Saturday, September 12, 2015 — Belly Ache

Introduction

While solving and then composing the review of today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon,  it seemed as though there were not many anagrams. However, on close examination, I find that there are seven full or partial anagrams — constituting more than 20% of the clues. The fact that they are well-distributed through the puzzle may make them appear to be less prevalent than had they been clustered together.

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   Big book, // in my opinion (4)

TO|ME — TO ME (in my opinion)

3a   Turnout // at 10:00 social event (10)

AT|TEN|DANCE — AT (†) + TEN (10:00) + DANCE (social event)

9a   Repaint damaged // wood product (4,3)

{PINE TAR}* — anagram (damaged) of REPAINT

11a   A job with the French // evangelist (7)

A|POST|LE — A (†) + POST (job) + (with) LE (the French; French word meaning 'the')

12a   Each German // more than willing (5)

EA|GER — EA (each; abbrev.) + GER (German; abbrev.)

13a   Weasels // running through silver mine shaft (7)

_ER|MINE|S_ — hidden in (running through) silvER MINE Shafts

15a   Hottest // gun in old frontier (7)

W(ARM)EST — ARM (gun) contained in (in) WEST (old frontier)

16a   Classic Hollywood actor/’s/ worry: creative output (7)

STEW|ART — STEW (worry) + ART (creative output)

James "Jimmy" Stewart^[7] (1908–1997) was an American film and stage actor, known for his distinctive drawl and down-to-earth persona. He starred in many films that are considered to be classics and is known for portraying an American middle class man struggling with a crisis.

18a   Roll containing a // chicken choice (7)

RO(A)STER — ROSTER (roll) containing (†) A (†)

21a   One Friday, fire // someone from Mali or Kenya (7)

A|FRI|CAN — A (one) + FRI (Friday; abbrev.) + CAN (fire; dismiss from employment)

23a   English king // with lots of money on a road (7)

RICH|A|RD — RICH (with lots of money) + (on) A (†) + RD (road; abbrev.)

Richard^[5] is the name of three kings of England:

1. Richard I (1157–1199), son of Henry II, reigned 1189–99; known as Richard Coeur de Lion or Richard the Lionheart. He led the Third Crusade, defeating Saladin at Arsuf (1191) but failing to capture Jerusalem. Returning home, he was held hostage by the Holy Roman emperor Henry VI until being released in 1194 on payment of a huge ransom.
2. Richard II (1367–1400), son of the Black Prince, reigned 1377–99. Following his minority, he executed or banished most of his former opponents. His confiscation of his uncle John of Gaunt’s estate on the latter’s death provoked Henry Bolingbroke’s return from exile to overthrow him.
3. Richard III (1452–85), brother of Edward IV, reigned 1483-5. He served as Protector to his nephew Edward V, who, after two months, was declared illegitimate and subsequently disappeared. Richard’s brief rule ended at Bosworth Field, where he was defeated by Henry Tudor and killed.

Convention Contravention

This clue contravenes a convention that is generally followed in British cryptic crosswords, although it may not be as strictly observed by American setters. In an across clue, this convention holds that in order for A to be placed on B, B must already exist (i.e., already have been written). Since the English language is written from left to right, this means that B comes first and A is appended to it. Thus, by this convention, "A on B" signifies the sequence BA. In the above clue, RICH corresponds to A and the charade ARD corresponds to B. Thus, according to the convention, RICH on ARD should produce ARDRICH, not RICHARD. Personally, I can see no reason why this rationale cannot also be applied in a down clue, with B written starting in the first position and A being appended to it. However, there are many who would argue that this rule applies solely to across clues. A different (or, depending on your point of view, additional) convention applies in the case of a down clue.  "A on B" can be interpreted to mean 'A on top of B', leading to the sequence AB. Very clearly this rationale can apply only in a down clue. Nevertheless, you may well encounter setters (especially American setters) who choose to ignore this practice. After all, even the Geneva Convention is flouted by some parties. Therefore, you should always be on the lookout for violations of this convention.

25a   Startle // Pacino in front of a room (5)

AL|A|RM — AL (Pacino; American actor Al Pacino^[7]) + A (†) + RM (room; abbrev.)

27a   Subject matter // satisfied (7)

CONTENT — double definition (a noun and an adjective)

28a   Em speaks /and/ talks indistinctly (7)

M|UTTERS — M (Em) + UTTERS (speaks)

Scratching the Surface
In the surface reading, Em is a nickname for Emily.

29a   Instrument // repaired: E minor tuba (10)

TAMBOURINE* — anagram (repaired) of E MINOR TUBA

30a   Jog around one // wreck (4)

RU(I)N — RUN (jog) containing (around) I ([Roman numeral for] one)

Down

1d   Water churned around higher of two // food containers (10)

T(UPPER)WARE* — anagram (churned) of WATER containing (around) UPPER (higher of two)

2d   Coach // ran game badly (7)

MANAGER* — anagram (badly) of RAN GAME

4d   Harass // guys involved in legal wrongdoing (7)

TOR(MEN)T — MEN (guys) contained in (involved in) TORT (legal wrongdoing)

"Legal wrongdoing" is a classic oxymoron if ever there was one.

5d   Dutch scholar/’s/ addition problems are retracted (7)

{ERA|SMUS}< — reversal (retracted) of {SUMS (addition problems) + ARE (†)}

Desiderius Erasmus^[5] (circa 1469–1536) was a Dutch humanist and scholar; Dutch name Gerhard Gerhards. He was the foremost Renaissance scholar of northern Europe, paving the way for the Reformation with his satires on the Church, including the Colloquia Familiaria (1518). However, he opposed the violence of the Reformation and condemned Luther in De Libero Arbitrio (1523).

6d   Overwhelm // red, covered in blue (5)

D(R)OWN — R (red; abbrev.) contained in (covered in) DOWN (blue; sad)

7d   War and Peace heroine // has a tan, strangely (7)

NATASHA* — anagram (strangely) of HAS A TAN

Natasha Rostova^[7] (in full Countess Natalya "Natasha" Ilyinichna Rostova) is a central fictional character in the 1869 novel War and Peace by Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910).

8d   Still // incomplete occurrence (4)

EVEN_ — EVEN[T] (occurrence) with the final letter removed (incomplete)

Still^[5] can mean even when used with comparatives for emphasis ⇒ (i) write, or better still, type, captions for the pictures; (ii) Hank, already sweltering, began to sweat still more profusely.

Even^[5] is used in comparisons for emphasis ⇒ he knows even less about it than I do.

10d   Shelter housing hockey great /in/ downpour (7)

T(ORR)ENT — TENT (shelter) containing (housing) ORR (hockey great; legendary hockey player Bobby Orr^[7])

14d   Small note: mom’s scheduled // wall builder (10)

S|TONE|MA|S|ON — S (small; abbrev.) + TONE (note) + MA (mom) + S ('s) + ON (scheduled)

17d   A rather different // aviator (7)

EARHART* — anagram (different) of A RATHER

Amelia Earhart^[5] (1897–1937) was an American aviator. In 1932 she became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic solo. Her aircraft disappeared over the Pacific Ocean during a subsequent round-the-world flight with the loss of Earhart and her navigator.

19d   In the morning, receiving pal/’s/ word of starters? (7)

A(CRONY)M — AM (in the morning) containing (receiving) CRONY (pal)

An acronym^[5] is an abbreviation formed from the initial letters of other words and pronounced as a word (e.g. ASCII, NASA). On the other hand, an initialism^[5] is an abbreviation consisting of initial letters pronounced separately (e.g. BBC).

20d   Church figure possessing a // nuclear device (7)

RE(A)CTOR — RECTOR (church figure) containing (possessing) A (†)

21d   Belly // upset, moan “bed” (7)

ABDOMEN* — anagram (upset) of MOAN BED

22d   Talk alongside water in French // country house (7)

CHAT|EAU — CHAT (talk) + (alongside) EAU (water in French; French word meaning 'water')

24d   Company maintaining Communist // doctrine (5)

C(RED)O — CO (company; abbrev.) containing (maintaining) RED (Communist)

26d   Get lost // kitty after beginning of search (4)

S|CAT — CAT (kitty) following (after) S (beginning [initial letter] of Search)

Epilogue

The title of today's review is inspired by 21d and 4d.

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