Saturday, January 6, 2018 — Brrr!

Introduction

It is a bitterly cold day in much of the country. Here in Ottawa we are experiencing a wind chill of -40° C — a condition worthy of Winnipeg. However, if you were expecting a respite from the weather in today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon, you would be sadly disappointed.

After a quick start, I found this puzzle rather tricky — or maybe my brain just succumbed to the cold!

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   Sommelier, for one, // returned stuff in cold season (4,6)

WIN(ETAS<)TER — reversal (returned) of SATE (stuff) contained in (in) WINTER (cold season)

6a   Article // lodged in white mound (4)

_ITE|M_ — hidden in (lodged in) whITE Mound

9a   Dangerously exposing // skin in outfit (7)

RI(SKIN)G — SKIN (†) contained in (in) RIG (outfit)

10a   Cold one stuck in large mixed // frozen mass (7)

GLA(C|I)ER* — {C (cold; symbol on a water faucet) + I ([Roman numeral for] one)} contained in (stuck in) anagram (mixed) of LARGE

12a   The guy lacking skill /is/ cold (9)

HE|ARTLESS — HE (the guy) + ARTLESS (lacking skill)

13a   Final amount // greatly exaggerated by the end of January (5)

TALL|Y — TALL (greatly exaggerated; tall tale) + (by) Y (the end [final letter] of JanuarY)

14a   Sleet ruined // construction material (5)

STEEL* — anagram (ruined) of SLEET

16a   Suppliers of wool // a pair of Canadians found in mountains (7)

ALP(A|CA)S — {A (†) + CA (a pair [initial two letters] of CAnadians)} contained in (found in) ALPS (mountains)

19a   Very cold night's beginning /for/ bird (7)

BITTER|N — BITTER (very cold) + N (Night's beginning [initial letter])

20a   Freeze, having nothing // bend (5)

ST(O)OP or STO(O)P — STOP (freeze; e.g., command from a police officer) containing (having) O (nothing; letter that looks like a zero)

23a   Here in Quebec, emergency room /is/ colder (5)

ICI|ER — ICI (here in Quebec; French word meaning 'here') + ER (emergency room; abbrev.)

24a   Gatekeeper stands around frost // boundary (9)

PE(RIME)TER — PETER (gatekeeper; St. Peter, who guards the Pearly Gates of Heaven) containing (stands around) RIME (frost)

26a   Little kid and friend, // cold (7)

TOT|ALLY — TOT (little kid) + (and) ALLY (friend)

Cold meaning totally as in cold sober.

27a   Weapon wrapped in fellow/'s/ mitten or scarf (7)

G(ARM)ENT — ARM (weapon) contained in (wrapped in) GENT (fellow)

28a   Has // snow blown? (4)

OWNS* — anagram (blown) of SNOW

29a   Cold in country /calls for/ fur (10)

CHIN(CHILL)A — CHILL (cold) contained in (in) CHINA (country)

Down

1d   Direction about chief // supply of money (3,5)

W(AR CH)EST — WEST (direction) containing (about) ARCH (chief; arch enemy)

2d   In disguise, sent as a // former racketeer? (7)

NASTASE* — anagram (in disguise) of SENT AS A

"Racketeer" being a whimsical (flagged by the question mark) term for a tennis player.

Ilie Năstase^[7] is a Romanian former world No. 1 professional tennis player, one of the world's top players of the 1970s.

3d   Dye containing a // blemish (5)

T(A)INT — TINT (dye) containing (†) A (†)

4d   Gregory filling chair Earl initially // set apart (9)

SE(GREG)AT|E — GREG ([diminutive of] Gregory) contained in (filling) SEAT (chair) + E (Earl initially [initial letter of])

5d   Border plants trimmed at the front /and/ sides (5)

_EDGES — [H]EDGES (border plants) with the initial letter deleted (trimmed at the front)

7d   Brat finally hurls // desserts (7)

T|RIFLES — T (braT finally [final letter of]) + RIFLES (hurls)

8d   Further high marks announced /for/ swimmers (6)

{MOR|AYS}~ — sounds like (announced) {MORE (further) + As (high [academic] marks)}

11d   Denounces // a surcharge in speech (7)

A|TTACKS~ — sounds like (in speech) {A TAX (a surcharge)}

15d   Pass // down the road with Albert (7)

LATER|AL — LATER (down the road) + (with) AL ([diminutive of] Albert)

In North American football, a lateral^[5] is pass thrown either sideways or back.

17d   Write yawner about // old British chieftain (9)

PEN|DRAG|ON — PEN (write) + DRAG (yawner; something that is of little or no interest) + ON (about; concerning)

Pendragon^[5] is a title given to an ancient British or Welsh prince holding or claiming supreme power.

18d   A treetop cuckoo/'s/ musical production (8)

OPERETTA* — anagram (cuckoo) of A TREETOP

19d   Composer // stung in a way about end of career (7)

B(R)ITTEN — BITTEN (stung in a way) containing (about) R (end [final letter] of careeR)

Benjamin Britten^[5], Lord Britten of Aldeburgh (1913–1976) was an English composer, pianist, and conductor. He founded the Aldeburgh festival with Peter Pears in 1948, and in 1976 became the first composer to be made a life peer. Notable operas: Peter Grimes (1945), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1960), and Death in Venice (1973).

21d   Awful AA Motel // serving at breakfast (7)

OATMEAL* — anagram (awful) of AA MOTEL

Scratching the Surface

It is probably a mistake to try to find anything meaningful in the surface reading of this clue. In the UK, AA might refer to the Automobile Association, the British counterpart of the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) and the American Automobile Association (AAA). It might also refer to Alcoholics Anonymous. However, neither of those choices is very compelling and I was unable to identify any other likely candidates.

22d   Brother acquiring one street // eatery (6)

B(I|ST)RO — BRO (brother) containing (acquiring) {I ([Roman numeral for] one) + ST (street; abbrev.)}

24d   A course, in short, // with letters from gypsy children (5)

_PSYCH_ — hidden in (with letters from) gyPSY CHildren

25d   Parade // time of year (5)

MARCH — double definition

Epilogue

After working through this puzzle, you may need to warm up with a hot toddy.

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