Saturday, January 31, 2015 — Bringing up the Rear

Introduction

Today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon is a pleasant jog through the park and shouldn't raise much of a sweat. However, you may be a bit taken aback by what you see there.

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. Explicit link words and phrases are enclosed in forward slashes (/link/) and implicit links are shown as double forward slashes (//).

Across

1a   Coyly clever // curve (4)

ARCH — double definition

3a   Collections /of/ marbles enthralling Gregory (10)

AG(GREG)ATES — AGATES (marbles) containing (enthralling) GREG (nickname for Gregory)

An agate^[3] is a playing marble made of agate or a glass imitation of it.

9a   Free // woodland creatures, about 54 (7)

DE(LIV)ER — DEER (woodland creatures) containing (about) LIV ([Roman numeral for] 54)

11a   Scent /of/ one pine product inside another (7)

CO(LOG)NE — LOG (one pine product) contained in (inside) CONE (another [pine product])

12a   Violinist Isaac/’s/ back (5)

STERN — double definition

Isaac Stern^[5] (1920–2001) was a US violinist; born in Russia. He made his New York debut in 1937 at Town Hall. In 1956, he was the first American to perform in Russia after World War II, and he was invited to China in 1979. He served as president of Carnegie Hall from 1960.

13a   Cater at dances /with/ serving table on wheels (3,4)

{TEA CART}* — anagram (dances) of CATER AT

15a   Cooked // poor seabird (7)

BRAISED* — anagram (poor) of SEABIRD

16a   Red // spy in Massachusetts (7)

M(AGENT)A — AGENT (spy) contained in (in) MA ([US Postal Service abbreviation^[7] for] Massachusetts)

18a   Dull crowd returned // shell (7)

{BOM|BARD}< — reversal (returned) of {DRAB (dull) + MOB (crowd)}

21a   Group collecting plant for flavouring // frozen treat (7)

S(HERB)ET — SET (group) containing (collecting) HERB (plant for flavouring)

23a   Playwright G.B. born // member of a tribe (7)

SHAW|NEE — SHAW (playwright G.B.; George Bernard Shaw^[7]) + NEE (born)

The Shawnee^[5] are an American Indian people living formerly in the eastern US and now chiefly in Oklahoma.

25a   Cast // finished speaking (5)

THREW~ — sounds like (speaking) THROUGH (finished)

27a   Glaring // at a piece of nut in bacon sandwich (7)

BL(AT|A|N)T — {AT (†) + A (†) + N (piece [first letter] of Nut) contained in (in) BLT (bacon sandwich; Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato [sandwich])

28a   Section of seats holding stray // dog (7)

T(ERR)IER — TIER (section of seats) containing (holding) ERR (stray)

29a   Changing reins, enact // temporary state (10)

TRANSIENCE* — anagram (changing) of REINS ENACT

30a   Message still includes // periods (4)

_AGE|S_ — hidden in (includes) messAGE Still

Down

1d   Total consists of Swedish group outside a // city in Ethiopia (5,5)

ADD|IS AB(A)BA — ADD (total) + IS (†) + ABBA (Swedish group) containing (outside) A (†)

Abba^[5] is a Swedish pop group which became popular in the 1970s with catchy, well-crafted songs such as ‘Waterloo’ (1974) and ‘Knowing Me Knowing You’ (1977).

Addis Ababa^[5] (also Adis Abeba) is the capital of Ethiopia, situated at an altitude of about 2,440 m (8,000 ft); population 3,101,000 (est. 2007).

2d   Calcium-coated tree /in/ volcano’s crater (7)

C(ALDER)A — ALDER (tree) contained in (coated) CA ([symbol for the chemical element] calcium)

4d   Spun // awful tragedy (7)

GYRATED* — anagram (awful) of TRAGEDY

5d   Get back // miracle plastic (7)

RECLAIM* — anagram (plastic) of MIRACLE

6d   Olympic prize linked to a // predecessor of Yitzhak (5)

GOLD|A — GOLD (Olympic prize) + (linked to) A (†)

Golda Meir was the immediate predecessor of Yitzhak Rabin as Prime Minister of Israel. However, she was also a predecessor of Yitzhak Shamir.

Yitzhak Rabin^[5] (1922–1995) was an Israeli statesman and military leader, Prime Minister 1974-7 and 1992-5. In 1993 he negotiated a PLO-Israeli peace accord with Yasser Arafat, for which he shared the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize with Arafat and Shimon Peres. He was assassinated by a Jewish extremist.

Yitzhak Shamir^[5] (1915–2012) was a Polish-born Israeli statesman, Prime Minister 1983-4 and 1986–92; Polish name Yitzhak Jazernicki. Under his leadership Israel did not retaliate when attacked by Iraqi missiles during the Gulf War, thereby possibly averting an escalation of the conflict.

Golda Meir^[5] (1898–1978) was an Israeli stateswoman, Prime Minister 1969–74; born Goldie Mabovich. Born in Ukraine, she emigrated to the US in 1907 and in 1921 to Palestine. Following Israel’s independence she served in ministerial posts from 1949 to 1966 before being elected Prime Minister.

7d   Heard giant // get closer (7)

TIGHTEN~ — sounds like (heard) TITAN (giant)

In Greek mythology, the Titans^[7] were a primeval race of powerful deities, descendants of Gaia (Earth) and Uranus (Sky), that ruled during the legendary Golden Age. They were immortal giants of incredible strength and were also the first pantheon of Greek gods and goddesses.

8d   Crockpot dish // gets moist when flipped (4)

STEW< — reversal (when flipped) of WETS (gets moist)

10d   Redgrave the actress // saves an alien (7)

VANESSA* — anagram (alien) of SAVES AN

Vanessa Redgrave^[7] is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.

14d   Scattered mother’s raw // food for some birds (10)

EARTHWORMS* — anagram (scattered) of MOTHERS RAW

17d   Better // kitchen implement catching last bit of juice (7)

GR(E)ATER — GRATER (kitchen implement) containing (catching) E (last bit [final letter] of juicE)

19d   A skin blemish covered by Mom/’s/ makeup (7)

MA(SCAR)A — {A (†) + SCAR (skin blemish)} contained in (covered by) MA (Mom)

20d   Tied ten flies around // eating area (7)

DINETTE* — anagram (flies around) of TIED TEN

21d   Doubter // pickets cast (7)

SKEPTIC* — anagram (cast) of PICKETS

22d   Nightclub magnate // doing dog imitations (7)

BAR|KING — BAR (nightclub) + KING (magnate)

24d   Gather /in/ the morning by rear (5)

AM|ASS — AM (in the morning) + (by) ASS (rear)

Methought this a bit edgy for Cox and Rathvon!

26d   Neighbour/’s/ brass horn brought back (4)

ABUT< — reversal (brought back) of TUBA (brass horn)

Epilogue

The title of today's blog was inspired by 24a.

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