Saturday, January 20, 2018 — A Spin on the West Coast

Introduction

I found today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon to be a bit more challenging than usual. In some cases, even after I had the correct solution, it took some head-scratching to come up with the parsing of the wordplay.

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   Blues initially exemplified by // depression (5)

B|AS|IN — B (blues initially; initial letter of Blues) + AS IN (exemplified by)

This basin is a topographical feature.

4a   That posse moved // pronto (9)

POSTHASTE* — anagram (moved) of THAT POSSE

9a   Just // a kind of piano (7)

UPRIGHT — double definition

10a   Story /of/ a castle’s first nobleman (7)

A|C|COUNT — A (†) + C (Castle's first [initial letter]) + COUNT (nobleman)

11a   Province // turned to rubbish, I claim (7,8)

{BRITISH COLUMBIA}* — anagram (turned) of TO RUBBISH I CLAIM

12a   Goes for a spin, holding wheel, and spots // places to pull over (9)

R(O|ADS)IDES — RIDES (goes for a spin) containing (holding) {O ([letter that looks like a] wheel) + ADS ([commercial] spots)}

14a   Shoe // wasn’t used, being filled with bad smell (5)

SA(BO)T — SAT (wasn't used; like a player in the coach's bad books) containing (being filled with) BO (bad smell; body odour)

16a   Tree // planter by the sound (5)

CEDAR~ — sounds like (by the sound) SEEDER (planter)

18a   Girl penning hackneyed // comments at the end? (4,5)

LAS(T RITE)S — LASS (girl) containing (penning) TRITE (hackneyed)

21a   Wild clan survived on a // piece of land in the west (9,6)

{VANCOUVER ISLAND}* — anagram (wild) of CLAN SURVIVED ON A

24a   E.T. interrupting current // worker in a machine shop (7)

RIV(ET)ER — ET (E.T.) contained in (interrupting) RIVER (current)

Scratching the Surface
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial[7] (often referred to simply as E.T.) is a 1982 American science fiction film co-produced and directed by Steven Spielberg. It tells the story of a lonely boy who befriends an extraterrestrial, dubbed "E.T.", who is stranded on Earth. He and his siblings help the extraterrestrial return home while attempting to keep it hidden from their mother and the government.

25a   Sad maid developed // shocking style of art (7)

DADAISM* — anagram (developed) of SAD MAID

26a   Bird/’s/ crest with divide in front (9)

PART|RIDGE — RIDGE (crest; topographical feature) following (with ... in front) DIVIDE (part; in combing one's hair)

27a   Goad // Harold in Ghostbusters about ghost at first (3,2)

E(G)G ON or EG(G) ON — EGON () containing (about) G (ghost at first; initial letter of Ghost)

In the 1984 film Ghostbusters, American actor Harold Ramis (1944–2014) plays the role of parapsychologist Egon Spengler.

Down

1d   Cry, // “Fat stuff” (7)

BLUBBER — double definition

2d   Pop singer, // England’s foremost, is wearing maroon (9)

STR(EIS)AND — {E (England's foremost [initial letter]) + IS (†)} contained in (wearing) STRAND (maroon)

Barbra Streisand^[5] is a US singer, actress, and film director; born Barbara Joan Streisand. She won an Oscar for her performance in Funny Girl (1968). She later played the lead in A Star is Born (1976); the film's song ‘Evergreen’, composed by Streisand, won an Oscar.

3d   Yuletide drinks containing sort of rummy // beans (7)

NOG(GIN)S — NOGS (Yuletide drinks) containing (†) GIN (sort of rummy; gin rummy being a card game)

These beans sit on your shoulders.

4d   Give a toss to // some black sticky stuff (5)

PITCH — double definition

5d   Toss a case, getting ruined // shorelines (9)

SEACOASTS* — anagram (getting ruined) of TOSS A CASE

6d   Vespucci hated holding back // reflexive spasms (7)

{_H|ICCUPS_}< — hidden (holding) and reversed (back) in VeSPUCCI Hated

7d   Heads of state quite upset about burying // young flyer (5)

S|Q|U|A|B — initial letters of (heads of) State Quite Upset About Burying

8d   Competitor // in event ran track (7)

_ENT|RAN|T_ — hidden in (in) evENT RAN Track

13d   Transferred // organ in feat of skill (9)

DE(LIVER)ED — LIVER (organ) contained in (in) DEED (feat of skill)

15d   Double-crossing // server in existence (9)

BE(TRAY)ING — TRAY (server) contained in (in) BEING (existence)

16d   Concealment /of/ gun, back in coup (7)

CO(VER<)UP — reversal (back) of REV (gun; race an engine) contained in (in) COUP (†)

17d   Sports fan carrying small // bird (7)

ROO(S)TER — ROOTER (sports fan) containing (carrying) S (small; abbrev.)

19d   Hurry up and pass // writer (7)

RUSH|DIE — RUSH (hurry up) + (and) DIE (pass)

Sir Salman Rushdie^[5] is an Indian-born British novelist; full name Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie. His work, chiefly associated with magic realism, includes Midnight's Children (Booker Prize, 1981) and The Satanic Verses (1988). The latter, regarded by Muslims as blasphemous, caused Ayatollah Khomeini to issue a fatwa in 1989 condemning Rushdie to death. In 1998 the Iranian government dissociated itself from the fatwa.

20d   Backup musician, // given a tag, is facing the wrong way (7)

{SI|DEMAN}< — reversal (facing the wrong way) of {NAMED (given a tag) + IS (†)}

22d   When Hell Freezes Over, // Verne novel (5)

NEVER* — anagram (novel) of VERNE

Scratching the Surface
Jules Verne[5] ( 1828–1905) was a French novelist. One of the first writers of science fiction, he often anticipated later scientific and technological developments, as in Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea (1870). Other novels include Around the World in Eighty Days (1873).

23d   Overnight flight dropping the fourth // shade with a new colour (5)

REDYE — RED[E]YE (overnight flight) with the fourth letter deleted (dropping the fourth)

In the cryptic reading, "shade" is a verb.

Epilogue

The title of today's review is inspired by 12a, 5d, 21a, and 11a.

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