Saturday, May 16, 2020 — D'oh!

Happy Victoria Day

Introduction

I expect that today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon did not delay many from getting on with their Victoria Day celebrations — not that there will be many fireworks this year.

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

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	Bug // mother and gentlewoman (6)

MA|LADY — MA (mother) + (and) LADY (gentlewoman)

4a	Comedian surrounding Pete // with a pile? (8)

CAR(PETE)D — CARD (comedian) containing (surrounding) PETE (†)

I guess if a floor is carpeted, one could say that it has a pile — not that I could imagine myself ever doing so!

9a	Grazing ground // resonated with antelope (9)

RANG|ELAND — RANG (resonated) + ELAND (antelope)

11a	Norm represents // a European capital (5)

PAR|IS — PAR (norm) + IS (represents)

12a	Something good, // like part of a tennis match (5)

AS|SET — AS (like) + SET (part of a tennis match)

13a	Birthright includes monk’s earliest // retreat (9)

HER(M)ITAGE — HERITAGE (birthright) containing (includes) M (Monk's earliest [initial letter])

14a	Animated dad // hits one out of the park with rascal boy (5,7)

HOMER S|IMP|SON — HOMERS (hits one out of the park; in baseball, to hit a home run) + (with) IMP (rascal) + SON (boy)

Homer Simpson^[7] is one of the main protagonists in the American animated television series The Simpsons as the patriarch of the eponymous family. The series. a satirical depiction of a middle class American lifestyle, parodies American culture, society, television, and many aspects of the human condition.

19a	A Seattle clan upset // Dan with a funny voice (12)

CASTELLANETA* — anagram of (upset) A SEATTLE CLAN

American voice actor Dan Castellaneta^[7] is the voice of Homer Simpson.

22a	Respectfully greeted, // short soprano observed (9)

CURT|S|EYED — CURT (short) + S(oprano) + EYED (observed)

24a	Mask actress accepts excellent // accolade (5)

CH(E)ER or CHE(E)R — CHER (Mask actress) containing (accepts) E(xcellent)

Mask^[7] is a 1985 American biographical drama film directed by Peter Bogdanovich, starring Cher, Sam Elliott, and Eric Stoltz. The film is based on the life and early death of Roy L. "Rocky" Dennis, a boy who had craniodiaphyseal dysplasia, an extremely rare disorder known commonly as lionitis due to the disfiguring cranial enlargements that it causes.

Cher received the 1985 Cannes Film Festival award for Best Actress for her role in the film. Mask won the Academy Award for Best Makeup at the 58th ceremony, while Cher and Stoltz received Golden Globe Award nominations for their performances.

25a	Lightweight paper missing the first // edition (5)

_ISSUE — [T]ISSUE (lightweight paper) with the initial letter removed (missing the first)

26a	Shackling // guy with a stick (9)

MAN|A|CLING — MAN (guy) + (with) A (†) + CLING (stick)

27a	Studying // South American country rat (8)

PERU|SING — PERU (South American country) + SING (rat; inform on)

28a	Fire at the head of that // ravine (6)

CAN|YON — CAN (fire; dismiss from employment) preceding (at the head of) YON (that)

Down

1d	Sondheim song by Chicago // musician wearing a sombrero (8)

MARIA|CHI — MARIA (Sondheim song; from West Side Story) + (by) CHI(cago)

Stephen Sondheim^[7] is an American composer and lyricist known for more than a half-century of contributions to musical theatre, including his collaboration with composer Leonard Bernstein in writing the lyrics for the 1957 musical West Side Story.

Scratching the Surface

Chicago[7] is an American rock band formed in 1967 in Chicago, Illinois, calling themselves the Chicago Transit Authority in 1968 before shortening the name in 1969. The self-described "rock and roll band with horns" blended elements of classical music, jazz, R&B, and pop music. They began writing songs with politically charged lyrics, and later moved to a softer sound, generating several hit ballads. The group had a steady stream of hits throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

2d	Solitary // individuals in Togo’s capital (8)

L(ONES)OME — ONES (individuals) contained in (in) LOME (Togo's capital)

3d	Lived // down reminder of a lashing (5)

D|WELT — D(own) + WELT (reminder of lashing)

5d	All but the head of angrier // snake (5)

_ADDER — [M]ADDER (angrier) with the initial letter removed (all but the head of)

6d	Reformed Episcopal // pop (5-4)

{PEPSI-COLA}* — anagram of (reformed) EPISCOPAL

7d	Painting in light brown // pattern (6)

T(ART)AN — ART (painting) contained in (in) TAN (light brown)

8d	Cleaned // back of yard with you in Mexico (6)

D|USTED — D (back [final letter] of yarD) + (with) USTED (you in Mexico; Spanish pronoun meaning 'you')

10d	Skeptic // on the location of robbery (7)

AT|HEIST — AT (on the location of) + HEIST (robbery)

15d	Cooking chickens pierced by 500 // hot rods (9)

ROA(D)STERS — ROASTERS (cooking chickens) containing (pierced by) D ([Roman numeral for] 500)

16d	Capturing a boy, hold down // knight (7)

P(A|LAD)IN — PIN (hold down) containing (capturing) {A (†) + LAD (boy)}

17d	Speed: // it’s found in dieter’s snack (8)

CELER(IT)Y — IT (†) contained in ([i]s found in) CELERY (dieter's snack)

18d	Awfully arrogant // thing to put in Béarnaise sauce (8)

TARRAGON* — anagram of (awfully) ARROGANT

20d	Save // small pinch (6)

S|CRIMP — S(mall) + CRIMP (pinch)

21d	Times on “ER” // removing rubber? (6)

ERAS|ER — ERAS (times) preceding (on [in a down clue]) ER (†)

As the word rubber^[3,4,11] is, in it own right, a chiefly British name for an eraser which appears in American dictionaries without qualification as to nationality, the word 'removing' would appear to be unnecessary (other than for the surface reading).

I can only conclude that the setters must intend "removing rubber" to be a cryptic definition of an eraser as "a device for removing (writing) through the action of rubbing".

Scratching the Surface

As for the surface reading, what is one to make of it? American readers will likely see a reference to The New York Times or possibly the Los Angeles Times while for British readers, it will be The Times of London that comes to mind. American readers are likely to think of the television medical drama ER while British readers will see a reference to the regnal cipher of Queen Elizabeth (Elizabetha Regina). Now, is the object being removed an overshoe or a condom? The mind boggles!

23d	The old fellows // land in the Middle East (5)

YE|MEN — YE (the old; old spelling of the definite article 'the') + MEN (fellows)

24d	Two companies with a // hot drink (5)

CO|CO|A — {CO + CO} (two companies; two instances of the abbreviation for company) + A (†)

Epilogue

Homer Simpson's main and most famous catchphrase, the annoyed grunt "D'oh!"^[7], is typically uttered when he injures himself, realizes that he has done something stupid, or when something bad has happened or is about to happen to him.

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