Saturday, April 23, 2016 — Going in Circles

Introduction

I progressed through today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon in an expeditious manner with only a brief pause for thought in the upper right hand corner.

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   Paints // over trains on high tracks (7)

PAST|ELS — PAST (over) + ELS (trains on high tracks)

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

1. an elevated railway [US railroad] (especially that in Chicago); or
2. a train running on an elevated railway [US railroad] ⇒ the El rumbled by.

5a   Game // preserve next to a station (7)

CAN|A|STA — CAN (preserve) + A (†) + STA (station; abbrev.)

9a   Minimal amount // allowed containing arsenic (5)

LE(AS)T — LET (allowed) containing (†) AS ([symbol for the chemical element] arsenic)

10a   Shows // some jeans tucked into shirts (9)

TE(LEVIS)ES — LEVIS (some jeans; a brand of denim clothing produced by American clothing company Levi Strauss & Co.^[7]) contained in (tucked into) TEES (shirts)

11a   Flight with many turnings // carries Lisa past bum (6,9)

{SPIRAL STAIRCASE}* — anagram (bum) of CARRIES LISA PAST

12a   Old diets altered // muscles (8)

DELTOIDS* — anagram (altered) of OLD DIETS

14a   Small fry // cut the grass around tavern (6)

M(INN)OW — MOW (cut the grass) containing (around) INN (tavern)

17a   Street with widespread // disorder (6)

ST|RIFE — ST (street) + (with) RIFE (widespread)

19a   Deliver // first of diamonds in royal house (4,4)

HAN(D) OVER — D (first [initial letter] of Diamonds) contained in (in) HANOVER (royal house)

The House of Hanover^[5] was the British royal house from 1714 to the death of Queen Victoria in 1901.

22a   Doctor plastering a hole /for/ a medical program (7,8)

{GENERAL HOSPITAL}* — anagram (doctor) of PLASTERING A HOLE

General Hospital^[7] (commonly abbreviated GH) is an American daytime television medical drama that is listed in Guinness World Records as the longest-running American soap opera in production and the third longest-running drama in television in American history after Guiding Light and As the World Turns. Concurrently, it is the world's third longest-running scripted drama series in production after British serials The Archers and Coronation Street, as well as the world's second-longest-running televised soap opera still in production.

24a   At sea, Neil misrepresented // distances (9)

ALIENATES* — anagram (misrepresented) of AT SEA NEIL

25a   Expert wearing an // article donned by blacksmiths (5)

A(PRO)N — PRO (expert) contained in (wearing) AN (†)

26a   Fabled horse // uses gap trickily (7)

PEGASUS* — anagram (trickily) of USES GAP

27a   Orders // also accepted by Democrats (7)

DEM(AND)S — AND (also) contained in (accepted by) DEMS (Democrats; abbrev.)

Down

1d   Castle attendants overheard /in/ fortifications (9)

PALISADES~ — sounds like (overheard) {PALACE (castle) + AIDES (attendants)}

2d   Dog // frolicking in leaps (7)

SPANIEL* — anagram (frolicking) of IN LEAPS

3d   Actor with no lines // in next race (5)

_EXT|RA_ — hidden in (in) nEXT RAce

4d   Separate // tee in beach area (3,5)

SE(T) ASIDE — T (tee) contained in (in) SEASIDE (beach area)

5d   Shout like // former opera great (6)

CALL|AS — CALL (shout) + AS (like)

Maria Callas^[5] (1923–1977) wasa an American-born operatic soprano, of Greek parentage; born Maria Cecilia Anna Kalageropoulos. She was a coloratura soprano whose bel canto style of singing was especially suited to 19th-century Italian opera.

6d   Ned keeps rats and such; // pay no attention (5,4)

NE(VER MIN)D — NED (†) containing (keeps) VERMIN (rats and such)

7d   Keep // us in disgrace (7)

S(US)TAIN — US (†) contained in (in) STAIN (disgrace)

8d   Row /for/ a spot in the water (5)

A|ISLE — A (†) + ISLE (spot in the water)

13d   Gifts // of iron hoops (9)

OF|FE|RINGS — OF (†) + FE ([symbol for the chemical element] iron) + RINGS (hoops)

15d   Fighting aircraft // distort routes (9)

WARP|LANES — WARP (distort) + LANES (routes)

16d   Pair of campers got up /and/ partied (8)

CA|ROUSED — CA (pair [initial two letters] of CAmpers) + ROUSED (got up)

18d   Social standing // controlled by monarch (7)

RAN|KING — RAN (controlled) + (by; beside) KING (monarch)

20d   Art even disturbed // old soldier (7)

VETERAN* — anagram (disturbed) of ART EVEN

21d   Staple broken // kitchen items (6)

PLATES* — anagram (broken) of STAPLE

22d   Hold // great snake (5)

GR|ASP — GR (great; abbrev.) + ASP (snake)

According to American dictionaries, gr.^[3,11] is the abbreviation for great.

23d   Something to sing // in groups, almost (5)

_PS|ALM_ — hidden in (in) grouPS ALMost

Epilogue

The title of today's review is inspired by 11a and 22a — a genre of entertainment in which story lines are notoriously endlessly recycled.

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