaissance, when Venice and Rome began to share Florence's importance and Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, and Michelangelo were active. Renaissance thinking spread to the rest of Europe from the early 16th century, and was influential for the next hundred years.

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10a	Contingent for Noah’s ark // excessively audible (3)

TWO~ —sounds like (audibly) TOO (excessively)

Busting the Myth

It is a common misconception that Noah took only two of each creature with him on the ark. Noah's precise mission statement was as follows:   The Lord then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.” (Gen. 7:1-4) So it would appear that Noah had on board fourteen head of cattle and two pigs. It would also seem that cattle were far more monogamous back then than they are today.

11a	Sound of a farm animal // left in pound (5)

B(L)EAT — L(eft) contained in (in) BEAT (pound)

12a	Spur // belonging to us found in pen (9)

ENC(OUR)AGE — OUR (belonging to us) contained in (found in) ENCAGE (pen)

13a	Armed site oversaw // a computer language (7)

FORT|RAN — FORT (armed site) + RAN (oversaw)

Fortran^[5] is a high-level computer programming language used especially for scientific calculations.

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Origin: 1950s; contraction of 'formula translation'.

14a	Republic // established on one quarter-acre (7)

EST|ON|I|A —  EST(ablished) + ON (†) + I ([Roman numeral for] one) + A (quarter-acre; one of four letters in the word 'Acre')

Estonia^[5] is a a Baltic country on the south coast of the Gulf of Finland.  (show more )

Previously ruled by the Teutonic Knights and then by Sweden, Estonia was ceded to Russia in 1721. It was proclaimed an independent republic in 1918 but was annexed by the USSR in 1940 as a constituent republic, the Estonian SSR. With the break-up of the Soviet Union Estonia regained its independence in 1991.

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16a	Altering a crime scene, list // something enlightening (15)

ECLAIRCISSEMENT* — anagram of (altering) A CRIME SCENE LIST

Éclaircissement^[5] is a literary term denoting an enlightening explanation of something that has hitherto been obscure or inexplicable.

19a	Story penned by more // comedic French playwright (7)

MO(LIE)RE — LIE (story) contained in (penned by) MORE (†)

Molière^[5] (1622–1673) was a French dramatist; pseudonym of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin. (show more )

Molière wrote more than twenty comic plays about contemporary France, developing stock characters from Italian commedia dell’arte. Notable works: Tartuffe (1664), Le Misanthrope (1666), and Le Bourgeois gentilhomme (1670).

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21a	Teachers // incorrect about average grade (7)

FA(C)ULTY — FAULTY (incorrect) containing (about) C (average grade)

22a	Turk posed playing // card game (4,5)

{STUD POKER}* — anagram of (playing) TURK POSED

Stud poker^[10] (often shortened to stud) is a variety of poker in which the first card is dealt face down before each player and the next four are dealt face up (five-card stud) or in which the first two cards and the last card are dealt face down and the intervening four cards are dealt face up (seven-card stud), with bets made after each round.

24a	Pickled bud/’s/ prank (5)

CAPER — double definition

26a	Horse // found among onagers (3)

_NAG_ — hidden in (found among) oNAGers

Scratching the Surface
The onager[5] (Equus hemionus onager) is an animal of a race of the Asian wild ass native to northern Iran.

27a	New movement // for inmate or lunatic (11)

REFORMATION* — anagram of (lunatic) FOR INMATE OR

The Reformation^[5] was a 16th-century movement for the reform of abuses in the Roman Church ending in the establishment of the Reformed and Protestant Churches. (show more )

The roots of the Reformation go back to the 14th-century attacks on the wealth and hierarchy of the Church made by groups such as the Lollards and the Hussites. But the Reformation is usually thought of as beginning in 1517 when Martin Luther issued ninety-five theses criticizing Church doctrine and practice. In Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Saxony, Hesse, and Brandenburg, supporters broke away and established Protestant Churches, while in Switzerland a separate movement was led by Zwingli and later Calvin.

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Down

1d	Food // town sent back (4)

GRUB< — reversal of (sent back) BURG (town)

2d	Necessary triangle in need of adjustment (8)

INTEGRAL* — anagram of (in need of adjustment) TRIANGLE

3d	Put under Tim, put in my group // when it’s cold outside (10)

W(INTER|TIM)E — {INTER (put under) + TIM (†)} contained in (put in) WE (my group)

4d	A grave // toward the back (6)

A|STERN — A (†) + STERN (grave; serious)

5d	Kay makes horse noises, /and/ pants (8)

K|NICKERS — K (kay) + NICKERS (makes horse noises)

This appears to be a clue imported from the UK. It will likely cause no difficulty for those of us accustomed to solving British puzzles. However, I wonder how it will go over with those without that experience.

In Britain, the word pants^[5] does not mean trousers as it does in North America. Rather, it refers to underwear — specifically men's undershorts or women's panties (the latter otherwise known as knickers^[5] to the Brits).

As I like to say, were I to remove my pants in the UK, I would be far more exposed than were I to do so in North America!

6d	Mountainous country, // according to half of us (4)

PER|U — PER (according to) + U (half of [the word] Us)

Peru is a country in South America on the Pacific coast, traversed throughout its length by the Andes. (show more )

The centre of the Inca empire, Peru was conquered by the Spanish conquistador Pizarro in 1532. Peru was liberated by Simón Bolívar and José de San Martín in 1820–4, and a republic established. It lost territory in the south in a war with Chile (1879–83) and also had border disputes with Colombia and Ecuador in the 1930s and 1940s.

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7d	Overload // small coach (6)

S|TRAIN — S (small; clothing size) + TRAIN (coach; teach)

8d	Shaking only rattle // with patience (10)

TOLERANTLY* — anagram of (shaking) ONLY RATTLE

13d	Charge mother and boys outside restricted // private club (10)

F(R)EE|MA|SONS — {FEE (charge) + MA (mother) + (and) SONS (boys)} containing (outside) R (restricted; film classification)

The Freemasons^[5] are an international order established for mutual help and fellowship, which holds elaborate secret ceremonies. (show more )

The original free masons were itinerant skilled stonemasons of the 14th century, who are said to have recognized fellow craftsmen by secret signs. Modern freemasonry is usually traced to the formation of the Grand Lodge in London in 1717; members are typically professionals and businessmen.

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15d	Technocrat changed // protective garment (6,4)

{TRENCH COAT}* — anagram of (changed) TECHNOCRAT

17d	On a list, mark // classic playwright to listen to (5,3)

{CHECK OFF}~ — sounds like (to listen to) CHEKOV (classic playwright)

Anton Chekhov^[5] (1860–1904) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer. (show more )

Chekhov's work, portraying upper-class life in pre-revolutionary Russia with a blend of naturalism and symbolism, had a considerable influence on 20th-century drama. Notable plays: The Seagull (1895), Uncle Vanya (1900), The Three Sisters (1901), and The Cherry Orchard (1904).

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18d	Yale students covering kissers // … (8)

EL(LIPS)IS — ELIS (Yale students) containing (covering) LIPS (kissers)

A Yale University student or alumnus is known informally as an Eli^[7].

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Origin: after Yale founder Elihu Yale

20d	Sudden movement outside operator/’s/ room (6)

L(O)UNGE — LUNGE (sudden movement) containing (outside) O ([telephone] operator)

21d	Trajectory in cook/’s/ whole different story (3,3)

F(AR C)RY — ARC (trajectory) contained in (in) FRY (cook)

23d	Some wine // left on board (4)

PORT — double definition

Port^[5] (also port wine) is a strong, sweet dark red (occasionally brown or white) fortified^* wine, originally from Portugal, typically drunk as a dessert wine. The name is a shortened form of Oporto, a major port from which the wine is shipped.

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^* having had spirits added

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Port^[5] is the side of a ship or aircraft that is on the left when one is facing forward ⇒ (i) the ferry was listing to port; (ii) [as modifier] the port side of the aircraft.

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Origin: probably originally the side containing an entry port or facing the port (quayside) for loading

25d	Called, // step on a ladder (4)

RUNG — double definition

Epilogue

The Renaissance and the Reformation were periods in history that changed the world. Are we now passing through another period of world-altering change? If so, what name will historians of the future apply to it?

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 Advanced 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)
^[12] - CollinsDictionary.com (Webster’s New World College Dictionary)
^[13] - MacmillanDictionary.com (Macmillan Dictionary)
^[14] - CollinsDictionary.com (COBUILD Advanced English Dictionary)

Signing off for today — Falcon