Saturday, March 19, 2016 — Mythological Battle

Introduction

As readers have suggested, anagram lovers are in for a treat with today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon.

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   Gulf sets off // big fight (8)

SLUGFEST* — anagram (off) of GULF SETS

5a   Currency // pieces converted (6)

SPECIE* — anagram (converted) of PIECES

Specie^[5] is money in the form of coins rather than notes.

9a   Norm cuts // veggies (8)

PAR|SNIPS — PAR (norm) + SNIPS (cuts)

10a   Be defeated in court/’s/ small chamber (6)

C(LOSE)T — LOSE (be defeated) contained in (in) CT (court; abbrev. found in street address)

11a   Teacher/’s/ pet with prominent ears not quite all there (5)

RABBI_ — RABBI[T] (pet with prominent ears) with the final letter removed (not quite all there)

12a   Check // coach, among others (9)

RES(TRAIN)T — TRAIN (coach; teach) contained in (among) REST (others)

14a   Fanciful name for ship? (1,1,1,8)

H.M.S. PINAFORE — anagram (fanciful) of NAME FOR SHIP

H.M.S. Pinafore;^[7] (extended name: H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor) is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert.

The opera's humour focuses on love between members of different social classes and lampoons the British class system in general. Pinafore also pokes good-natured fun at patriotism, party politics, the Royal Navy, and the rise of unqualified people to positions of authority. The title of the piece comically applies the name of a garment for girls and women, a pinafore, to the fearsome symbol of a naval warship — thus a fanciful name for a ship.

18a   One smart hat, possibly? (3-1-7)

{TAM-O-SHANTER}* — anagram (possibly) of ONE SMART HAT

21a   Philosopher/’s/ infant left in stand (9)

ARIS(TOT|L)E — {TOT (infant) + L (left; abbrev.)} contained in (in) ARISE (stand)

23a   Significant time for // poet’s Muse (5)

ERA|TO — ERA (significant time) + TO (for; he was heading to London)

24a   Wrong Daniel // got just right (6)

NAILED* — anagram (wrong) of DANIEL

25a   Like many a plain // fish stuck in lock (8)

TR(EEL)ESS — EEL (fish) contained in (caught in) TRESS (lock [of hair])

26a   Crook // tossed old egg (6)

DOGLEG* — anagram (tossed) of OLD EGG

27a   Bizarre Etruscan // mythical creatures (8)

CENTAURS* — anagram (bizarre) of ETRUSCAN

Down

1d   Outstanding // secondstringer catching a pop (6)

SU(PER)B — SUB (secondstringer) containing (catching) PER (a pop; each)

2d   Rub one twisted // strip (6)

UNROBE* — anagram (twisted) of RUB ONE

3d   Semicircular windows // one installed in stairways (9)

F(AN)LIGHTS — AN (one) contained in (installed in) FLIGHTS (stairways)

4d   Tending to block // punts, passer scrambled (11)

SUPPRESSANT* — anagram (scrambled) of PUNTS PASSER

6d   Arctic // raft operator overheard (5)

POLAR~ — sounds like (overheard) POLER (raft operator)

7d   Prisoner keeps moving // metal (4,4)

C(AST IR)ON — CON (prisoner) containing (keeps) ASTIR (moving)

8d   Things /in/ Net site I rearranged (8)

ENTITIES* — anagram (rearranged) of NET SITE I

13d   Segregation disturbed // fabled martyr (5,6)

{SAINT GEORGE}* — anagram (disturbed) of SEGREGATION

15d   Concord // fellows caught in a hail (9)

A|GREE(MEN)T — MEN (fellows) contained in (caught in) {A (†) + GREET (hail)}

16d   Got // through regatta in Edmonton (8)

_ATTA|IN|ED_ — hidden in (through) regATTA IN EDmonton

17d   I’m very popular, holding container for wine // drinking (8)

IM|BI(BIN)G — IM (I'm) + {BIG (very popular) containing (holding) BIN (container for wine)}

Bin^[5] is a [seemingly British] term for a partitioned stand for storing bottles of wine.

19d   Place for leaving gold // cake (6)

GATE|AU — GATE (place for leaving) + AU ([symbol for the chemical element] gold)

20d   Lifts // one surrounded by throngs (6)

HO(I)STS — I ([Roman numeral for] one) contained in (surrounded by) HOSTS (throngs)

22d   Topic: // the ego (5)

THE|ME — THE (†) + ME (ego)

Epilogue

The title of today's review is inspired by 1a 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