Saturday, December 19, 2020 — Bear's Repeating

Introduction

Today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon will have you seeing double. This seems a bit ironic following on the heels of the discussion last week in the comments section concerning the vision issues some of us are dealing with.

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

1a	Repeatedly, what rings a // home of the Heiltsuk Nation (5,5)

BELL|A| BELL|A — two instances of (repeatedly) {BELL (what rings) + A (†)}

The Heiltsuk^[7] or Haíɫzaqv, sometimes historically referred to as Bella Bella, are an Indigenous people of the Central Coast region in British Columbia, centred on the island community of Bella Bella. The government of the Heiltsuk people is the Heiltsuk Nation, though the term is also used to describe the community.

6a	Egyptian goddess // lives twice (4)

IS|IS — two instances of (twice) {IS (lives)

In Egyptian mythology, Isis^[5] is a goddess of fertility, wife of Osiris and mother of Horus. Her worship spread to western Asia, Greece, and Rome, where she was identified with^* various local goddesses.

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^* The phrase "identified with" implies that scholars believe that the two goddesses evolved from what was in earlier times a single goddess^[7].

9a	Audited cat // sausages (5)

LINKS~ — sounds like (audited) LYNX (cat)

10a	NASA teams altered // body of water (6,3)

{TASMAN SEA}* — anagram of (altered) NASA TEAMS

The Tasman Sea^[5] is an arm of the South Pacific lying between Australia and New Zealand.

12a	Agreement to stop fighting // a bit of rain, fog, and frost (9)

A|R|MIST|ICE — A (†) + R (bit [initial letter] of Rain) + MIST (fog) + (and) ICE (frost)

14a	Garbage // truck’s front no longer green (5)

T|RIPE — T (Trunk's front [initial letter]) + RIPE (no longer green)

15a	Cloned, has the ability to // dance (6)

CAN|CAN — two instances of (cloned) CAN (has the ability to)

16a	Prison // rat on someone doubled up (4,4)

SING| SING — two instances of (doubled up) SING (rat on someone)

Sing Sing Correctional Facility^[7] is a maximum-security prison operated by the state of New York in the village of Ossining, New York about 30 miles (48 km) north of New York City on the Hudson River.

18a	Dismiss // bear after bear (4-4)

POOH|-POOH — POOH (bear) following (after) POOH (bear)

Winnie-the-Pooh^[7], also called Pooh Bear [or simply Pooh], is a fictional anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne (1882–1956). (show more )

The first collection of stories about the character was the book Winnie-the-Pooh (1926), and this was followed by The House at Pooh Corner (1928). Milne also included a poem about the bear in the children's verse book When We Were Very Young (1924) and many more in Now We Are Six (1927).

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20a	Sailor echoed // concern for a dentist (6)

TAR|TAR — two instances of (echoed) TAR (sailor)

23a	German car with nothing // sound (5)

AUDI|O — AUDI (German car) + O (nothing; letter that looks like a zero)

24a	Landing // a job on a theatrical crew (9)

A|LIGHTING — A (†) + LIGHTING (job on a theatrical crew)

26a	Narrow escape // on Earth, in galaxy’s interior (4,5)

_N|EAR TH|IN|G_ — hidden in ('s interior; interior of) oN EARTH IN Galaxy

27a	Figure of Troy // I found in baby carriage (5)

PR(I)AM — I (†) contained in (found in) PRAM (baby carriage)

Pram^[5] is a British term for a four-wheeled carriage for a baby, pushed by a person on foot.

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In Greek mythology, Priam^[5] is the king of Troy at the time of its destruction by the Greeks under Agamemnon. The father of Paris and Hector and husband of Hecuba, he was slain by Neoptolemus, son of Achilles.

28a	Featherbrain // duplicated hairstyle (4)

DO|DO — two instances of (duplicated) DO (hairstyle)

29a	More than once, fortify a // town of Washington (5,5)

WALL|A| WALL|A — two instances of (more than once) {WALL (fortify) + A (†)}

Walla Walla^[7] is the largest city in and the county seat of Walla Walla County, Washington, United States*.

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^* There is also a town named Walla Walla^[7] in New South Wales, Australia which is situated about 130 kilometres (81 mi) south of the city of [I kid you not] Wagga Wagga^[7].

Down

1d	Light wood // resin, mostly (5)

BALSA_ — BALSA[M] (resin) with the final letter removed (almost)

2d	Football players/’/ sheets wrapped around me (7)

LINE(ME)N — LINEN (sheets) containing (wrapped around) ME (†)

3d	Notices // tool for trimming in the ear (3)

ADS~ — sounds like (in the ear) ADZE (tool for trimming)

4d	Necessitate // drifting in late (6)

ENTAIL* — anagram of (drifting) IN LATE

5d	Tip baseball team, turning // snoop (6,2)

LIST|{EN IN}< — LIST (tip; lean) + reversal of (turning) NINE (baseball team)

7d	I’m in band, and I // snack in Japan (7)

SASH(IM)I — IM (I'm) contained in (in) {SASH (band) + (and) I (†)}

Sashimi^[5] is is a Japanese dish of bite-sized pieces of raw fish eaten with soy sauce and wasabi paste.

8d	One seeking payback pursues South Carolina // ragpicker (9)

SC|AVENGER — AVENGER (one seeking payback) following (pursues) SC (South Carolina)

11d	Sign // a tough rap punk (9)

AUTOGRAPH* — anagram (punk) of A TOUGH RAP

13d	A member of Parliament’s into fat // squashes (6,3)

ST(A|MP|S) OUT — {A (†) + MP (member of Parliament) + S ('s)} contained in (into) STOUT (fat)

15d	A pedantic loony // ran (9)

CAPTAINED* — anagram of (loony) A PEDANTIC

17d	A piece of film on Ali’s African // masterpiece (4,4)

_M|ON|A LIS|A_ — hidden in (a piece of) filM ON ALIS African

The Mona Lisa^[5] (also called La Gioconda) is a painting (now in the Louvre in Paris) executed 1503–6 by Leonardo da Vinci. The sitter was the wife of Francesco del Giocondo; her enigmatic smile has become one of the most famous images in Western art.

19d	Mild ado upset // card game (3,4)

{OLD MAID}* — anagram of (upset) MILD ADO

21d	Petty // court case around four (7)

TR(IV)IAL — TRIAL (court case) containing (around) IV (four)

22d	Watch worn by Rome’s first // classical poet (6)

VI(R)GIL — VIGIL (watch) containing (worn by) R (Rome's first [initial letter])

Virgil^[5] (also Vergil) (70–19 BC) was a Roman poet; Latin name Publius Vergilius Maro. He wrote three major works: the Eclogues, ten pastoral poems, blending traditional themes of Greek bucolic poetry with contemporary political and literary themes; the Georgics, a didactic poem on farming; and the Aeneid, an epic poem in twelve books which relates the travels and experiences of Aeneas after the fall of Troy.

25d	Letter from Greek // general agitated Mama (5)

G|AMMA* — G (general; film classification) + anagram of (agitated) MAMA

Gamma^[5] is the third letter of the Greek alphabet (Γ, γ).

27d	Unfinished puppet // foot (3)

PAW_ — PAW[N] (puppet) with the final letter removed (unfinished)

Epilogue

The title of today's review is inspired by the six eight^* double-barreled solutions in today's puzzle — with a special nod to 18a.

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^* Thank you Peter for correcting the count

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Key to Reference Sources: 

  ^[1]   - The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition

  ^[2]   - Search Chambers - (Chambers 21st Century Dictionary)

  ^[3]   - TheFreeDictionary.com (American Heritage Dictionary)

  ^[4]   - TheFreeDictionarycom (Collins English Dictionary)

  ^[5]   - Lexico (formerly Oxford Dictionaries Online) (Oxford Dictionary of English)

  ^[6]   - Lexico (formerly Oxford Dictionaries Online) (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)

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Signing off for today — Falcon