Saturday, August 30, 2014 — A Visit to the Far East

Introduction

I got off to a quick start with today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon and thought it might turn into a "write in". However, my pace rapidly slowed to a crawl.

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

Legend:	"*" anagram; "~" sounds like; "<" letters reversed
	"( )" letters inserted; "_" letters deleted; "†" explicit in the clue
	Primary indications (definitions) are marked with a solid underline in the clue; subsidiary indications (be they wordplay or other) are marked with a dashed underline in all-in-one (& lit.) clues, semi-all-in-one (semi-& lit.) clues and cryptic definitions.

Across

8a   People in a sci-fi story, and alien near them (8)

EARTHMEN* — anagram (alien) of NEAR THEM

It would seem that the solution is not a reference to a people in a specific sci-fi work. While I did find a reference to a people called the Earthmen, it is found in a work from the wrong genre. In The Chronicles of Narnia, a series of seven high fantasy novels by British author C.S. Lewis (1898–1963), Earthmen^[7] are the gnome-like natives of Bism, a land which lies far beneath the surface of the Narnian earth. However, as these tales belong to the fantasy genre, rather than sci-fi, the reference most probably applies to a people that appear in any of a great many sci-fi works.

9a   Animal's horn I twisted (5)

RHINO —anagram (twisted) of HORN I

10a   Little rascals stay in a tent with two snakes outside (6)

S(CAMP)S — CAMP (stay in tents) contained in (with ... outside) {S + S (two snakes)}

11a   Vendor's French sea song (8)

MER|CHANT — MER (French [word meaning] sea) + CHANT (song)

12a   Writer, 51, wearing no part of a suit (8)

NO|VE(LI)ST — LI ([Roman numeral for] 51) contained in (wearing) {NO (†) + VEST (part of a suit)}

13a   Small Caribbean island diver's gear (5)

S|CUBA — S (small) + CUBA (Caribbean island)

14a   Move back into dull swampy area (7)

B(OG<)LAND — reversal (back) of GO (move) contained in (into) BLAND (dull)

18a   Fetching me now is wrong (7)

WINSOME* — anagram (wrong) of ME NOW IS

22a   Nearly foolish as the creator of Aramis (5)

DUM|AS — DUM[B] (foolish) with the last letter removed (nearly) + AS (†)

René d'Herblay, alias Aramis^[7] is a fictional character in the novels The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After and The Vicomte de Bragelonne by French writer Alexandre Dumas, père (1802–1870). He and the other two musketeers Athos and Porthos are friends of the novels' protagonist, d'Artagnan.

23a   Vandal of sorts, a true s.o.b., busted (8)

SABOTEUR* — anagram (busted) of A TRUE SOB

24a   Dandy soda in joint (8)

POP|IN|JAY — POP (soda) + IN (†) + JAY (joint)

Joint^[7] is a slang term for a cigarette rolled using cannabis (marijuana). There are many slang terms mostly synonymous with the word joint; among them, the term "jay" or "J" is used as an abbreviation for a generic joint.

25a   King of the blues found in pit, lame (6)

HO(BB)LE — BB (King of the blues; American blues musician B.B. King^[7]) contained in (found in) HOLE (pit)

In the  cryptic reading of the clue, "lame" must be interpreted as a verb.

26a   Cut second tie up (5)

S|LASH — S (second) + LASH (tie up)

27a   Shares in the penning of bully ceremonies (8)

COW|RITES — COW (bully; cow is used as a modifier) + RITES (ceremonies)

If one reads the solution and the wordplay as entire phrases, it should be apparent that "cow rites" and "bully ceremonies" could be alternative ways to describe bovine religious practices.

Down

1d   Sing loudly around fire with bit of operatic singing style (3,5)

BEL (CAN)T|O —BELT (sing loudly) containing (around) CAN (fire; dismiss from employment) + (with) O (bit [first letter] of Operatic)

Bel canto^[5] is a lyrical style of operatic singing using a full, rich, broad tone and smooth phrasing ⇒ (i) a superb piece of bel canto; (ii) the bel canto arias of Bellini.

2d   Vampire bats left earliest (8)

PRIMEVA*|L — anagram (bats; crazy, very eccentric) of VAMPIRE + L (left)

3d   Meddle, crossing franchise line (6,2)

_CHISE|L IN_ — hidden in (crossing) franCHISE LINe

Chisel in is synonymous with butt in, chime in, barge in, break in, cut in, or put in. I suspect that it is a North American expression.

4d   Dangerous current turned bad, and that hurts (8)

UNDERT|OW — anagram (bad) of TURNED + (and) OW (that hurts; ouch!)

5d   Necrosis ruined telecom giant (8)

ERICSSON* — anagram (ruined) of NECROSIS

Ericsson^[7] (Telefonaktiebolaget L. M. Ericsson) is a Swedish multinational provider of communications technology and services.

6d   Fasten a slow boat alongside orange volcano (8)

PIN|A|TUB|O — PIN (fasten) + A (†) + TUB (slow boat) + O (orange)

Mount Pinatubo^[5] is a volcano on the island of Luzon, in the Philippines. It erupted in 1991, killing more than 300 people and destroying the homes of more than 200,000.

7d   Some engineers of TWA returned computer programs (8)

_S|OF|TWA|RE_ — hidden in (some) engineerS OF TWA REturned

Trans World Airlines^[7] (TWA) was a major American airline from 1925 until 2001 when its assets were acquired by AMR Corp., the parent company of American Airlines.

14d   Begin to develop a pain in the neck in a European capital (8)

BUD|A|PEST — BUD (begin to develop) + A (†) + PEST (pain in the neck)

Budapest^[5] is the capital of Hungary; population 1,712,210 (2009). The city was formed in 1873 by the union of the hilly city of Buda on the right bank of the River Danube with the low-lying city of Pest on the left.

15d   Piano acquired by Indonesian music ensemble's strategy (4,4)

GAME (P)LAN —P (piano; musical direction) contained in (acquired by) GAMELAN (Indonesian music ensemble)

Piano^[3,5] (abbreviation p^[5]), is a musical direction meaning either (as an adjective) soft or quiet or (as an adverb) softly or quietly.

Gamelan^[7] is traditional ensemble music of Java and Bali made up predominantly of percussive instruments. The most common instruments are metallophones played by mallets as well as a set of hand played drums called kendhang which register the beat. Other instruments include xylophones, bamboo flutes, bowed instrument called rebab, and even vocalists called sindhen.

Although its popularity has declined since the introduction of pop music, gamelan is still commonly played in formal occasions and is an integral part in many traditional Indonesian ceremonies. For most Indonesians, gamelan is an integral part of Indonesian culture.

16d   Core components in the wormwood (8)

ABS|IN|THE — ABS (core components; abdominal muscles) + IN (†) + THE (†)

Absinthe^[5] is another term for wormwood^[5], a woody shrub with a bitter aromatic taste, used as an ingredient of vermouth and absinthe [an alcoholic drink] and in medicine.

17d   Send spring inside drainage channel (8)

DI(SPA)TCH — SPA (spring) contained in (inside) DITCH (drainage channel)

19d   School of thought about different line on a map (8)

IS(OTHER)M — ISM (school of thought) containing (about) OTHER (different)

20d   Gels containing something savoury for desserts (8)

S(HERB)ETS — SETS (gels) containing (†) HERB (something savoury)

21d   Russian range shrouded in fog for painter (8)

M(URAL)IST — URAL (Russian [mountain] range) contained in (shrouded in) MIST (fog)

The Ural Mountains^[5] (also the Urals) is the name of a mountain range in Russia, extending 1,600 km (1,000 miles) from the Arctic Ocean to the Aral Sea in Kazakhstan, and rising to 1,894 m (6,214 ft) at Mount Narodnaya. It forms part of the conventional boundary between Europe and Asia.

Epilogue

The title of today's post is inspired by the Philippine volcano at 6d and the Indonesian musicians at 15d.

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