Saturday, September 19, 2015 — Lost in the Bushes

Introduction

I found today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon to be their most challenging offering for many a moon. I failed to recognize an anagram and the solution to one clue was totally new to me. My electronic assistants got called into action today, a rare occurrence for a Cox & Rathvon puzzle.

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   Trench coat altered /for/ powerful scientist (10)

TECHNOCRAT* — anagram (altered) of TRENCH COAT

6a   Rip off // Apple products from the east (4)

SCAM< — reversal (from the east; written right to left) of MACS (Apple products)

The Macintosh^[7] (branded as Mac since 1998) is a series of personal computers (PCs) designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc.

9a   French painter // running into New York ballplayer (5)

M(ON)ET — ON (running) contained in (into) MET (New York ballplayer)

The New York Mets^[7] are a professional baseball team based in the borough of Queens in New York City. They play in the National League (NL) East division in Major League Baseball (MLB).

Claude Monet^[5] (1840–1926) was a French painter. A founder member of the impressionists, his fascination with the play of light on objects led him to produce series of paintings of single subjects painted at different times of the day and under different weather conditions, such as the Water-lilies sequence (1899–1906; 1916 onwards).

10a   Report in article connects // some old rival church leaders (9)

AN|TI(POP)ES — POP (report) contained in {AN ([indefinite] article) + TIES (connects)}

An antipope^[10] is a rival pope elected in opposition to one who has been canonically chosen.

12a   Jester’s back in comedy routine on // subject of Queen Elizabeth (6)

B(R)IT|ON — R (jester's back; final letter of jesteR) contained in (in) BIT (comedy routine) + ON (†)

In addition to Britons (inhabitants of England, Scotland and Wales), Queen Elizabeth's subjects include those who live in Northern Ireland and the 16 Commonwealth Realms (including Canada).

13a   Burning // Tree framed by a person (2,4)

ON (FIR)E — FIR (tree) contained in (framed by) ONE (a person)

16a   Land // held by Romans (4)

_OMAN_ — hidden in (held by) ROMANs

Oman^[7], officially the Sultanate of Oman, is an Arab country in the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula.

17a   Astros plan new // shift (10)

TRANSPOSAL* — anagram (new) of ASTROS PLAN

Scratching the Surface
The Houston Astros[7] are an American professional baseball team located in Houston, Texas. The Astros are members of the American League (AL) West division in Major League Baseball (MLB), having moved to the division in 2013 after spending their first 51 seasons in the National League (NL).

20a   Watch // midwestern cuckoo (10)

STEMWINDER* — anagram (cuckoo) of MIDWESTERN

Stem-winder^[5] (spelled stem-winder^[3,5,10,11] or stemwinder^[11]) is a dated US term for a watch wound by turning a knob on the end of a stem.

21a   Sun god in // shower (4)

RA|IN — RA (sun god) + IN (†)

In Egyptian mythology, Ra^[5] is the sun god, the supreme Egyptian deity, worshipped as the creator of all life and typically portrayed with a falcon’s head bearing the solar disc. From earliest times he was associated with the pharaoh.

23a   A deity in father/’s/ temple (6)

P(A|GOD)A — {A (†) + GOD (deity)} contained in (in) PA (father)

In India and East Asia, a pagoda^[5] is a Hindu or Buddhist temple, typically in the form of a many-tiered tower.

25a   Offensive // by turn in a sailboat (6)

AT|TACK —AT (by; beside, as in I'll meet you at the lake) + TACK (turn in a sailboat)

28a   Movie director, // soldier, and I taking in tear-jerker? (9)

ANT(ONION)I — {ANT (soldier) + (and) I (†)} containing (taking in) ONION (tear-jerker)

Note the question mark following "tear-jerker". It is a warning that something a bit out the ordinary is afoot.

Michelangelo Antonioni^[5] (1912–2007) was an Italian film director. Notable films: L’avventura (1960), Blow-Up (1966), and Zabriskie Point (1970).

29a   Damp // fog enveloping band (5)

M(O)IST — MIST (fog) containing (enveloping) O (band; letter that is shaped like the band of gold that some might be wearing on their finger)

30a   Throw // to shortstop (4)

TO|SS — TO (†) + SS (shortstop; a fielding position in baseball located between second and third bases)

31a   Deliberately setting fires inside, leaves // church buildings (10)

P(ARSON)AGES — ARSON (deliberately setting fires) contained in (inside) PAGES (leaves)

Down

1d   News magazine // issue returned (4)

TIME< — reversal (returned) of EMIT (issue)

Time^[7] (often written in all-caps as TIME) is an American weekly news magazine that was founded in 1923. A European edition (Time Europe, formerly known as Time Atlantic) is published in London and also covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition (Time Asia) is based in Hong Kong. The South Pacific edition, which covers Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands, is based in Sydney, Australia. In December 2008, Time discontinued publishing a Canadian advertiser edition.

2d   Thicket // can be seen from behind garden tool (9)

CAN|EB<|RAKE — CAN (†) + reversal (seen from behind) of BE + RAKE (garden tool)

Canebrake^[5] is a North American term [new to me] for a piece of ground covered with a dense growth of canes.

3d   Dope pursuing nickel // dope (6)

NI|TWIT — TWIT (dope) following (pursuing) NI ([symbol for the chemical element] nickel)

4d   Hold tight, embracing love /and/ making a lot of noise (10)

CL(AMOUR)ING — CLING (hold tight) containing (embracing) AMOUR (love)

5d   Singer // improvised a lot (4)

ALTO* — anagram (improvised) of A LOT

7d   Kind of pants // found in Africa, primarily (5)

_CA|PRI_ — hidden in (found in) AfriCA PRImarily

8d   One small room surrounded by many // odds and ends (10)

M(I|S|CELL)ANY — {I ([Roman numeral for] one) + S (small; abbrev.) + CELL (room)} contained in (surrounded by) MANY (†)

11d   Greek character whirled, flipping // cheesecake (6)

PI|NUPS< — PI (Greek character; sixteenth letter of the Greek alphabet (Π, π)) + reversal (flipping) of SPUN (whirled)

Cheesecake^[5] is an informal term for images portraying women in a manner which emphasizes idealized or stereotypical sexual attractiveness ⇒ a cheesecake photo of herself wearing a silly hat and little else.

Pin-up^[10] (or is an informal term for a picture of a sexually attractive person, especially when partially or totally undressed. The British dictionaries spell the word with a hyphen, pin-up^[2,5,10], while the American dictionaries spell it without a hyphen, pinup^[3,11].

14d   Honest, Paul stirred // something in a pot (10)

HOUSEPLANT* — anagram (stirred) of HONEST PAUL

15d   Strange resistance /in/ certain trees (10)

ANCESTRIES* — anagram (strange) of RESISTANCE

I failed to recognize the anagram — at least, until my electronic assistants shoved it right under my nose.

18d   Chuck carries stuff /for/ painter’s prep work (9)

S(PACK)LING — SLING (chuck) containing (carries) PACK (stuff)

Spackling^[5] is the process of repairing (a surface) or filling (a hole or crack) with spackle^[5], a compound used to fill cracks in plaster and produce a smooth surface before decoration.

19d   Senator getting married /in/ Scandinavian country (6)

S(WED)EN — SEN (senator) containing (getting) WED (married)

22d   Mr. Bean upset // workers in taverns (6)

BARMEN* — anagram (upset) of MR BEAN

Mr. Bean^[7] is a British sitcom starring English comedian Rowan Atkinson in the title role. The programme, which was originally broadcast on ITV in the UK from 1990 to 1995, have been extensively aired in North America.

24d   Stage transformed // airport areas (5)

GATES* — anagram (transformed) of STAGE

26d   Big star // turned on Virginia (4)

NO|VA — reversal (turned) of ON + VA (Virginia; abbrev.)

In astronomy, a nova^[5] is a star showing a sudden large increase in brightness and then slowly returning to its original state over a few months.

27d   Elevator company // is getting behind overtime (4)

OTIS — IS (†) following (getting behind) OT (overtime; abbrev.)

Epilogue

The title of today's piece was inspired by my failure to solve 2d until my electronic assistants came to my rescue.

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