Saturday, July 11, 2020 — Variable Speed

Introduction

At the very moment that Mother Nature is lowering the temperature a bit, today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon turns up the heat — both literally (5d) and literarily (2d).

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	Dotty ate big franks, // having a meal (12)

BREAKFASTING* — anagram of (dotty) ATE BIG FRANKS

10a	Most important // rule stated (9)

PRINCIPAL~ — sounds like (stated) PRINCIPLE (rule)

11a	Spot large // place to stay off the road (5)

MOTE|L — MOTE (spot) + L(arge)

12a	Private investigator splits mob // wide open (6)

GA(PI)NG — PI (private investigator) contained in (splits) GANG (mob)

13a	In reversal, Bart’s mom allowed // message (8)

TEL|EGRAM< — reversal of (in reversal) {MARGE (Bart's mom) + LET (allowed)}

The Simpsons^[7] is an American family animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of parents Homer and Marge and their children Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. The show is set in the fictional town of Springfield and parodies American culture, society, television, and many aspects of the human condition.

15a	Implements taking spots for // some fungi (10)

TO(ADS|TO)OLS — TOOLS (implements) containing (taking) {ADS (spots; commercial messages) + TO (for; in the direction of  ⇒ heading for the border)}

17a	Graduates at the front have // commencement wear (4)

G|OWN — G (Graduates at the front [initial letter]) + OWN (have)

19a	Falstaff’s fortified wine // bag (4)

SACK — double definition

Sack^[3,4] is an archaic term for any of various light, dry, strong wines from Spain and the Canary Islands, imported to England in the 1500s and 1600s.

Sir John Falstaff^[7] is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare and is eulogized in a fourth. His significance as a fully developed character is primarily formed in the plays Henry IV, Part 1 and Part 2, where he is a companion to Prince Hal, the future King Henry V of England. A notable eulogy for Falstaff is presented in Act II, Scene III of Henry V, where Falstaff does not appear as a character on stage. By comparison, Falstaff is presented as the buffoonish suitor of two married women in The Merry Wives of Windsor. A fat, vain, boastful, and cowardly knight, he spends most of his time drinking at the Boar's Head Inn with petty criminals, living on stolen or borrowed money.

In Act IV, Scene III of Henry IV, Part II, Falstaff pronounces on the benefits of wine, concluding with the statement:

If I had a thousand [sons] the first humane principle I would teach them should be to forswear thin potations [weak drink] and to addict themselves to sack.

This may be a bit of an anachronism. As Henry IV reigned from 1399-1413, the time of Falstaff's supposed existence may have actually predated the period during which sack was being consumed in England. However, by Shakespeare's time, sack would have become commonplace.

20a	Crackpot seeks cure with bit of raw // material (10)

SEERSUCKE*|R — anagram of (crackpot) SEEKS CURE + (with) R (bit [initial letter] of Raw)

23a	Band that strolls while playing // Sondheim song “Chicago” (8)

MARIA|CHI — MARIA (Sondheim song [from West Side Story^[7]]) + CHI (Chicago)

24a	Spies // while capturing lady’s mate (6)

A(GENT)S — AS (while) containing (capturing) GENT (lady's mate)

27a	Bad is the // crime (5)

HEIST — anagram of (bad) IS THE

28a	Gun // missing the mark in German article (9)

D(ERRING)ER — ERRING (missing the mark) contained in (in) DER (German [definite] article)

29a	Painter // gets down with big hit (7,5)

WINS|LOW| HOMER — WINS (gets) + LOW (down) + (with) HOMER (big hit [in baseball])

Winslow Homer^[5] (1836–1910) was an American painter. He is best known for his seascapes which are painted in a vigorous naturalistic style considered to express the American pioneering spirit.

Down

2d	Hot feature: // French author’s “Start of Sex” (8)

RACINE|S|S — RACINE (French author; playwright Jean Racine^[7]) + S ('s) + S (start [initial letter] of Sex)

3d	A member of Parliament’s // hearing aids? (4)

A|MP|S — A (†) + MP (member of Parliament) + S ('s)

4d	Farm adopts a large seal // (nothing to worry about after all) (5,5)

F(A|L|SE AL)ARM — FARM (†) containing (adopts) {A (†) + L(arge) + SEAL (†)}

5d	One doing a math problem // when it’s hot (6)

SUMMER — double definition

6d	Winter clock, after the faces // fit together (9)

_INTER|_LOCK — {[W]INTER + [C]LOCK} with the initial letter of each word removed (after the faces)

7d	Debut of Gary Oldman: // “Red Emma” (7)

G|OLDMAN — G (debut [initial letter] of Gary) + OLDMAN (†)

Emma Goldman^[7] (1869–1940), known as Red Emma, was an anarchist political activist and writer. Born in Russia, she lived at various times in the United States, England, France and Canada (where she died). She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the 20th century.

Scratching the Surface
English actor Gary Oldman[7] won the 2017 Academy Award for best actor for his protrayal of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour.

8d	Moved pigs to // source of water (6)

SPIGOT* — anagram of (moved) PIGS TO

9d	Fifty-one military police // march unevenly (4)

LI|MP — LI ([Roman numeral for] fifty-one) + MP (military police)

14d	Give a sort of hint // her food was cooked (10)

FORESHADOW* — anagram of (cooked) HER FOOD WAS

16d	A C string, one on // musical instrument (9)

A|C|CORD|I|ON — A (†) + C (†) + CORD (string) + I ([Roman numeral for] one) + ON (†)

18d	Set of papers about a General Motors / morass (8)

QU(A|GM)IRE — QUIRE (set of papers) containing (about) {A (†) + GM (General Motors)}

19d	Whom Eos transformed // in an unknown way (7)

SOMEHOW* — anagram of (trasformed) WHOM EOS

Scratching the Surface
In Greek mythology, Eos[5] is the goddess of the dawn.

21d	Give a new arrangement to // spa or lodge (6)

RESORT — double definition

22d	Colour // over Spanish article (6)

PAST|EL — PAST (over) + EL (Spanish [definite] article)

25d	Near // evening, almost (4)

NIGH_ — NIGH[T] (evening) with the final letter removed (almost)

26d	Ben Affleck film // back in program (4)

ARGO< — reversed (back) and hidden in (in) prOGRAm

Argo^[7] is a 2012 American historical drama film directed by Ben Affleck. The film, which stars Affleck with Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin, and John Goodman in supporting roles, deals with the "Canadian Caper," in which six U.S. diplomats were rescued from Tehran, Iran, during the 1979-1981 Iran hostage crisis. The film is a highly fictionalized account of the affair which glorifies the role of the CIA and minimizes the role of Canadian ambassador Ken Taylor and other Canadian embassy staff. Former US President Jimmy Carter has said:

90% of the contributions to the ideas and the consummation of the plan was Canadian. And the movie gives almost full credit to the American CIA. And with that exception, the movie is very good. But Ben Affleck's character in the film was... only in Tehran a day and a half. And the main hero, in my opinion, was Ken Taylor, who was the Canadian ambassador who orchestrated the entire process.

Affleck's defense of the gross historical inaccuracies in the film:

Because we say it's based on a true story, rather than this is a true story, we're allowed to take some dramatic license. There's a spirit of truth ....

Epilogue

The title of today's review is inspired by 1a (...FAST...) and 29a (...SLOW...).

The film in 26d goes a step beyond "fake news" to "fake history" — both sad examples of what happens when Hollywood rules the world.

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