Saturday, July 25, 2020 — Legal Proceedings

Introduction

As was the case last week, today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon was solved while basking in the sun by a cool, inviting lake. Perhaps my brain does not function at peak level when baking in the blazing sun as I found this puzzle more difficult than usual. However, the few remaining clues were completed quickly in my air-conditioned house following a good night's sleep.

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

Introduction

Here is today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon.

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	Meal // about over (6)

RE|PAST — RE (about) + PAST (over)

4a	Months left before October’s first // pest (8)

MOS|QUIT|O — MOS (months) + QUIT (left) + O (October's first [initial letter])

9a	Norm is who’s back in prison // outfit (9)

CA(PAR|IS|O)N — {PAR (norm) + IS (†) + O (whO's back [final letter])} contained in (in) CAN (prison)

A caparison^[5] is an ornamental covering spread over a horse's saddle or harness.

11a	Grasses with no front // borders (5)

_EDGES — [S]EDGES (grasses) with the initial letter removed (with no front [initial letter])

12a	Passenger vehicle // made a run and is returned (7)

{SI|DECAR}< — reversal of (returned) {RACED (made a run) + (and) IS (†)}

13a	Call // teen lit “different” (7)

ENTITLE* — anagram of (different) TEEN LIT

14a	While talking, spill // soup vegetable (4)

LEEK~ — sounds like (while talking) LEAK (spill)

15a	Tandems are changing // corporate IDS (5,5)

{TRADE NAMES}* — anagram of (changing) TANDEMS ARE

19a	Irving appears in magazine // mountain feature (10)

TIM(BERLIN)E — BERLIN (Irving; American composer Irving Berlin^[7]) contained in (appears in) TIME (magazine)

20a	Wild West // meal in a pot (4)

STEW* — anagram of (wild) WEST

23a	By means of // speaking, made a pitch (7)

THROUGH~ — sounds like (speaking) THREW (made a pitch)

26a	King in a play embracing the // kid, maybe (7)

LEA(THE)R — LEAR (king in a play; Shakespeare's King Lear^[7]) containing (embracing) THE (†)

27a	Bigwig // leader of nation with a short haircut (5)

N|A|BOB — N (leader [initial letter] of Nation) + (with) A (†) + BOB (short haircut)

28a	Starry group // drama done badly (9)

ANDROMEDA* — anagram (badly) of DRAMA DONE

Andromeda^[5] is a large northern constellation between Perseus and Pegasus, with few bright stars. It is chiefly notable for the Andromeda Galaxy (or Great Nebula of Andromeda), a conspicuous spiral galaxy probably twice as massive as our own and located two million light years away.

29a	Prevailing conditions // damaged clematis (8)

CLIMATES* — anagram of (damaged) CLEMATIS

30a	Harry Truman’s inaugural // cups, saucers, etc. (3,3)

TEA SE|T — TEASE (harry) + T (Truman's inaugural [initial letter])

Down

1d	Secular shifts: // a judicial decision? (7)

RECUSAL* — anagram of (shifts) SECULAR

A term that — in light of recent events^[7] — should need no explanation in Canada, recusal^[7] is the withdrawal of a judge, prosecutor, or juror [or Member of Cabinet] from a case on the grounds that they are unqualified to perform legal duties because of a possible conflict of interest or lack of impartiality.

2d	Castle in Spain // I remapped erroneously (4,5)

PIPEDREAM* — anagram of (erroneously) I REMAPPED

Wishful Thinking

Castles in Spain[5] (also castles in the air or castles in the sky) are visionary unattainable schemes; or, in other words, daydreams ⇒ my father built castles in the air about owning a boat. An article on "Castles in Spain" (to which I can no longer link) had this to say: Nowadays, ‘castles in Spain’ means something splendid but non-existent. “Fashionable adventurers in France used to impose on the credulous and get money and social advantages out of them by telling tales of their ‘castles in Spain’, which, needless to say, they did not possess,” is the explanation of Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. The expression appears to have entered the English language from French where the expression is "bâtir Châteaux en Espagne".

3d	Tidy // evergreen (6)

SPRUCE — double definition

5d	Unit used in weighing // snow leopard (5)

OUNCE — double definition

6d	Seeking // that Spanish swindle (8)

QUE|STING — QUE (that Spanish; Spanish word meaning 'that') + STING (swindle)

7d	Block // printed in Franklin Gothic (5)

_IN|GOT_ — hidden in (printed in) FranklIN GOThic

Scratching the Surface
Franklin Gothic[7] and its related faces are a large family of sans-serif typefaces.

8d	Cases of removing // sourest rum (7)

OUSTERS* — anagram of (rum) SOUREST

A Peculiar Indicator

As an anagram indicator, rum[5] is used in a British dated informal sense meaning odd or peculiar ⇒ it’s a rum business, certainly. This is certainly not the first time that Cox and Rathvon have employed this British term in their National Post puzzles. Canadian solvers will likely be familiar with it from its frequent appearance in The Daily Telegraph Cryptic Crossword which is published weekdays in the National Post. However, I do wonder how familiar it may be to American solvers. Do Cox and Rathvon use it in puzzles appearing in American publications or only in their National Post offerings? Perhaps some of our American readers might like to comment on this.

10d	“True and right” spoken // of sisters (7)

SO|R|ORAL — SO (true; It's absolutely not so.) + R(ight) + ORAL (spoken)

16d	Dee fished with a hook // made to hang (7)

D|ANGLED — D (dee) + ANGLED (fished with a hook)

17d	Unique // rug and board game around end of hall (9)

MAT|CH(L)ESS — {MAT (rug) + CHESS (board game)} containing (around) L (end [last letter] of halL)

18d	Peculiar bump near // shadowy area (8)

PENUMBRA* — anagram of (peculiar) BUMP NEAR

19d	Huge // bats in attic (7)

TITANIC* — anagram of (bats) IN ATTIC

21d	Justify // the ravings of a hawkish politician? (7)

WAR|RANT — the solution, split (3,4), might describe "the ravings of a hawkish politician"

22d	Granite, principally: a large rock // in abundance (6)

G|A|L|ORE — G (Granite, principally [initial letter]) + A (†) + L(arge) + ORE (rock)

24d	Somewhat drabbish // teacher of religion (5)

_RABBI_ — hidden in (somewhat) dRABBIsh

25d	Boast about excellent // pitch (5)

H(E)AVE — HAVE (boast; all our properties boast free Wi-Fi in every room) containing (about) E(xcellent)

Epilogue

The title of today's review is inspired by the symmetrically positioned 1d and 21d which are both legal processes or evidence thereof.

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