Saturday, October 14, 2017 — Anagrams Wild

Introduction

Anagrams run rampant through 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 semi-all-in-one (semi-&lit.) clues. All-in-one (&lit.) clues and cryptic definitions are marked with a dotted underline. Explicit link words and phrases are enclosed in forward slashes (/link/) and implicit links are shown as double forward slashes (//).

Across

1a   Wild blue yonder’s enveloping male // in an onerous way (12)

{BURDENSO(M)ELY}* — anagram (wild) of BLUE YONDERS containing (enveloping) M (male; abbrev.)

9a   Have a craving in Ken/’s/ room (7)

K(ITCH)EN — ITCH (have a craving) contained in (in) KEN (†)

10a   Quiet sort joining our // loud shouting (7)

CLAM|OUR — CLAM (quiet sort) + (joining) OUR (†)

11a   Daisy upset about arrival // confusion (8)

{DIS(ARR)AY}* — anagram (upset) of DAISY containing (about) ARR (arrival; abbrev. encountered on transportation system timetables)

12a   Strands // wild horses (6)

SHORES* — anagram (wild) of HORSES

14a   Poverty // bared, go hog wild (10)

BEGGARHOOD* — anagram (wild) of BARED GO HOG

16a   Hurt // wild rose (4)

SORE* — anagram (wild) ROSE

18a   Roulette bet // in or out of order (4)

NOIR* — anagram (out of order) of IN OR

19a   Wild pitches are // most annoyingly instructive (10)

PREACHIEST* — anagram (wild) of PITCHES ARE

21a   Deuces wild, // lead the wrong way? (6)

SEDUCE* — anagram (wild) of DEUCES

Dedicated to Harvey Weinstein — who seems incapable of such subtlety.

22a   Wild card code // given (8)

ACCORDED* — anagram (wild) of CARD CODE

26a   Bunk // back of house, beside two trees (7)

E|YEW|ASH — E (back [final letter] of housE) + (beside) {YEW + ASH} (two trees)

27a   One arachnid grasping at // parrot (7)

I|MIT(AT)E — I ([Roman numeral for] one) + MITE (arachnid) containing (grasping) AT (†)

28a   Incapable of sucking up, // Ann’s born to be wild (12)

NONABSORBENT* — anagram (wild) of ANNS BORN TO BE

Down

1d   A king in the sack // was hot (5)

B(A|K)ED — {A (†) + K (king; abbrev. encountered in chess or card games)} contained in (in) BED (the sack)

2d   Appraises // unopened shipping containers (5)

_RATES — [C]RATES (shipping containers) with the initial letter removed (unopened)

3d   Empty article, very // airy (8)

E|THE|REAL — E (empty; abbreviation found on a fuel gauge) + THE ([definite] article) + REAL (very; extremely)

4d   People on the beach // scattered burnt ashes (10)

SUNBATHERS* — anagram (scattered) of BURNT ASHES

5d   Spice // club (4)

MACE — double definition

6d   Hate // vow taken by the French (6)

L(OATH)E — OATH (vow) contained in (taken by) LE (the French; masculine singular form of the French definite article)

7d   Quartet // auditioned for total amount (8)

{FOUR|SOME}~ — sounds like (auditioned) {FOR (†) + SUM (total amount)}

8d   Most of ship’s hands detect // moon at times (8)

CRE_|SCENT — CRE[W] (ship's hands) with the final letter removed (most of) + SCENT (detect; verb)

Scent^[5] (verb) can mean:

• discern by the sense of smell ⇒ a shark can scent blood from well over half a kilometre away
• sense the presence, existence, or imminence of ⇒ the Premier scented victory last night

13d   Vault within funds // kingdoms (10)

MON(ARCH)IES — ARCH (vault; architectural construct) contained in (within) MONIES (funds)

14d   Rail // is held by kid (8)

BAN(IS)TER — IS (†) contained in (held by) BANTER (kid)

15d   Diner fixtures // general shoots full of holes (8)

G|RIDDLES — G (general; abbrev. for film classification) + RIDDLES (shoots full of holes)

17d   More selective // Indiana resident following Conservative (8)

C|HOOSIER — HOOSIER (Indiana resident) following (†) C (Conservative; abbrev. for a member of a certain Canadian — or British — political party)

A Hoosier^[5] is a native or inhabitant of the state of Indiana, US. The origin of the term is unknown.

20d   Oxygen tank company returned // book of a certain size (6)

{OC|TAV|O}< — reversal (returned) of {O ([symbol for the chemical element] oxygen) + VAT (tank) + CO (company; abbrev.)}

23d   Loosely cover // doctor and primate (5)

DR|APE — DR (doctor; abbrev.) + (and) APE (primate)

24d   Inhabited // end of island next to raised ridge (5)

D|WELT — D (end [final letter] of islanD) + (next to) WELT (raised ridge)

25d   Start of a question, and a // command to stop (4)

WHO|A — WHO (start of a question) + (and) A (†)

Epilogue

There was certainly no subtlety involved in the theme of today's puzzle

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)
^[12] - CollinsDictionary.com (Webster’s New World College Dictionary)
^[13] - MacmillanDictionary.com (Macmillan Dictionary)

Signing off for today — Falcon