Saturday, March 2, 2013 — It Must Be March

Introduction

Following a couple of weeks in which the theme of the puzzle was difficult — if not impossible — to discern, the theme of today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon appears blatantly obvious on first glance. Nevertheless, one should not be overly quick to leap to judgment — the theme may be less obvious than it first appears.

Solution to Today's Puzzle

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

Across

8a   BETH|LE|HEM — BETH (March) + (in front of) LE (the French; French word meaning 'the') + HEM (border)

Elizabeth "Beth" March is the second-youngest of the four March sisters in Louisa May Alcott's novel Little Women^[7] which was published in 1868 (1st volume) and 1869 (2nd volume).

9a   SE|AMY — AMY (March) following (behind) SE (southeast)

Amy Curtis March Laurence is the youngest of the four March sisters in the novel Little Women^[7].

11a   _OGRES_ — hidden in (featured in) prOGRESsion

12a   S(O|UGH)T OUT — {O ([letter that resembles a] bagel) + UGH (ick!)} contained in (covered with) STOUT (fat)

13a   MOTH(I)ER — MOTHER (Mom) containing (around) I ([Roman numeral for] one)

15a   INROADS* — anagram (shifted) of DORIANS

A Dorian^[5] is a member of a Hellenic people speaking the Doric dialect of Greek, thought to have entered Greece from the north circa 1100 BC. They settled in the Peloponnese and later colonized Sicily and southern Italy.

16a   {LOUISA MAY ALCOTT}* — anagram (translated) of SO AUTOMATICALLY

Louisa May Alcott^[7] (1832 – 1888) was an American novelist best known as author of the novel Little Women and its sequels Little Men and Jo's Boys.

20a   AU|DI(T)OR — AU ([symbol for the chemical element] gold) + {T (sort of shirt) contained in (acquired by) DIOR (fashionable Christian; French fashion designer Christian Dior^[7] (1905 – 1957))}

22a   ANALYST* — anagram (mistakenly) of NY ATLAS

23a   LORGNETTE~ — sounds like (for the ears) LORNE YET

A lorgnette^[5] is a pair of glasses or opera glasses held in front of a person’s eyes by a long handle at one side.

24a   PA(S)TE — S (salt) contained in (in) PATE (spread for crackers)

26a   BAN|JO — JO (March) following (behind) BAN (Prohibition)

Josephine "Jo" March Bhaer is the second-oldest of the four March sisters in the novel Little Women^[7].

27a   MEG|APHONE* — MEG (March) + (in front of) an anagram (messy) of HEAP ON

Margaret "Meg" March Brooke is the oldest of the four March sisters in the novel Little Women^[7].

Down

1d   ABNORMAL* — an anagram (strange) of LAMA BORN ...

... or — should you prefer — an anagram (unusual) of LAMA BORN

2d   STAR_ — STAR[K] (utterly) with the final letter deleted (incomplete)

3d   P(LAST)ICS — LAST (endure) contained in (in) PICS (pictures)

4d   P(HAS)ER — PER (each one) containing (outside) HAS

James Tiberius "Jim" Kirk^[7] is a character in the Star Trek media franchise: appearing in numerous television episodes, films, books, comics, and video games. As the captain of the starship USS Enterprise, Kirk leads his crew as they explore "where no man has gone before". Phasers^[7] are common directed-energy weapons first seen in the original Star Trek and later seen or referenced in almost all subsequent films and TV spin-offs.

5d   IMP|UNITY — IMP (rascal) + UNITY (solidarity)

One must read the solution as a phrase, with "imp unity" being equivalent to "unity with imps" or "solidarity with rascals". I know, you likely think that it's a bit questionable — but there is a question mark at the end of the clue!

6d   _E|SCHER_ — hidden in (running through) thE SCHERzo

Waterfall, 1961

In music, a scherzo^[5] is a vigorous, light, or playful composition, typically comprising a movement in a symphony or sonata.

Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898 – 1972), usually referred to as M. C. Escher^[7], was a Dutch graphic artist. He is known for his often mathematically inspired woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints. These feature impossible constructions, explorations of infinity, architecture, and tessellations.

7d   LABORATORY* — anagram (crackpot) of ALTAR BOY OR

10d   YET|IS — YET (still) + IS (can be found)

A yeti^[5] is a large hairy creature resembling a human or bear, said to live in the highest part of the Himalayas. Also called Abominable Snowman.

14d   TH(UNDER)ING — THING (object) containing (keeping) UNDER (less than)

17d   MARI(TIM)E — MARIE (Ms. Osmond; American singer and actress Marie Osmond^[7]) containing (embracing) TIM (Mr. Conway; American comedian and actor Tim Conway^[7])

18d   {LEAD PIPE}* — anagram (bananas) of APE PILED

19d   TE(THERE)D — TED (Theo; Ted and Theo both being nicknames for Theodore) containing (around) THERE (that place)

20d   {AD LIB}* — anagram (after shuffling) of AL BID

The definition "ignore the cards" refers to cue cards.

21d   TEND|ON — TEND (manage) + ON (performing; on [stage], on [the air], or on [camera])

22d   AWEIGH~ — sounds like (in the sound) AWAY (out)

25d   S|LOW — S (small) + (and) LOW (blue; sad, depressed)

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)

Signing off for today — Falcon