Saturday, March 8, 2014 — Field & Stream

Introduction

Today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon would seem to have somewhat of a hunting and fishing theme to it — although perhaps not a blatantly obvious one.

Solution to Today's Puzzle

Legend:	"*" anagram; "~" sounds like; "<" letters reversed
	"( )" letters inserted; "_" letters deleted; "†" explicit in the clue
	Definitions are underlined in the clue, with subsidiary indications being marked by means of a dashed underline in semi-all-in-one (semi-& lit.) clues and cryptic definitions.

Across

1a   Nets last of halibut in hiding places (7)

CA(T)CHES — T (last [letter] of halibuT) contained in (in) CACHES (hiding places)

5a   Faces six wise guys? (7)

VI|SAGES — VI ([Roman numeral for] six) + SAGES (wise guys)

9a   Making fun of angler's equipment in settling up (9)

PA(ROD)YING — ROD (angler's equipment) contained in (in) PAYING (settling up)

10a   Shopping centre in La Paz remodeled (5)

PLAZA* — anagram (remodelled) of LA PAZ

La Paz^[5] is the capital of Bolivia, in the north-west of the country near the border with Peru; population 835,301 (2009). (The judicial capital is Sucre.) Situated in the Andes at an altitude of 3,660 m (12,000 ft), La Paz is the highest capital city in the world.

11a   Tedious cuckoo goes extinct (4,3)

{DIES OUT}* — anagram (cuckoo) of TEDIOUS

12a   Hide article wrapped by Shakespearean king (7)

LEA(THE)R — THE ([definite] article) contained in (wrapped by) LEAR (Shakespearean king)

King Lear^[7] is a tragedy by English playwright William Shakespeare (1564-1616).

13a   Temporarily take around Wanda's hunting gear (3,3,5)

BO(W AND A)RROW — BORROW (temporarily take) containing (around) WANDA

18a   To a wary deer, crackpot is of a standard cut (5-2-4)

{READY-TO-WEAR}* — anagram (crackpot) of TO A WARY DEER

21a   Various swimmers going underwater with energy (7)

DIVERS|E — DIVERS (swimmers going underwater) + (with) E (energy)

23a   Story about alien pod and young swimmer (7)

TA(DPO*)LE — TALE (story) containing (about) anagram (alien) of POD

24a   Old garments to air, e.g. (5)

TO|GAS — TO (†) + GAS (air, e.g.)

25a   Colonist runs off pronghorns (9)

ANT|ELOPES — ANT (colonist) + ELOPES (runs off)

Adult male Pronghorn

The pronghorn^[5] (Antilocapra americana), also known as the pronghorn antelope, is a deer-like North American mammal with a stocky body, long slim legs, and black horns that are shed and regrown annually.

The plural of antelope^[5] can be either antelope or antelopes.

26a   Author hides out after mid-February (7)

_RU_|SHDIE* — anagram (out) of HIDES following (after) the middle two letters (mid) of FebRUary

Sir Salman Rushdie^[5] is an Indian-born British novelist. His work, chiefly associated with magic realism, includes Midnight’s Children (Booker Prize, 1981) and The Satanic Verses (1988). The latter, regarded by Muslims as blasphemous, caused Ayatollah Khomeini to issue a fatwa in 1989 condemning Rushdie to death [causing him to 'hide out']. In 1998 the Iranian government dissociated itself from the fatwa.

27a   Work in stone showing the Virgin holding child (7)

MA(SON)RY — MARY (the Virgin) containing (holding) SON (child)

Statue of Madonna and Child atop Notre-Dame Cathedral, Ottawa 

In the Christian religion, Mary^[5] is the mother of Jesus; known as the (Blessed) Virgin Mary, or St Mary, or Our Lady. According to the Gospels she was a virgin betrothed to Joseph and conceived Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. She has been venerated by Catholic and Orthodox Churches from the earliest Christian times.

Down

1d   Name inscribed in trophies for archers (6)

CUP(ID)S — ID (name) contained in (inscribed in) CUPS (trophies)

Cupid

In Roman mythology, Cupid^[5] is the god of love. He is represented as a naked winged boy with a bow and arrows, with which he wounds his victims.

2d   Led by sailor, achieve object of pursuit (6)

TAR|GET — GET (achieve) following (led by) TAR (sailor)

For cryptic effect, the setters have inverted the sentence order [as I see that I have unwittingly done also].

3d   Excited hounds howl in northern region of Canada (6,3)

HUDSON*| BAY — anagram (excited) of HOUNDS + BAY (howl)

Hudson Bay^[5] is a large inland sea in northeastern Canada. It is the largest inland sea in the world and is connected to the North Atlantic Ocean via the Hudson Strait.

4d   Hunt around West for bird (5)

S(W)IFT — SIFT (hunt) containing (around) W (est)

Common Swift (Apus apus)

A swift^[5] is a swift-flying insectivorous bird with long, slender wings and a superficial resemblance to a swallow, spending most of its life on the wing.

Swifts^[7] occur on all the continents, though not in the far north or large deserts, and on many oceanic islands. The swifts of temperate regions are strongly migratory and winter in the tropics. Some species can survive short periods of cold weather by entering torpor, a state similar to hibernation.

5d   Caution country singer Gill about kind of monster (9)

VI(GILA)NCE — VINCE (country singer Gill) containing (about) GILA (type of monster)

Vince Gill^[7] is an American country singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He has achieved commercial success and fame both as frontman to the country rock band Pure Prairie League in the 1970s, and as a solo artist beginning in 1983, where his talents as a vocalist and musician have placed him in high demand as a guest vocalist, and a duet partner.

Gila monster

The Gila monster^[5] (Heloderma suspectum) is a venomous beaded lizard native to the south-western US and Mexico.

6d   Brownish letter from Greece found in ocean (5)

SE(PI)A — PI (letter from Greece) contained in (found in) SEA (ocean)

Pi^[5] is the sixteenth letter of the Greek alphabet (Π, π).

7d   Pastoral sort of nomadic dog-hater (8)

GOATHERD* — anagram (nomadic) of DOG HATER

8d   Birds fight in boxes (8)

SPAR(ROW)S — ROW (fight) contained in (in) SPARS (boxes)

A male House Sparrow

A sparrow^[5] is a small finch-like Old World bird related to the weaver birds, typically with brown and grey plumage.

The sparrows^[7] are indigenous to Europe, Africa and Asia. In the Americas, Australia, and other parts of the world, settlers imported some species which quickly naturalised, particularly in urban and degraded areas. House Sparrows, for example, are now found throughout North America, in every state of Australia except Western Australia, and over much of the heavily populated parts of South America.

14d   Cheers, gripped by large animal's mass (9)

WH(OLES)ALE — OLES ([Spanish] cheers) contained in (gripped by) WHALE (large animal)

15d   Dogs shown on TV with beers (9)

AIRED|ALES — AIRED (shown on TV) + (with) ALES (beers)

16d   Teardrop disturbed hunter (8)

PREDATOR* — anagram (disturbed) of TEARDROP

17d   Rescues fifty caught in attacks (8)

SA(L)VAGES — L ([Roman numeral for] fifty) contained in (caught in) SAVAGES (attacks; used as a verb)

19d   Furry critter eating up certificate (6)

CO(UP)ON — COON (furry critter; raccoon) containing (eating) UP (†)

20d   Trifling with me, one like a fox (6)

ME|A|SLY — ME (†) + A (one) + SLY (like a fox)

22d   Patch up a green and red stocking like this (5)

RE(SO)D — RED (†) containing (stocking; keeping a supply of) SO (like this; "She wants it done just so")

23d   Carry male symbol (5)

TOTE|M — TOTE (carry) + M (male)

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