Saturday, November 25, 2017 — Fit Out With Tech

Introduction

I found the difficulty level of today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon to be a bit toned down from some of their recent puzzles.

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 — including whimsical and vague 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   Shares the authorship /of/ “Bovine Ceremonies” (8)

COW|RITES — COW (bovine) + RITES (ceremonies)

5a   Omar the actor /is/ funny, if rash (6)

SHARIF* — anagram (funny) of IF RASH

Omar Sharif^[7] (1932–2015), born Michel Dimitri Chalhoub, was an Egyptian actor. He began his career in his native country in the 1950s, but is best known for his appearances in both British and American productions. His films included Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Doctor Zhivago (1965), and Funny Girl (1968).

9a   Rambling, pass ideal // cliffs (9)

PALISADES* — anagram (rambling) of PASS IDEAL

Palisades^[5,10] is a US and Canadian^* term for high cliffs in a line, often along a river, resembling a palisade.

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^* I suspect that this may well be more of a US term than a Canadian one although there is a geologic formation in Jasper National Park in Alberta known as the Palisade^[7]. It is so named because it has a sheer cliff face and vertical markings, reminiscent of palisade walls used as a protective enclosure around forts.

11a   Central American // man holding a forked stick (5)

MA(Y)AN — MAN (†) containing (holding) Y (a forked stick)

Mayan is another term for Maya^[10], a member of an American Indian people of Yucatan, Belize, and northern Guatemala, having an ancient culture once characterized by outstanding achievements in architecture, astronomy, chronology, painting, and pottery.

12a   A male cat’s // tiny specks (5)

A|TOM|S — A (†) + TOM (male cat) + S ('s)

13a   Members of the clergy // always in tears (9)

R(EVER)ENDS — EVER (always) contained in (in) RENDS (tears)

14a   Doctor: “I have // pep” (5)

DR|IVE — DR (doctor; abbrev.) + IVE (I have; contraction)

15a   Police officer // on street surrounded by cord (9)

C(ON|ST|)ABLE — {ON (†) + ST (street; abbrev.)} contained in (surrounded by) CABLE (cord)

18a   Understand it, friend, // by the numbers? (9)

DIG|IT|ALLY — DIG (understand) + IT (†) + ALLY (friend)

19a   Emcee’s last joke // supply (5)

E|QUIP — E (EmceE's last [letter] ... not to mention first and fourth letters) + QUIP(joke)

21a   Alien race renovated // an artificial waterway (4,5)

{ERIE CANAL}* — anagram (renovated) of ALIEN RACE

The Erie Canal^[3,11] is an artificial waterway in New York between Albany and Buffalo connecting the Hudson River with Lake Erie.

25a   Number-one squad // had a meal in the morning (1,4)

A TE|AM — ATE (had a meal) + AM (in the morning)

26a   Overheard: “Must have // massage” (5)

KNEAD~  — sounds like (overheard) NEED (must have)

27a   Fifty-one scolded /and/ set free (9)

LI|BERATED — LI ([Roman numeral for] fifty-one) + BERATED (scolded)

28a   Moving end, set // one inside another (6)

NESTED* — anagram (moving) of END SET

29a   Note helps // some jazz musicians (8)

B|ASSISTS — B ([musical] note) + ASSISTS (helps)

Down

1d   Rodeo composer/’s/ arrangement swallowed by fish (7)

CO(PLAN)D — PLAN (arrangement) contained in (swallowed by) COD (fish)

Aaron Copland^[5] (1900–1990) was an American composer, pianist, and conductor, of Lithuanian descent. He established a distinctive American style in his compositions, borrowing from jazz, folk, and other traditional music. Notable works: Music for the Theater (1925), Appalachian Spring (1944), Fanfare for the Common Man (1942).

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Rodeo^[7] is a ballet scored by Aaron Copland and choreographed by Agnes de Mille, which premiered in 1942.

2d   Wife initially permitting // swinish behaviour (9)

W|ALLOWING — W (wife initially; initial letter of Wife) + ALLOWING (letting)

3d   Urgent /and/ determined about sister (9)

IN(SIS)TENT — INTENT (determined) containing (about) SIS (sister)

4d   Deer I shot // down (5)

EIDER* — anagram (shot) of DEER I

6d   Blind poet // hit one out of the park (5)

HOMER — double definition

Homer^[5] (8th century BC) was a Greek epic poet. He is traditionally held to be the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, though modern scholarship has revealed the place of the Homeric poems in a preliterate oral tradition. In later antiquity Homer was regarded as the greatest poet, and his poems were constantly used as a model and source by others.

Many accounts of Homer's life^[7] circulated in classical antiquity, the most widespread being that he was a blind bard from Ionia, a region of central coastal Anatolia in present-day Turkey. Modern scholars consider them legends.

In baseball, homer^[5] is an informal term for home run^[5], a hit that allows the batter to make a complete circuit of the bases and score a run.

7d   Beam about // clothing material (5)

RAY|ON — RAY (beam) + ON (about; concerning)

8d   Chef, in essence, possesses // light touch (7)

_F|IN|ESSE_ — hidden in (possesses) cheF IN ESSEnce

10d   Pen circling even // number (7)

S(EVEN)TY — STY (pen) containing (circling) EVEN (†)

15d   Mark on the Spanish // officer (7)

COLON|EL — COLON ([punctuation] mark) preceding (on [in a down clue]) EL (the Spanish; Spanish definite article)

16d   Ruth uses a revised // reference book (9)

THESAURUS* — anagram (revised) of RUTH USES A

17d   Dark-haired women // profit among thugs (9)

BRU(NET)TES — NET (profit) contained in (among) BRUTES (thugs)

18d   Makes family // some leather (7)

DOES|KIN — DOES (makes) + KIN (family)

20d   Hair treatments // created in post offices (7)

PO(MADE)S —  MADE (created) contained in (in) POS (Post Offices; abbrev.)

22d   New Times // articles (5)

ITEMS* — anagram (new) of TIMES

Scratching the Surface
New Times[7] was an American glossy bi-weekly national magazine published from 1973 to 1979 by George A. Hirsch after he resigned as publisher of New York magazine over conflicts with founder/editor Clay Felker.

23d   Worry about leader of Danish // inner circle (5)

CA(D)RE — CARE (worry) containing (about) D (leader [initial letter] of Danish)

24d   Country // ruined by Ali (5)

LIBYA* — anagram (ruined) of BY ALI

Epilogue

The title of today's review is inspired by the phrase formed by 18a and 19a.

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