Saturday, November 28, 2015 — Dry Those Shocking Tears

Introduction

Today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon turned out to be a rather serious workout. My electronic assistants — accustomed to enjoying the weekend off — even got called into action in a couple of instances.

I invite you to leave a comment to let us know how you fared with the puzzle.

Signing off for the moment — Falcon

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   Writer /of/ mail—a drunken bum (5,7)

{MILAN KUNDERA}* — anagram (bum) of MAIL A DRUNKEN

Milan Kundera^[5] is a Czech novelist. He emigrated to France in 1975 after his books were banned in Czechoslovakia following the Soviet military invasion of 1968. Notable works: The Book of Laughter and Forgetting (1979) and The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984).

9a   Roughnecks // stop running in lines (7)

ROW(DIE)S — DIE (stop running) contained in (in) ROWS (lines)

10a   Something of interest to a podiatrist // stirred elation (7)

TOENAIL* — anagram (stirred) of ELATION

11a   Chiefs of Iroquois nations dammed up southern // river (5)

I_N_D_U_S_ — initial letters of (chiefs of) Iroquois Nations Dammed Up Southern

The Indus^[5] is a river of southern Asia, about 2,900 km (1,800 miles) in length, flowing from Tibet through Kashmir and Pakistan to the Arabian Sea. Along its valley an early civilization flourished from circa 2600 to 1760 BC.

Scratching the Surface
The Iroquois[5] were a confederacy of six American Indian peoples (Mohawk, Oneida, Seneca, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Tuscarora) who lived mainly in southern Ontario and Quebec and northern New York State.

12a   Inventor // Elie taking in a performance (5,4)

ELI(A|S HOW)E — ELIE (†) containing (taking in) {A (†) + SHOW (performance)}

Elias Howe^[5] (1819–1867) was an American inventor. In 1846 he patented the first sewing machine. Its principles were adapted by Isaac Merrit Singer and others in violation of Howe’s patent rights, and it took a seven-year litigation battle to secure the royalties.

13a   Posted about ten-cent // deposit (8)

SE(DIME)NT — SENT (posted) containing (about) DIME (ten-cent)

15a   Stick // a doll’s head in this spot (6)

A|D|HERE — A (†) + D (doll's head; initial letter of Doll) + HERE (in this spot)

18a   Switch position before football lineman/’s/ insult (6)

OFF|END — OFF (switch position; as opposed to 'on') + (before) END (football lineman)

In Canadian or American football, an end^[3] is either of the players in the outermost position on the line of scrimmage.

19a   Old missile launcher // rolls on a hayfield in gallery display (8)

AR(BALES)T — BALES (rolls on a hayfield) contained in ART (gallery display)

Rolls on a hayfield

An arbalest^[5] (also arblast) was a crossbow with a special mechanism for drawing back and releasing the string.

21a   More roots messed up // pantry (9)

STOREROOM* — anagram (messed up) of MORE ROOTS

23a   Designer Perry/’s/ selection of embellishments (5)

_ELLIS_ — hidden in (selection of) embELLIShments

Perry Ellis^[5] (1940–1986) was an American fashion designer who founded his eponymous sportswear house.

25a   Do something bad, going around with // saint (7)

S(WITH)IN — SIN (do something bad) containing (going around) WITH (†)

St Swithin^[5] (also Swithun) (died 862) was an English ecclesiastic. He was bishop of Winchester from 852. The tradition that if it rains on St Swithin’s day (July 15) it will do so for the next forty days may have its origin in the heavy rain said to have occurred when his relics were to be transferred to a shrine in Winchester cathedral.

26a   One in our cab playing // Arctic game (7)

CAR(I)BOU* — I ([Roman numeral for] one) contained in (in) anagram (playing) of OUR CAB

The caribou^[10] is a large deer, Rangifer tarandus, of Arctic regions of North America, having large branched antlers in the male and female. It also occurs in Europe and Asia, where it is called a reindeer.

27a   Sensors // chosen by Chinese side, certainly (8,4)

ELECT|RIC E|YES — ELECT (chosen; as an adjective) + (by) RICE (Chinese side [dish]) + YES (certainly)

Down

1d   Movie director // strangely resists romance (6,8)

{MARTIN SCORSESE}* — anagram (strangely) of RESISTS ROMANCE

Martin Scorsese^[5] is an American film director. Notable works: Mean Streets (1973), Taxi Driver (1976), and The Last Temptation of Christ (1988).

2d   Heard pack // sounded like cattle (5)

LOWED~ — sounds like (heard) LOAD (pack)

3d   Playwright // butchered lines I’m performing (4,5)

{NEIL SIM}*|ON — anagram (butchered) of LINES IM + ON (performing)

Neil Simon^[5] is an American dramatist. Most of his plays are wry comedies portraying aspects of middle-class life; they include Barefoot in the Park (1963) and The Odd Couple (1965).

4d   Blind // drunk ingenues (8)

UNSEEING* — anagram (drunk) of INGENUES

5d   Particular // dock? (6)

DETAIL — double definition; the second being whimsical (as denoted by the question mark)

In the second definition, the setter uses "detail" in a whimsical cryptic crossword sense meaning to remove the tail — based on an analogy with words such as deflowered or defrocked.

6d   In audition, follows sheet music /for/ instruments (5)

REEDS — sounds like (in audition) READS (follows sheet music)

7d   Bullfighter/’s/ miffed at first, before receiving cheer (8)

M|AN(OLE)TE — M (miffed at first; initial letter of Miffed) + ANTE (before) containing (receiving) OLE ([Spanish] cheer)

Manolete^[10] (1917-1947), original name Manuel Rodriguez y Sánchez, was a Spanish bullfighter.

8d   Swiss artist on deck hands out // some paper products (7,7)

KLEE|NEX T|ISSUES — KLEE (Swiss artist) + NEXT (on deck; the next player scheduled to bat in baseball) + ISSUES (hands out)

Paul Klee^[5] (1879–1940) was a Swiss painter, resident in Germany 1906–33. He joined Kandinsky’s Blaue Reiter group in 1912 and later taught at the Bauhaus (1920–31). His work is characterized by his sense of colour and moves freely between abstraction and figuration.

Kleenex^[5] is a trademark for an absorbent disposable paper tissue.

14d   Flipped top off spot /for/ flower (8)

{DA|FFO|DIL}< — reversal (flipped) of {LID (top) + OFF (†) + AD (spot; advertisement)}

16d   Completely opposed // matricide, after conversion (9)

DIAMETRIC* — anagram (after conversion) of MATRICIDE

17d   Forbidding bad care /for/ mugger? (8)

GRIM|ACER* — GRIM (forbidding) + anagram (bad) of CARE

20d   Brandy // cup can go back (6)

C{OG|NAC}< — C (cup; abbrev. found in recipes) + reversal (back) of {CAN (†) + GO (†)}

Cognac^[5] is a high-quality brandy, strictly speaking that distilled in Cognac in western France.

22d   Mexican article bearing the // name of a woman (5)

E(THE)L — EL (Mexican article; Spanish definite article) containing THE (†; English definite article)

24d   Way to hit a tennis ball through // room (5)

LOB|BY — LOB (way to hit a tennis ball) + BY (through)

Epilogue

The title of today's review is inspired by 8d and 27a.

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