Saturday, March 3, 2018 — A Better Screw

Introduction

I thought that our setters were in a rather playful mood today. Nevertheless, I was slow to get started on today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon. However, once I had established a toehold, I was able to make steady progress.

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   Playing blues, // gets oiled up (5)

LUBES* — anagram (playing) of BLUES

4a   Play tenpins spurred // like a typical cowboy (9)

BOWL|EGGED — BOWL (play tenpins) + EGGED (spurred)

9a   Big shot // (me) interrupted by a pest (7)

M(A|GNAT)E — ME (†) containing (interrupted by) {A (†) + GNAT (pest)}

10a   Carry on wildly about day in Madrid, // glowing (7)

RA(DIA)NT — RANT (carry on wildly) containing (about) DIA (day in Madrid; Spanish word meaning 'day')

11a   Red’s observation upset // novelist (9,6)

{ROBERTSON DAVIES}* — anagram (upset) of REDS OBSERVATION

Robertson Davies^[5] (1913–1995) was a Canadian novelist, playwright, and journalist. He won international recognition with his Deptford trilogy of novels, comprising Fifth Business (1970), The Manticore (1972), and World of Wonders (1975).

12a   Stick around tree, // hiding (8)

CL(OAK)ING — CLING (stick) containing (around) OAK (tree)

14a   “Fifty-One” attributed to an // African (6)

LI|BY|AN — LI ([Roman numeral for] fifty-one) + BY (attributed to) + AN (†)

Scratching the Surface
Seemingly rather obscure to be the inspiration for the setters, "Fifty-One"[7] is the fourth episode of the fifth season of the American television drama series Breaking Bad, and the 50th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on AMC in the United States on August 5, 2012.

17a   South American party // least exposed to danger (6)

S|A|FEST — S (south) + A (American) + FEST (party)

One might argue that SA is the abbreviation for South American. Feel free to use that explanation if you can find it in a dictionary.

19a   Old witch wearing makeup // stuff with fibre in it (8)

ROUG(HAG)E — HAG (old witch) contained in (wearing) ROUGE (makeup)

22a   Canadian band // oddly like a Red Sea band (9,6)

{BARENAKED LADIES}* — anagram (oddly) of LIKE A RED SEA BAND

Barenaked Ladies^[7] is is a Canadian rock band that formed in 1988.

24a   He’s embraced by a trollop, // essentially (2,5)

A|T (HE)ART — HE (†) contained in ( [i]s embraced by) {A (†) + TART (trollop)}

25a   Berate // Rhode Island horse (3,4)

RI|P INTO — RI (Rhode Island; postal service abbreviation) + PINTO (horse)

26a   Polluted // mountain lake next to one garden building (9)

TARN|I|SHED — TARN (mountain lake) + (next to) I ([Roman numeral for] one) + SHED (garden building)

27a   Tree // planter, so people say (5)

CEDAR~ — sounds like (so people say) SEEDER (planter)

Down

1d   Richard’s pursuing fruit // poetry (9)

LIME|RICK|S — {RICK ([diminutive for] Richard) + S ('s)} following (pursuing) LIME (fruit)

2d   Listen in on a bad review /for/ Hobgoblin (7)

BUG|A|BOO — BUG (listen in on) + A (†) + BOO (bad review)

3d   Fuss about a // part of a flight (5)

ST(A)IR — STIR (fuss) containing (about) A (†)

4d   Grace // Bee, author of The Golden Notebook (8)

B|LESSING — B (bee) + LESSING (author of The Golden Notebook)

The Golden Notebook^[7] is a 1962 novel by British novelist Doris Lessing (1919–2013).

5d   Squeeze around one // electrician’s handiwork (6)

W(I)RING — WRING (squeeze) containing (around) I ([Roman numeral for] one)

6d   Charming // finale captivating listener (9)

END(EAR)ING — ENDING (finale) containing (captivating) EAR (listerner)

7d   Force // it into sauce for turkey (7)

GRAV(IT)Y — IT (†) contained in (into) GRAVY (sauce for turkey)

8d   Sees // some fruit (5)

DATES — double definition

13d   Asian king destroyed // African city (9)

KISANGANI* — anagram (destroyed) of ASIAN KING

Kisangani^[5] is a city in the north of the Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire), on the River Congo; population 682,600 (est. 2004). Prior to 1966, it was known as Stanleyville.

15d   Physicist // bends drill in a lecture? (5,4)

{NIELS BOHR}~ — sounds like (in a lecture) {KNEELS (bends) + BORE (drill)}

Niels Bohr^[5] (1885–1962) was a Danish physicist and pioneer in quantum physics. Bohr's theory of the structure of the atom incorporated quantum theory for the first time, and is the basis for present-day quantum-mechanical models. Bohr helped to develop the atom bomb in Britain and then in the US. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1922.

16d   Touched on // sequence in plot (8)

B(ORDER)ED — ORDER (sequence) contained in (in) BED (plot)

18d   Dad taking Russia’s leader // on (7)

FA(R)THER — FATHER (dad) containing (taking) R (Russia's leader [initial letter])

20d   After shuffling, dealing // straight? (7)

ALIGNED* — anagram (after shuffling) of DEALING

Scratching the Surface
In the card game poker, a straight[5] is a continuous sequence of five cards.

21d   Draw // Sinbad’s first boat (6)

S|KETCH — S (Sinbad's first [initial letter]) + KETCH (boat)

Scratching the Surface
Sinbad the Sailor[5] (also Sindbad) is the hero of one of the tales in the Arabian Nights, who relates the fantastic adventures he has during his voyages.

22d   Word of reservation about each // humdinger (5)

B(EA)UT — BUT (word of reservation) containing (about) EA (each; abbrev.)

23d   Since picture, // something jelled (5)

AS|PIC — AS (since) + PIC (picture; abbrev.)

Epilogue

The title of today's review is inspired by the Canadian author at 11a and lead singer Ed Robertson of the Canadian band at 22a. The Robertson screw^[7] — far superior to either slot or Phillips screws — was invented by Canadian P. L. Robertson. While widely used in Canada, it's use is much less prevalent elsewhere. After a disastrous licencing attempt in the UK (you might say that he was "screwed" by an unscrupulous British manufacturer), Robertson refused to licence his invention to other manufacturers thus limiting its adoption. As the Red Rose tea commercial used to say Only in Canada, you say. Pity.

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)
^[14] - CollinsDictionary.com (COBUILD Advanced English Dictionary)

Signing off for today — Falcon