Saturday, October 8, 2016 — Out of This World

Introduction

After solving today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon you should have had lots of time left to devote to preparing your Thanksgiving feast.

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   Eastern European language // buff (6)

POLISH — double definition

4a   Call headwear back /for/ astronaut (8)

SPAC|EMAN< — reversal (back) of {NAME (call) + CAPS (headwear)}

9a   Puts forward // most inane cryptic (9)

NOMINATES* — anagram (cryptic) of MOST INANE

11a   Grant entry /to/ a low-grade engineering school (5)

A|D|MIT — A (†) + D (low [academic] grade) + MIT (engineering school; Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

12a   More impulsive, // the woman takes bubbly drink (7)

H(ASTI)ER — HER (the woman) contains (takes) ASTI (bubbly drink; sparkling Italian wine)

13a   Sanction on trade // whipped up mob rage (7)

EMBARGO* — anagram (whipped up) of MOB RAGE

14a   Asian country/’s/ northeast friend (5)

NE|PAL — NE (northeast) + PAL (friend)

16a   Striving endlessly /for/ headache relief (7)

ASPIRIN_ — ASPIRIN[G] (striving) with the final letter removed (endlessly)

19a   Some newscasters // mistaken on crash (7)

ANCHORS — anagram (mistaken) of ON CRASH

21a   Mimi stands outside a // city in Florida (5)

MI(A)MI — MIMI (†) containing (stands outside) A (†)

23a   Eurasian country // guys breaking into song (7)

AR(MEN)IA — MEN (guys) contained in (breaking into) ARIA (song)

25a   Important person // in shocking pink (7)

KING|PIN — hidden in (in) shocKING PINk

27a   Opera // disturbed a Scot (5)

TOSCA* — anagram (disturbed) of A SCOT

Tosca^[7] is an opera in three acts by Italian composer Giacomo Puccini.

28a   Makes // teenagers mad (9)

GENERATES* — anagram (mad) of TEENAGERS

29a   Guru in church service // manipulates in a way (8)

MAS(SAGE)S — SAGE (guru) contained in (in) MASS (church service)

30a   A ring beside small // rings of coral (6)

A|TOLL|S — A (†) + TOLL (ring) + (beside) S (small; abbrev.)

Down

1d   Tendency // to write monotonous music (8)

PEN|CHANT — PEN (to write) + CHANT (monotonous music)

2d   Moves unsteadily // 51 metres per second (5)

LIMPS — LI ([Roman numeral for] 51) + MPS (metres per second)

3d   Lad in U. S. upset // old timer (7)

SUNDIAL* — anagram (upset) of LAD IN US

5d   Stick // salt in dome (5)

PA(S)TE — S (salt; abbreviation found on salt shakers) PATE (dome)

6d   Church with yellowish // room (7)

CH|AMBER — CH (church; abbrev.) + (with) AMBER (yellowish)

7d   Roman made wrong // notes (9)

MEMORANDA* — anagram (wrong) of ROMAN MADE

8d   Not one working // idea (6)

NOT|I|ON — NOT (†) + I ([Roman numeral for] one) + ON (working)

10d   Strong wind // damaged a hairstyle (7)

TORN|A|DO — TORN (damaged) + A (†) + DO (hairstyle)

15d   Fortune tellers including second // King David, et al. (9)

P(S)ALMISTS — PALMISTS (fortune tellers) containing (including) S (second; abbrev.)

17d   Promote family // writer in Russian (7)

PUSH|KIN — PUSH (promote) + KIN (family)

18d   Musicians // playing in spa sit (8)

PIANISTS* — anagram (playing) of IN SPA SIT

20d   Preserve farewell // musical piece (7)

CAN|TATA — CAN (preserve) + TATA ([British] farewell)

21d   Live in Treasury building // tower (7)

MIN(ARE)T — ARE (live) contained in (in) MINT (Treasury building)

The United States Mint^[7] is part of the US Department of the Treasury.

22d   Diminutive // outlaw with floppy hat (6)

BAN|TAM — BAN (outlaw) + (with) TAM (floppy hat)

24d   Early Briton/’s/ point of view (5)

ANGLE — double definition

26d   Stroke a large // flower part (5)

PET|A|L — PET (stroke) + A (†) + L (large; abbrev.)

Epilogue

The title of this review is inspired by 4a (someone who travels there) and 29a (good ones might be described thus).

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)

Happy Thanksgiving to My Canadian Readers — Falcon