Saturday, March 26, 2016 — Sights and Sounds of Spring

Introduction

Happy Easter, everyone.

In juxtaposition to the tragedy that unfolded in Europe this week, today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon reminds us that new growth will shortly be forthcoming and the spring peepers will soon be heralding the arrival of the new season.

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   Rug // possessed by Oscar Peterson (6)

_CAR|PET_ — hidden in (possessed by) OsCAR PETerson

Oscar Peterson^[5] (1925–2007) was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer who became internationally famous in the 1960s, when he often appeared with Ella Fitzgerald.

4a   Youngsters in a pond // wrecked pot deals (8)

TADPOLES* — anagram (wrecked) of POT DEALS

9a   South Caribbean island // diver’s gear (5)

S|CUBA — S (south; abbrev.) + CUBA (Caribbean island)

10a   Complain, and join // construction worker (9)

CARP|ENTER — CARP (complain) + ENTER (join; for instance, enter the priesthood)

11a   500 in 1000 doing nothing // fair (8)

M|I(D)DLING or M|ID(D)LING — D ([Roman numeral for] 500) contained in (in) {M ([Roman numeral for] 1000) + IDLING (doing nothing)}

12a   Climb // a trail (6)

A|SCENT — A (†) + SCENT (trail)

14a   Last of reindeer are // scarce (4)

R|ARE — R (last [letter] of reindeeR) + ARE (†)

15a   Guard // dispatched in overhead train (8)

SENT|IN|EL — SENT (dispatched) + IN (†) + EL (overhead train)

The El^[5] is a US term for:

1. an elevated railroad^* (especially that in Chicago); or
2. a train running on an elevated railroad^* ⇒ the El rumbled by.

^* Although this definition comes from a British dictionary, I deemed it apropos to replace the British railway with the US railroad.

The British say "railway"; the Americans say "railroad"; we Canadians say what we damn well please.

19a   Fatherly // friend catching a seabird (8)

P(A|TERN)AL — PAL (friend) containing (catching) {A (†) + TERN (seabird)}

20a   Bagel guys’ // sign (4)

O|MEN — O ([letter than looks like a] bagel) + MEN (guys)

23a   Dream // taking the form of power madness (6)

AS|P|IRE — AS (taking the form of) + P (power; symbol used in physics) + IRE (madness; anger)

25a   Like catchy tunes // Belgians transposed (8)

SINGABLE* — anagram (transposed) of BELGIANS

Not much joy in Belgium this week. Stay strong — our hearts are with you.

27a   Growing // out in April or May (9)

SPR(OUT)ING — OUT (†) contained in (in) SPRING (April or May)

28a   Chic apartment // out of place (5)

IN|APT — IN (chic) + APT (apartment; abbrev.)

29a   Revised test’s aim // put the wrong way (8)

MISSTATE* — anagram (revised) of TESTS AIM

30a   More slender // one having an inclination (6)

LEANER — double definition

Down

1d   Get money for ordinary // sweater material (8)

CASH|MERE — CASH (get money for; for instance, cash a cheque) + MERE (ordinary)

2d   Ordered “drop it,” run // one way and then the other (5,4)

{ROUND TRIP}* — anagram (ordered) of DROP IT RUN

3d   Electronic exchange // Emily does poorly (1-5)

E_M|AILS — EM ([diminutive for] Emily) + AILS (does poorly)

5d   Couples missing the first // broadcasts (4)

_AIRS — [P]AIRS (couples) with the initial letter removed (missing the first)

6d   Nice // meal finally eaten by lowly worker (8)

P(L)EASANT — L (meal finally; final letter of meaL) contained in (eaten by) PEASANT (lowly worker)

7d   Taking time, delayed // coffee order (5)

LA(T)TE or LAT(T)E — LATE (delayed) containing (taking) T (time; abbrev.)

8d   Priest prepared // brownie (6)

SPRITE* — anagram (prepared) of PRIEST

A brownie^[5] is a benevolent elf that supposedly haunts houses and does housework secretly.

10d   Australian city // may be one including railroad (8)

CAN|BE(RR)A — CAN (may) + {BE (†) + A (one)} containing (including) RR (railroad; US term for railway)

Canberra^[5] is the capital of Australia and seat of the federal government, in Australian Capital Territory, an enclave of New South Wales; population 345,257 (2008).

13d   Errant // fish caught in sneaky trap (8)

ST(RAY)ING — RAY (fish) contained in (caught in) STING (sneaky trap)

16d   Lunkhead // wrecked marine lab (9)

LAMEBRAIN* — anagram (wrecked) of MARINE LAB

17d   Mistakenly trust ad’s // romanticism (8)

STARDUST* — anagram (mistakenly) of TRUST ADS

18d   Some chances to recall // member of the family tree (8)

_ANCES|TO|R_ — hidden in (some) chANCES TO Recall

21d   Managed a bit of endless // money demanded by criminals (6)

RAN|SOM_ — RAN (managed) + SOM[E] (a bit of) with the final letter removed (endless)

22d   Light // part of meeting in back (6)

{_IGNITE_}< — reversed (back) and hidden in (part of) meETING In

24d   European capital // is behind standard for golfers (5)

PAR|IS — IS (†) following (behind) PAR (standard for golfers)

It was not long ago that we were mourning another atrocity in Europe.

26d   Measure // piece of jewelry with teaspoon (4)

PIN|T — PIN (piece of jewelry) + (with) T (teaspoon; abbrev.)

The abbreviation for teaspoon is lower case t^[3] while the abbreviation for tablespoon is upper case T^[3] (or T.).

Epilogue

The title of today's review is inspired by 4a, 25a, 27a and 24d.

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