Saturday, June 4, 2016 — Donatello and Raphael, Where Are You?

Introduction

Another beautiful Saturday on which I was able to bask in the sunshine beside the lake occasionally glancing up from the puzzle to see what the loons and turtles were up to.

As for today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon, the comments would seem to show that we shared a remarkably similar experience.

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   Surprising us, love Arabic // word lists (12)

VOCABULARIES* — anagram (surprising) of US LOVE ARABIC

8a   Time-hardened, // like some professors (7)

T|ENURED — T (time; abbrev.) + ENURED (hardened)

9a   Mediterranean port // Pacino mocks out loud (7)

AL|GIERS~ — AL (Pacino; American actor Al Pacino^[7]) + sounds like (out loud) JEERS (mocks)

Algiers^[5] is the capital of Algeria and one of the leading Mediterranean ports of North Africa; population 2,203,700 (est. 2009).

11a   Somewhat provincial // home of Leonardo (5)

_VINCI_ — hidden in (somewhat) proVINCIal

Leonardo da Vinci^[5,7] [Italian for 'Leonardo of Vinci'] (1452–1519) was an Italian painter, scientist, and engineer who was born in the Tuscan hill town of Vinci.

12a   White rose rearranged // differently (9)

OTHERWISE* — anagram (rearranged) of WHITE ROSE

13a   Old mare wandering // noble domain (7)

EARLDOM* — anagram (wandering) of OLD MARE

14a   Irish county // finished with lass (7)

DONE|GAL — DONE (finished) + (with) GAL (lass)

16a   Bugs in cargo // like some produce (7)

ORGANIC*  — anagram (bugs) of IN CARGO

19a   Baby ocelot's first // cold wind from the Andes (7)

PAMPER|O —PAMPER (baby; indulge) + O (Ocelot's first [letter])

A pampero^[5] is a strong, cold south-westerly wind in South America, blowing from the Andes across the pampas towards the Atlantic.

21a   Bums // teased bad bum (9)

DEADBEATS* — anagram (bum) of TEASED BAD

23a   Form of novel // oboe playing by king (1-4)

E-BOO*|K — anagram (playing) of OBOE + K (king; abbrev. used in chess and card games)

24a   Susan, after note, is // put out again (7)

RE|IS|SUE — SUE ([diminutive for] Susan) following (after) {RE ([musical] note) + IS (†)}

25a   First person running into noble // explorer (7)

P(I|ON)EER — {I (first person) + ON (running; operating)} contained in (into) PEER (noble)

26a   Actor // in a scene lugs bats (4.8)

{ALEC GUINNESS}* — anagram (bats) of IN A SCENE LUGS

Sir Alec Guinness^[5] (1914–2000) was an English actor. He gave memorable performances in films such as Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) and Star Wars (1977).

Down

1d   Invent new red /for/ wine producer (7)

VINTNE*|R — anagram (new) of INVENT + R (red; abbrev.)

2d   Endured // Stephen King novel with Mafia boss (7,2)

CARRIE|D ON — CARRIE (Stephen King novel) + (with) DON (Mafia boss)

Carrie^[7] is American author Stephen King's first published novel, released on April 5, 1974. Set primarily in the then-future year of 1979, it revolves around the title character, a misfit and bullied high school girl who uses her newly discovered telekinetic powers to exact revenge on those who torment her, while in the process destroying the fictional town of Chamberlain, Maine. King has commented that he finds the work to be "raw" and "with a surprising power to hurt and horrify." It is one of the most frequently banned books in United States schools.

3d   Cleaning tool outside of Ed/'s/ chamber (7)

B(ED)ROOM — BROOM (cleaning tool) containing (outside of) ED (†)

4d   Despised // article in batch of laundry (7)

LOA(THE)D — THE (article) contained in (in) LOAD (batch of laundry)

5d   Copy /that/ Gregory trimmed on both ends and flipped (5)

_ROGER<_ b=""> — reversal (flipped) of {[G]REGOR[Y] with the initial and final letters removed (trimmed on both ends)}

In radio communication, roger^[5] is used to indicate (to the sender) that a message has been received [copied] ⇒ Roger; we’ll be with you in about ten minutes.

6d   Lining up // part of the day (7)

EVENING — double definition

7d   Motown singer // shot Western video (6,6)

{STEVIE WONDER}* — anagram (shot) of WESTERN VIDEO

Stevie Wonder^[5] is an American singer, songwriter, and musician; born Steveland Judkins Morris. His repertoire has included soul, rock, funk, and romantic ballads, as heard on albums such as Innervisions (1973). He has been blind since birth.

10d   Adjusted week's roster including 50 // mill employees (12)

STEE(L)WORKERS* — anagram (adjusted) of WEEKS ROSTER containing (including) L ([Roman numeral for] 50)

15d   Top // earth tone embraced by nobody (6,3)

N(UMBER) ONE — UMBER (earth tone) contained in (embraced by) NONE (nobody)

17d   Call a GI awfully, // awfully slow (7)

GLACIAL* — anagram (awfully) of CALL A GI

18d   Bloke with perfume // lid (7)

CHAP|EAU — CHAP (bloke) + (with) EAU (perfume)

Eau is the French word for water. Perhaps its use here is as a shortened form of eau de cologne but I was unable to find this usage listed in any of my usual dictionaries.

Bloke^[5] is an informal British term for a man ⇒ he’s a nice bloke.

19d   Joke about ship changing // tack (7)

PU(SHPI)N — PUN (joke) containing (about) an anagram (changing) of SHIP

20d   Secretive couple // hidden by Michelangelo personally (7)

_ELOPERS_ — hidden in (hidden by) MichelangELO PERSonally

Michelangelo^[5] (1475–1564) was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet; full name Michelangelo Buonarroti.

22d   Pen name keeping equally // simple (5)

B(AS)IC — BIC (pen name) containing (keeping) AS (equally)

Epilogue

The title of today's review is inspired by 11a and 20d which mention two of the four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles^[7].

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