Saturday, April 25, 2020 — Extremes of Temperature

Introduction

Aside from the 13a at 15d, today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon presented no great difficulties.

If you are late coming here, be aware that there is an error in the clue at 15d (see following section).

I invite you to leave a comment to let us know how you fared with the puzzle.

Error in Today's Puzzle

There is clearly an error in the clue at 15d, which I suspect should read:

15d Flying machine, with effort, carrying one worldwide (9)

The word "one" seems to have gone missing — like an unfortunate traveller's luggage.

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

Symbols and Markup Conventions
"*" - anagram "~" - sounds like "<" - indicates the preceding letters are reversed "( )" - encloses contained letters "_" - replaces letters that have been deleted  "†" - indicates that the word is present in the clue	"//" - marks the boundary between wordplay and definition when no link word or link phrase is present "/[link word or phrase]/" - marks the boundary between wordplay and definition when a link word or link phrase is present "solid underline" - precise definition "dotted underline" - cryptic definition "dashed underline" - wordplay "double underline" - both wordplay and definition
Click here for further explanation and usage examples of the symbols and markup conventions used on this blog.

Across

1a	Containers for coal holding two articles, // fiery ones (8)

HO(THE|A)DS — HODS (containers for coal) containing (holding) {THE ([first of] two articles) + A ([second of] two articles)}

5a	Tap // skewer, taking leave (6)

SPI(GO)T — SPIT (skewer) containing (taking) GO (leave)

9a	“2001” classic’s beginning, framing one ape (5)

M(I)MI|C — {MMI ([Roman numeral for] 2001) + C (Classic's beginning [initial letter])} containing (framing) I ([Roman numeral for] one)

10a	Lack of action // for men with female name (9)

STAG|NANCY — STAG (for men) + (with) NANCY (female name)

12a	Neatening // ID in binding (7,2)

T(ID)YING UP — ID (†) contained in (in) TYING UP (binding)

13a	University boosters backed // foul-up (5)

{SNAF|U}< — reversal of (backed) {U(niversity) + FANS (boosters)}

14a	Answer assuming a // second showing on video (6)

REPLAY — REPLY (answer) containing (assuming) A (†)

16a	Hobbies // I’m into: socks or belts (8)

PAST(IM)ES — IM (I'm) contained in (into) PASTES (socks or belts; punches)

19a	Hard case changing // game (8)

CHARADES* — anagram of (changing) HARD CASE

20a	Conjecture about first of the // visitors (6)

GUES(T)S — GUESS (conjecture) containing (about) T (first [letter] of The)

23a	Greek character // in home game (5)

_OME|GA_ — hidden in (in) hOME GAme

25a	Happened // to endorse piano string (4,5)

TO|OK| P|LACE — TO (†) + OK (endorse) + P (piano; abbrev., piano is a musical direction to play softly) + LACE (string)

27a	Pasta // tossed at the pigs (9)

SPAGHETTI* — anagram of (tossed) AT THE PIGS

28a	Pound // found in bathrobe (5)

_TH|ROB_ — hidden in (found in) baTH ROBe

29a	Cried out about yellow // theatrical fog (3,3)

{DR(Y) ICE}* — anagram of (out) CRIED containing (about) Y(ellow)

30a	Broken code left // loss of confidence (4,4)

{COLD FEET}* — anagram of (broken) CODE LEFT

Down

1d	Rodent // mars the plastic (7)

HAMSTER* — anagram of (plastic) MARS THE

2d	Easily frightened /and/ not very bright, it turned back (5)

{TI|MID}< — reversal of (turned back) {DIM (not very bright) + IT (†)}

3d	Mexican food // left in rambling hacienda (9)

{ENCHI(L)ADA}* — L(eft) contained in (in) anagram of (rambling) HACIENDA

4d	Produce seasoning/’s/ prescribed amount (6)

DO|SAGE — DO (produce) + SAGE (seasoning)

6d	Part of a suit // is notably breathtaking? (5)

PANTS — double definition

Unlike 17d, it is our friends across the pond who may encounter some difficulty with this clue. In Britain, the word pants^[5] does not mean trousers as it does in North America. Rather, it refers to underwear — specifically men's undershorts or women's panties (the latter otherwise known as knickers^[5] to the Brits).

7d	Police // seem grand when given new order (9)

GENDARMES* — anagram of (when given new order) SEEM GRAND

A gendarme^[5] is a paramilitary police officer in France and other French-speaking countries — including Canada. In French, the RCMP is la Gendarmerie royale du Canada (GRC) and its members are known as gendarmes. The Quebec website of the RCMP carries a tribute to "la gendarme Heidi Stevenson" who was killed in the line of duty in Nova Scotia this week.

8d	Swimmer’s holding health club // auditions (7)

TR(Y)OUT|S — {TROUT (swimmer) + S ('s)} containing (holding) Y (health club; YMCA/YWCA)

11d	A piece of pie and fruit // materialize (6)

A|P|PEAR — A (†) + P (piece [initial letter] of Pie) + (and) PEAR (fruit)

15d	Flying machine, with effort, carrying [one] // worldwide (9)

PLANE|T(A)RY — PLANE (flying machine) + (with) TRY (effort) containing (carrying) A (one; missing from the clue)

The clue, as it appears in the National Post, is clearly missing a word which, in all likelihood, was intended to be 'one'.

17d	Picked up by Ted, strange mascot // made a loud noise (9)

T(RUM|PET)ED — {RUM (strange) + PET (mascot)} contained in (picked up by) TED (†)

Our British friends (and those of us who regularly solve British puzzles) will have little difficulty here). However, North Americans who haven't been exposed to this bit of old-fashioned British slang will likely find themselves at sea.

Rum^[5] is a dated informal British term meaning odd or peculiar ⇒ it’s a rum business, certainly.

18d	Make like a little bird /and/ buzz off (4,2)

BE|A|T IT — BE (make like) + A (†) + TIT (little bird)

The tits, chickadees, and titmice^[7] constitute the Paridae, a large family of small passerine birds which occur in the northern hemisphere and Africa. These birds are called either "chickadees" or "titmice" in North America, and just "tits" in the rest of the English-speaking world.

A Pair of Great Tits

The great tit^[10] is a large common Eurasian tit, Parus major, with yellow-and-black underparts and a black-and-white head.

19d	Went over // bad scores, nearly failing (7)

CROSSE*|D — anagram of (bad) SCORES + D (nearly failing; a D on an exam is not far from a failing grade)

21d	Something adding flavour in jelled // dessert (7)

S(HERB)ET — HERB (something adding flavour) contained in (in) SET (jelled)

22d	Make note: no // dotted tile (6)

_DO|MI|NO — DO (make) + MI ([musical] note) + NO (†)

24d	Assist doctor going around hospital // for a certain purpose (2,3)

A|D (H)OC — A (assist; abbrev., a statistic in sports such as hockey and basketball) + DOC(tor) containing (going around) H(ospital)

26d	A large lake // home up high (5)

A|ERIE — A (†) + ERIE (large lake)

Epilogue

This puzzle starts off at one extreme of temperature and finishes at the other.

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 Advanced 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