Saturday, December 9, 2017 — Fielding a Full Team

Introduction

Today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon did not put up much of a struggle and was polished off fairly readily.

There is a bit of a Roman flavour to the puzzle what with all the Roman numerals and stopover at the Vatican. A couple of clues are timely — albeit no doubt wholly unintentionally — in that they have indirect links to accusations of sexual abuse that have been much in the news lately. I suppose one could even extend that list to include the clue related to the Church of Rome (although that is old news).

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   Sign sailor in, interrupting army meal/’s/ fleeting quality (13)

M(OMEN|TAR|IN)ESS — {OMEN (sign) + TAR (sailor) + IN (†)} contained in (interrupting) MESS (army meal)

9a   Army // lost soldier, taking one on (7)

M(I|LIT)IA — MIA (lost soldier; abbrev. for 'missing in action') containing (taking) {I ([Roman numeral for] one) + LIT (on)}

10a   Bagel eaten by playwright/’s/ dog (7)

P(O)INTER — O ([letter that looks like a] bagel) contained in (eaten by) PINTER (playwright; English playwright Harold Pinter^[7])

11a   Dog // food (4)

CHOW — double definition

12a   Inhabiting // post office, paint lug nuts (10)

PO|PULATING* — PO (post office; abbrev.) + anagram (nuts) of PAINT LUG

14a   Said, “Funny // bone” (7)

HUMERUS~ — sounds like (said) HUMOROUS (funny)

15a   Doctor with a sharp blade // scraped deep down (7)

DR|EDGED — DR (doctor; abbrev.) + EDGED (with a sharp blade)

The adjective "edged" may, but does not necessarily, imply a sharp edge. Otherwise, why would we need words such as "sharp-edged" and "blunt-edged".

16a   Erroneously call // Mac married (7)

MISTER|M — MISTER (Mac; informal form of address for a man) + M (married; abbrev.)

19a   Outfielder getting into small, divine // kind of pie (7)

S|HO(OF)LY — OF (outfielder; abbrev. for fielding position in baseball) contained in (getting into) {S (small; abbrev.) + HOLY (divine)}

Shoofly pie^*[3] is a pie with a filling of molasses and brown sugar and a crumble topping.

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^* So called because one will supposedly have to shoo away the flies attracted to the sweet filling.

21a   Widening // street taken by actress in American Beauty (10)

B(ROAD)ENING —ROAD (street) contained in (taken by) BENING (actress in American Beauty; American actress Annette Bening^[7] who co-starred in the 1999 American drama film American Beauty^[7])

Life Not Imitating Art?

American Beauty stars Kevin Spacey[7] as Lester Burnham, a 42-year-old advertising executive who has a midlife crisis when he becomes infatuated with his teenage daughter's best friend, Angela (played by Mena Suvari). Annette Bening co-stars as Lester's materialistic wife, Carolyn, and Thora Birch plays their insecure daughter, Jane. In real life, Spacey's unwanted attentions were directed at young men rather than young women.

22a   Stealthily take // tropical tree (4)

PALM — double definition

25a   Stuck-up // literature is collected by alien (7)

E(LIT|IS)T — {LIT (literature; abbrev.) + IS (†)} contained in (collected by) ET (alien; title character from the 1982 American science fiction fantasy film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial^[7])

26a   Commercial about some lofty real estate // was touching? (7)

A(BUTTE)D — AD (commercial) containing (about) BUTTE (some lofty real estate)

27a   Draw for Roman tourists // then is special after renovations (7,6)

{SISTINE CHAPEL}* — anagram (after renovations) of THEN IS SPECIAL

The Sistine Chapel^[5] is a chapel in the Vatican, built in the late 15th century by Pope Sixtus IV, containing a painted ceiling and fresco of the Last Judgement by Michelangelo and also frescoes by Botticelli.

Down

1d   Copy // 1001 + 1001 + 100 (5)

MI|MI|C — MI ([Roman numeral for] 1001) + MI (ditto) + C ([Roman numeral for] 100)

2d   Company in shopping centre with Monsieur // X? (7)

MAL(CO)L|M — CO (company; abbrev.) contained in MALL (shopping centre) + (with) M (Monsieur; abbrev.)

Malcolm X^[5] (1925–1965) was an American political activist; born Malcolm Little. He joined the Nation of Islam in 1946 and became a vigorous campaigner for black rights, initially advocating the use of violence. In 1964 he converted to orthodox Islam and moderated his views on black separatism; he was assassinated the following year.

3d   Observe // English school making a comeback (4)

NOTE< — reversal (making a comeback) of ETON (English school)

Eton College^[7], often informally referred to simply as Eton, is an English independent boarding school for boys located in Eton, Berkshire, near Windsor. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor". It is one of ten English schools, commonly referred to as public schools, regulated by the Public Schools Act of 1868.

Here and There

In Britain, an independent school[10] is a school that is neither financed nor controlled by the government or local authorities; in other words, an independent school[2] is not paid for with public money and does not belong to the state school system. In Britain, a public school[2] is a particular category of independent school, namely a secondary school, especially a boarding school, run independently of the state and financed by a combination of endowments and pupils' fees. Another category of independent school is the private school[2,5] which is a school run independently by an individual or group, especially for profit and supported wholly by the payment of fees. What we in North America would call a public school[2], is known in the UK as a state school[5] or a maintained school*. * In England and Wales, a maintained school[5] is a school that is funded by a local education authority.

4d   A pitch keeping Albert // speechless? (2,1,4)

A|T (A L)OSS — {A (†) + TOSS (pitch)} containing (keeping) AL ([diminutive form of] Albert)

The solution may come up a bit short in that "speechless" would seemingly mean 'at a loss for words'. Perhaps that accounts for the question mark in the clue.

5d   Call me Ezra /or/ shut up (7)

IM|POUND — IM (call me; I'm) + POUND (Ezra; expatriate American poet Ezra Pound^[7])

6d   Role for Madonna // playing a TV pioneer (5,5)

{EVITA PERON}* — anagram (playing) of A TV PIONEER

American singer Madonna played the title role in the 1996 American musical drama film Evita^[7] which depicts the life of Eva Perón (popularly known by her nickname Evita), the wife of former Argentine President Juan Perón.

7d   Holding office, /and/ smart about it (7)

S(IT)TING — STING (smart) containing (about) IT (†)

Full without bending, // in an icy way (8)

F|RIGIDLY — F (full; abbrev. found on fuel gauges) + RIGIDLY (without bending)

13d   Infielders confused // fans? (10)

FRIENDLIES* — anagram (confused) of INFIELDERS

Another question mark — and another stretched definition?

14d   Local athlete/’s/ yoga chant in Semitic language (8)

H(OM)EBREW — OM (yoga chant) contained in (in) HEBREW (Semitic language)

Om^[5] is a mystic syllable, considered the most sacred mantra in Hinduism and Tibetan Buddhism. It appears at the beginning and end of most Sanskrit recitations, prayers, and texts. It is also a customary chant in the practice of yoga.

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Home-brew^[10] is an informal Canadian term for a professional football player who was born in Canada and is not an import.

17d   Southern conservatives/’/ accounts (7)

S|TORIES — S (southern; abbrev.) + TORIES (conservatives)

18d   Opera composer // breaking into Met (7)

MENOTTI* — anagram (breaking) of INTO MET

Gian Menotti^[5] (1911–2007) was a US composer; born in Italy. He wrote the operas The Old Maid and the Thief (1939), The Consul (1950), and Amahl and the Night Visitors (1951).

Scratching the Surface

The Metropolitan Opera[7], commonly referred to as "The Met", is a company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. James Levine served as Music Director of the Met from 1976 to 2016 and then as Music Director Emeritus until December 2017, when the Met suspended its relationship with him  following the public revelation of accusations that decades earlier he had repeatedly sexually abused multiple young males over periods of years while they had been his music students.

19d   New Mexico town // vault with bug inside (5,2)

S(ANT)A FE — SAFE (vault) containing (with ... inside) ANT (bug)

Santa Fe^[5] is the capital of New Mexico, in the north central part of the state. It was founded as a mission by the Spanish in 1610. From 1821 until 1880, it served as the terminus of the Santa Fe Trail. Taken by US forces in 1846 during the Mexican War, it became the capital of New Mexico in 1912.

20d   To-do about poor tot/’s/ short haircut (4-3)

FLA(T-TO)*P — FLAP (to-do) containing (about) an anagram (poor) of TOT

A flat-top^[5] is a man's hairstyle in which the hair is cropped short so that it bristles up into a flat surface.

23d   Award // dinner or lunch accommodating 500 (5)

ME(D)AL — MEAL (dinner or lunch) containing (accommodating) D ([Roman numeral for] 500)

24d   Swamp plant // included among citrus hybrids (4)

_RUS|H_ — hidden in (included among) citRUS Hybrids

Epilogue

The theme of today's review is inspired by the baseball players found at 19a and 13d.

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