Saturday, February 7, 2015 — Recapping the Weather in Central Canada

Introduction

After a handful of quick hits in today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon, I slowed to a crawl, then picked up speed as the solutions began to go into the grid. However, I ground to a halt with two clues remaining unsolved. I was eventually able to get 13d based on having all the checking letters in place. However, 22a continued to elude me — although I needed only a gentle nudge from my electronic assistants to point me in the right direction. That little push caused no injury, although I can't say the same for the kick I gave myself for failing to see the solution on my own.

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   Heard what a hound might do: // bay (5)

BIGHT~ — sounds like (heard) BITE (what a hound might do)

4a   One list regarding // Italian course (9)

AN|TIP|AS|TO — AN (one) + TIP (list; lean to the side) + AS TO (regarding)

9a   University philosopher/’s/ way of employing language (5)

U|SAGE — U (university) + SAGE (philosopher)

10a   Adjusted braces in a // part of the skull (9)

BRAINCASE* — anagram (adjusted) of BRACES IN A

11a   One caught in the very // act of stealing (8)

TH(I)E|VERY — I ([Roman numeral for] one) contained in (caught in) THE (†) + VERY (†)

12a   Authoritarian ruler /is/ second entering station (6)

DE(S)POT — S (second) contained in (entering) DEPOT (station)

14a   Was sorry about // boorish speaking (4)

RUED~ — sound like (speaking) RUDE (boorish)

15a   Playwright in group: “I ran Dell operations” (10)

_P|I|RAN|DELL|O_ — hidden in (in) grouP I RAN DELL Operations

Luigi Pirandello^[5] (1867–1936) was an Italian dramatist and novelist. His plays, including Six Characters in Search of an Author (1921) and Henry IV (1922), challenged the conventions of naturalism. Notable novels: The Outcast (1901) and The Late Mattia Pascal (1904). He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1934.

Scratching the Surface
Dell Inc.[7] is an American privately owned multinational computer technology company based in Round Rock, Texas, United States, that develops, sells, repairs and supports computers and related products and services.

19a   Jarring sound // seems to be boy involved in aerobic activity (10)

D(IS|SON)ANCE — {IS (seems to be) + SON (boy)} contained in (involved in) DANCE (aerobic activity)

20a   Rejected current // work at a magazine (4)

EDIT< — reversal (rejected) of TIDE (current)

22a   Iridescent // phosphorus at daybreak (6)

P|EARLY — P ([symbol for the chemical element] phosphorus) + EARLY (at daybreak)

24a   Come out again /and/ gather fruit (8)

REAP|PEAR — REAP (gather) + PEAR (fruit)

26a   Some slowpokes // run in loco parentis (9)

TE(R)RAPINS* or TER(R)APINS* — R (run; baseball — or cricket — term) contained in (in) anagram (loco) of PARENTIS

Scratching the Surface
In loco parentis*, a legal term, is Latin for 'in place of a parent'. It denotes the relationship that an adult or an institution assumes toward an infant or minor of whom the adult is not a parent but to whom the adult or institution owes the obligation of care and supervision. * West's Encyclopedia of American Law

27a   Place where you might find sports // are not applicable (5)

ARE|NA — ARE (†) + NA (not applicable)

28a   Nose hairs going haywire /in/ old age (9)

HOARINESS* — anagram (going haywire) of NOSE HAIRS

Hoariness^[3] is the quality or state of being so old as to inspire veneration.

29a   Returning, put on // some music (5)

NO|TES< — reversal (returning) of {SET (put) + ON (†)}

Down

1d   In the sack, lecherous character // was full of false bravado (9)

B(LUSTER)ED — LUSTER (lecherous character) contained in (in) BED (the sack)

2d   Fruity feature /of/ tree planted in lawn (9)

GRA(PINE)SS — PINE (tree) contained in (planted in) GRASS (lawn)

3d   55 in temperature: diminutive // number (6)

T|WE(LV)E — LV ([Roman numeral for] 55) contained in (in) {T (temperature) + WEE (diminutive)}

4d   Conifers entangled a riverboat (10)

ARBORVITAE* — anagram (entangled) of A RIVERBOAT

Arborvitae^[3] (also arbor vitae) is (1) any of several North American or eastern Asian evergreen trees or shrubs of the genus Thuja, having flattened branchlets with opposite, scalelike leaves and small cones. They are grown as ornamentals and for timber. Also called thuja; or (2) any similar plant of the related genera Platycladus or Thujopsis.

5d   Snare // member on the way back (4)

TRAP< — reversal (on the way back) of PART (member; [body] part)

6d   Deanship confused // idiots (8)

PINHEADS* — anagram (confused) of DEANSHIP

7d   Rascal/’s/ shrimp dish left unfinished (5)

SCAMP_ — SCAMP[I] (shrimp dish) with the final letter removed (left unfinished)

8d   Open to view // on Tuesday, initially (5)

OVER|T — OVER (on; on top of) + T (Tuesday initially; initial letter of Tuesday)

13d   Glands /that might give you/ face wrinkles (10)

PAN|CREASES — PAN (face) + CREASES (wrinkles)

Pan^[3,4,11] is a slang term for the face. I can only ever recall seeing used this way in the expression deadpan^[3,4,11] [which I presume is related to this usage].

16d   Crazy old men get // accommodations (9)

LODGEMENT* — anagram (crazy) of OLD MEN GET

17d   Some Canadians // travelling, as on train (9)

ONTARIANS* — anagram (travelling) of AS ON TRAIN

18d   “Fuel,” actor Coltrane said, “/is/ something like cabbage” (8)

{KOHL|RABI}~ — sounds like (said) {COAL (fuel) + ROBBIE (actor Coltrane)}

Robbie Coltrane^[7] (born Anthony Robert McMillan) is a Scottish actor, comedian and author. He is known for his roles as Rubeus Hagrid in the Harry Potter films, as Valentin Dmitrovich Zukovsky in the James Bond films GoldenEye and The World Is Not Enough and as Dr. Eddie "Fitz" Fitzgerald in the British TV series Cracker during the 1990s.

21d   Place in Europe obtaining plumber’s last // wrench (6)

SP(R)AIN — SPAIN (place in Europe) containing (obtaining) R (plumbeR's last [letter])

22d   Attempt to sell // asphalt (5)

PITCH — double definition

23d   Song about foremost of tennis // courts (5)

A(T)RIA — ARIA (song) containing (about) T (foremost [initial letter] of Tennis)

25d   Be // bad in retrospect (4)

LIVE< — reversal (in retrospect) of EVIL (bad)

Epilogue

The theme of today's puzzle was suggested by 1d and 17d as it BLUSTERED for ONTARIANS this week.

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