Saturday, June 15, 2013 — Parlez-vous français?

Introduction

In today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon, the setters give us a soupçon of Canada's other official language.

I have also posted last week's puzzle at National Post Cryptic Crossword for June 8, 2013.

Solution to Today's Puzzle

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

Across

1a   {LAISSEZ-FAIRE}~ — sounds like (in speech) {LAYS (sets) + A (†) + FAIR (satisfactory)}

10a   HO(T SP)OT — HOOT (riot) containing (about) TSP (teaspoon)

11a   FA(C)ULTY — FAULTY (wrong) containing (about) C (average grade)

12a   PIE(D-A-TE)RRE — PIERRE (Trudeau; former Canadian prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau^[7]) containing DATE (appointment)

13a   L(IS)T — IS (†) contained in (kept by) LT (lieutenant)

15a   RO(SET)TE — SET (laid) contained in (in) ROTE (routine)

16a   S(CH)OLAR — CH (first couple of [letters in] CHanges) contained in (inside) SOLAR (of the sun)

18a   NO|MINE|E — NO (†) + MINE (coal-source) + E (energy)

21a   PAL|M OIL — PAL (associate) + MOIL (hard work)

23a   A|RID — A (†) + RID (free)

24a   {BILLET-DOU}*|X — anagram (modified) of BUD ELLIOT + (closing with) X (kiss)

Bud Elliot would appear to be a convenient invented name, although there was a former American college  football coach named Bud Elliott^[7] (1931 – 2005).

26a   HATCH|ET — HATCH (give birth to) + ET (alien; E.T. The Extraterrestrial^[7])

27a   T(RUST) IN — RUST (corrosion) contained in (-filled) TIN (can)

28a   {CARTE BLANCHE}* — anagram (reformed) of CENTRAL BEACH

Down

2d   ASP|HALTING — ASP (reptile) + HALTING (putting an a stop to)

3d   SO T|HERE — SOT (drunk) + HERE (in this place)

4d   EF|FOR|TS — hidden in (some) reliEF FOR TSars

5d   F|ACE — F (failing [grade]) + ACE (fighter pilot)

6d   ILL| WILL — ILL (I shall; I'll) + WILL (shall)

7d   EGYPT — first letters (pilots) of Expedition Gauging Your Place To

8d   CHAPERON* — anagram (unstable) of ON A PERCH

9d   STEERS —double definition; "guides" & "the beasts in a cattle drive"

14d   WHO|LE T|RUTH — WHO (the person that) + LET (permitted) + RUTH (the Babe; former baseball player Babe Ruth^[7])

17d   RELAXING* — anagram (might make) of ALEX GRIN

19d   MOISTER* — anagram (motile) of ITS MORE

20d   EDICTAL* — anagram (odd) of DIALECT

The definition is "of a proclamation".

21d   PE(LOT)ON — PEON (labourer) containing (keeps) LOT (parking place)

22d   OPORTO* — anagram (moved) of TO POOR

Porto, also known as Oporto^[7] in English, is the second-largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon.

23d   {AD HOC}~ — sounds like (recital of) {ADD (total) + HOCK (pawn)}

25d   SH(O)E — SHE (the lady) containing (carrying) O ([symbol for the chemical element] oxygen)

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