Saturday, May 23, 2020 — Gone Fishin'

Introduction

Today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon will likely appeal to the anglers among us as there are a lot of fish being caught.

Perhaps I spent too much time in the sun frying my brain, but I found the puzzle to be on the decidedly difficult side.

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	Fish caught in waves // added costs (10)

SUR(CHAR)GE — CHAR (fish) contained in (caught in) SURGE (waves)

6a	Overstuff // belly, eating last of meal (4)

G(L)UT — GUT (belly) containing (eating) L (last [letter] of meaL)

10a	Boy often depicted with darts // trophy I had (5)

CUP|ID — CUP (trophy) + ID ([contraction for] I had; I'd)

In Roman mythology, Cupid^[5] is the god of love who is also known by his Latin name Amor^[7]. He is represented as a naked winged boy with a bow and arrows, with which he wounds his victims. His equivalent in Greek mythology is Eros.

11a	Sketch // fish caught in gate (9)

PORT(RAY)AL — RAY (fish) contained in (caught in) PORTAL (gate)

12a	Spread // fish caught by soldier at sea (9)

MAR(GAR)INE —GAR (fish) contained in (caught by) MARINE (soldier at sea)

13a	Submitted // one-fourth of bill due (5)

B|OWED — B (one-fourth of [the letters in the word] Bill) + OWED (due)

14a	Go back and pick up // others’ creative work (7)

REST|ART — REST (others) + ART (creative work)

Go back and pick up is a synonym for restart as in ⇒ It is not necessary to restart from the beginning, merely go back and pick up from Step 4.

16a	Tenor in New York // lacking resonance (5)

T|IN|NY — T(enor) + IN (†) + NY (New York)

18a	Starchy // uniform with tag (5)

RIG|ID — RIG (uniform) + (with) ID ([identification] tag)

20a	Ajax’s father // not holding guy back (7)

{T(ELAM)ON}< — reversal of (back) {NOT (†) containing (holding) MALE (guy)}

In Greek mythology, Telamon^[10] was a king of Salamis; brother of Peleus and father of Teucer and Ajax.

23a	Bug attached to // Chekhov (5)

ANT|ON — ANT (bug) + ON (attached to)

Anton Chekhov^[5] (1860–1904) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer. (show more )

Chekhov's work, portraying upper-class life in pre-revolutionary Russia with a blend of naturalism and symbolism, had a considerable influence on 20th-century drama. Notable plays: The Seagull (1895), Uncle Vanya (1900), The Three Sisters (1901), and The Cherry Orchard (1904).

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24a	Independent // part of Europe catching fish (9)

FR(EEL)ANCE — FRANCE (part of Europe) containing (catching) EEL (fish)

26a	Favoured // strength when catching fish (9)

FOR(TUNA)TE — FORTE (strength) containing (when catching) TUNA (fish)

Fortunate^[5] is used in the sense of favoured by or involving good luck; in other words, lucky.

27a	Farm building housing old // tycoon (5)

BAR(O)N — BARN (farm building) containing (housing) O(ld)

28a	Audited tax // deposit worth a lot (4)

LODE~ — sounds like (audited) LOAD (tax; especially as a verb)

29a	A fish caught by steel or brass // hand, in part (10)

MET(A|CARP)AL — {A (†) + CARP (fish)} contained in (caught by) METAL (steel or brass)

Down

1d	American plane // may score badly (8)

SYCAMORE* — anagram of (badly) MAY SCORE

The plane^[5] (also called plane tree) is a tall spreading tree of the genus Platanus of the northern hemisphere, with maple-like leaves and bark that peels in uneven patches.

In North America, sycamore^[5] is another name for the buttonwood^[5] (also known as buttonwood tree)^*, an American plane tree.

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^* genus Platanus: several species, in particular Platanus occidentalis (also called buttonball tree), which is the largest deciduous tree in the US and is grown for ornament and timber

Not to be confused with ...

Outside North America, sycamore[5] is the name of a large Eurasian maple (Acer pseudoplatanus) with winged fruits, native to central and southern Europe. It is planted as a fast-growing ornamental but tends to displace native trees. In the Bible, sycamore[5] (also sycomore or sycomore fig) refers to a fig tree (Ficus sycomorus) that grows in the Middle East. Buttonwood[5] is also the name of two mangroves (Conocarpus erectus and Laguncularia racemosa) found mainly in tropical America, used in the production of tanbark and for charcoal.

2d	Presort new // accounts (7)

REPORTS* — anagram of (new) PRESORT

3d	Herculean challenge // in pithy drama (5)

_HY|DRA_ — hidden in (in) pitHY DRAma

In Greek mythology, the Hydra^[5] was a many-headed snake whose heads grew again as they were cut off, eventually killed by Hercules.

4d	Give a new coat to // father, first person in hit Broadway show (7)

RE(PA|I)NT — {PA (father) + I (first person; grammar)} contained in (in) RENT (hit Broadway show)

Rent^[7] is a rock musical loosely based on Giacomo Puccini's 1896 opera La Bohème. Having made its Broadway debut in 1996, it tells the story of a group of impoverished young artists struggling to survive and create a life in New York City's East Village under the shadow of HIV/AIDS.

5d	Regard brood, // displaying sincerity (7)

EAR|NEST — EAR (regard; heed) + NEST (brood)

Ear^[5] is used in the sense of attention, especially favourable attention; in other words, heed (especially in the phrases give ear to and lend an ear).

7d	Purchasing plan // breaking a law—yay! (7)

LAYAWAY* — anagram of (breaking) A LAW YAY

8d	Showed the way in on top of that // Spanish city (6)

TO(LED)O — LED (showed the way) contained in (in) TOO (on top of that)

Toledo^[5] is a city in central Spain on the River Tagus. It was a pre-eminent city and cultural centre of the formerly independent Spanish kingdom of Castile.

9d	Ordeal, taking roll /in/ court (8)

TRI(BUN)AL — TRIAL (ordeal) containing (taking) BUN (roll)

For those who doubt the equivalence of ordeal and trial, ordeal^[12] is defined as:

• any difficult, painful, or trying experience; severe trial
• an ancient method of trial in which the accused was exposed to physical dangers [especially by fire or water], from which he or she was supposed to be divinely protected if innocent

15d	Flying on a rug, a true // mythic adventurer (8)

ARGONAUT* — {anagram of (flying) ON A RUG A} + T(rue)

In Greek mythology, the Argonauts^[5] were a group of heroes who accompanied Jason on board the ship Argo in the quest for the Golden Fleece.

17d	Fiendish // nurse in wacky finale (8)

{INFE(RN)AL}* — RN ([registered] nurse) contained in (in) anagram of (wacky) FINALE

18d	Went to bed, // about bushed (7)

RE|TIRED — RE (about) + TIRED (bushed)

19d	Shrink // and others supplied retrospective (7)

{DEF|LA|TE}< — reversal of (retrospective) {ET AL (and others) + FED (supplied)}

20d	Yonder is a // saintly woman (7)

THERES|A — THERES (yonder is; there's, contraction of there is) + A (†)

Although misspelled, I can only conclude that the reference was intended to be to Saint Teresa of Calcutta (1910–1997), popularly known as Mother Teresa^[7]. The setters have used the French-based spelling with an "h" rather than the Italian-based spelling without an "h".

21d	Device for capturing // mystical formula on piece of paper (7)

MANTRA|P — MANTRA (mystical formula) + (on) P (piece [initial letter] of Paper)

In addition to being a term for a sexually aggressive woman, a mantrap^[3] is a trap for catching people, especially trespassers or poachers.

22d	Permitted // closing of communal grave (6)

L|AWFUL — L (closing [final letter] of communaL) + AWFUL (grave)

25d	Sign // 51 means of support for most women (5)

LI|BRA — LI ([Roman numeral for] 51) + BRA (means of support for most women)

In astrology, Libra^[10] (also called the Scales or the Balance) is the seventh sign of the zodiac, symbol ♎, having a cardinal air classification and ruled by the planet Venus. The sun is in this sign between about Sept 23 and Oct 22.

Epilogue

This week the review is appearing a bit later than has been the case in the recent past. While I didn't go fishing, I did go to the lake and bask in the sunshine — and, I can assure you, proper physical distancing was observed.

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