Saturday, February 10, 2018 — Valentine Candy

Introduction

Today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon delivers a delectable selection of sweet Valentine treats.

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   Bum gulps a rum // candy (5,4)

{SUGAR PLUM}* — anagram (bum) of GULPS A RUM

A sugar plum^[7] is a piece of hard candy made of hardened sugar in a small round or oval shape^*.

---

^* "Plum" in the name of this confection does not mean plum in the sense of the fruit of the same name, but refers to small size and spherical or oval shape.

6a   Compartment for honey and old // string (5)

CELL|O — CELL (compartment for honey) + O (old; abbrev.)

9a   Candies // New Brunswick included among benefits (7)

BO(NB)ONS — NB (New Brunswick; abbrev.) contained in (included among) BOONS (benefits)

10a   Mutt’s tail upset // candy (7)

T|RUFFLE — T (mutt's tail; final letter [tail] of mutT) + RUFFLE (upset)

11a   Jog, swallowing second of gummy // fish (5)

TRO(U)T — TROT (jog) containing (swallowing ) U (second [letter] of gUmmy)

12a   Lounge is filled with popular // candies (9)

LOLL|I(POP)S — LOLL (lounge) + IS (†) containing (filled with) POP (popular; abbrev. as in  pop music or pop culture)

13a   Reordered plainer // candy (7)

PRALINE* — anagram (reordered) of PLAINER

15a   Woman’s name /for/ a hair holder, so to speak (7)

ANNETTE~ — sounds like (so to speak) {A NET (a hair holder)}

The faux pas at 7d really messed up my efforts here. Eventually, I was able to sort out the girl's name with some help from my electronic assistants which also revealed the error at 7d.

16a   Thoroughly // dip the nuts, holding candy’s centre (2,5)

{I(N) DEPTH}* — anagram (nuts) of DIP THE containing (holding) N (caNdy's centre [letter])

19a   Desert traveller eating a red // candy (7)

C(A|R)AMEL — CAMEL (desert traveller) containing (eating) {A (†) + R (red; abbrev. found on video connectors)}

21a   Loot cache freely /for/ candy (9)

CHOCOLATE* — anagram (freely) of LOOT CACHE

22a   Preserve a large // waterway in Venice (5)

CAN|A|L — CAN (preserve) + A (†) + L (large; abbrev.)

24a   Peg’s carrying off // candies (7)

T(OFF)EE|S — {TEE (peg; used by a golfer) + S ('s)} containing (carrying) OFF (†)

25a   Dotty sang out // “Candies!” (7)

NOUGATS* — anagram (dotty) of SANG OUT

26a   Cancels // coating of nutshells (5)

NULLS — the outer letters of (coating of) NUtsheLLS

Null^[3] (verb) means to make null.

27a   In state of anxiety, mete out // confection (9)

SWE(ETME*)AT or SW(EETM*)EAT — anagram (out) of METE contained in (in) SWEAT (state of anxiety)

Sweetmeat^[5] is an archaic term for an item of confectionery or sweet food ⇒ he hurried back to his room like a schoolboy who has stolen a sweetmeat.

Down

1d   Wooden shoe // has a bottle inside (5)

_S|A|BOT_ — hidden in (inside) haS A BOTtle

I hope everyone remembered this wooden shoe that angry workers once used to disable the machinery that put them out of their jobs.

2d   Boat /in/ lagoon drifting with 500 aboard (7)

GONDOLA* — anagram (drifting) of LAGOON containing (with ... aboard) D ([Roman numeral for] 500)

3d   Cheer about Southern resting place (5)

ROO(S)T — ROOT (cheer) containing (about) S (southern; abbrev.)

4d   French explorer, so everything’s in article in French (2,5)

L(A S|ALL)E — {AS (so) + ALL (everything)) contained in ('s in; is in) LE ([definite] article in French)

René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle^[5] (1643–1687) was a French explorer. He sailed from Canada down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to the Gulf of Mexico in 1682, naming the Mississippi basin Louisiana in honour of Louis XIV. In 1684, he led an expedition to establish a French colony on the Gulf of Mexico, but was murdered when his followers mutinied.

5d   Gentle one embracing a true // English princess (7)

M(A|T)ILD|A — {MILD (gentle) + A (one)} containing (embracing) {A (†) + T (true; abbrev.)}

Matilda^[5] (1102–1167) was an English princess, daughter of Henry I and mother of Henry II; known as the Empress Maud. Henry's only legitimate child, she was named his heir, but her cousin Stephen seized the throne on Henry's death in 1135. She waged an unsuccessful civil war against Stephen until 1148.

6d   Warner/’s/ a neurotic crackpot (9)

CAUTIONER* — anagram (crackpot) of A NEUROTIC

7d   Neglected // female in release (4,3)

LE(F)T OUT — F (female; abbrev.) contained in (in) LET OUT (release)

Although I am fairly confident that I was thinking LEFT OUT, I inexplicably wrote LEFT OFF. Needless to say, this made solving 15a rather a challenge.

8d   Revamped row levels /get/ too filled up (9)

OVERSWELL* — anagram (revamped) of ROW LEVELS

13d   Where Einstein taught // text about grasping the speed of light and energy (9)

PRIN(C|E)T|ON — {PRINT (text) + ON (about)}containing (grasping) {C ([symbol used in physics to represent] the speed of light) + (and) E ([symbol used in physics to represent] energy)}

Print^[5] denotes the text appearing in a book, newspaper, or other printed publication, especially with reference to its size, form, or style ⇒ (i) she forced herself to concentrate on the tiny print; (ii) bold print.

14d   Those who spruce up // Spirit and Rolling Stones? (9)

IMP|ROVERS — IMP (spirit) + (and) ROVERS (rolling stones)

In folklore, an imp^[5] is a small, mischievous devil or sprite.

Scratching the Surface

Spirit[7] was an American rock band founded in 1967 and based in Los Angeles, California. Their most commercially successful single was "I Got a Line on You" which, in March 1969, peaked at #25 on the U.S. Top 100 and #28 in Canada. The Rolling Stones[5] are an English rock group featuring singer Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards. Originally a rhythm-and-blues band, they became successful with a much-imitated rebel image, and are known for songs such as ‘Satisfaction’ (1965) and ‘Jumping Jack Flash’ (1968).

17d   Ominous // mould of liquid (7)

DOOMFUL* — anagram (liquid) of MOULD OF

18d   Family known for publishing // second among valentines (7)

HEAR(S)TS — S (second; abbrev.) contained in (among) HEARTS (valentines)

Successive generations of the Hearst family have continued to be involved in the newspaper business founded by William Randolph Hearst Sr.^[7] (1863–1951), an American businessman, politician, and newspaper publisher who built the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company Hearst Communications.

19d   Purge // covered by Maclean’s evenhandedly (7)

_CLEANS|E_ — hidden in MaCLEANS Evenhandedly

Scratching the Surface
Maclean's[7] is a Canadian news magazine that was founded in 1905, reporting on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, and current events.

20d   Fellow and companion // order (7)

MAN|DATE — MAN (fellow) + DATE (companion)

22d   Woo // love, in short (5)

C(O)URT — O (love; nil score in tennis) contained in (in) CURT (short)

23d   Romantic composer/’s/ catalogue recited (5)

LISZT* — sounds like (recited) LIST (catalogue)

Franz Liszt^[5] (1811–1886) was a Hungarian composer and pianist. He was a key figure in the romantic movement; many of his piano compositions combine lyricism with great technical complexity, while his twelve symphonic poems (1848–58) created a new musical form.

Epilogue

Happy Valentine's Day.

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