Saturday, October 10, 2020 — What Scared the Horse?

 

Introduction

It was a beautiful warm, sunny day here in the nation's capital — perfect to sit outside and solve today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon. The forecast afternoon showers did not materialize although a dark cloud did appear briefly, spit rather halfheartedly, and quickly move on.

Best wishes to readers north of the border sharing their Thanksgiving dinner with friends and relatives via video link. Unfortunately, Zoom has yet to introduce a "Pass the cranberry sauce" feature.

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	Penning article, two parents preserve a large // waterway (6,5)

P(AN)A|MA| CAN|A|L — {PA + MA (two parents)} containing (penning) AN ([indefinite] article) + CAN (preserve [food]) + A (†) + L (large; clothing size)

7a	Sink // actors’ union (3)

SAG — double definition; the second being the abbreviation for the Screen Actors Guild^[7]

The Screen Actors Guild^[7], founded in 1933, was an American labor union which represented film and television principal and background performers worldwide. In 2012, the union merged with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) to create SAG-AFTRA.

9a	One seated atop // draft horse (9)

PERCHER|ON — PERCHER (one seated) + ON (atop)

Might this be a draught horse rather than a draft horse (looks like a preliminary version of a horse).

10a	Appliance // controlled by General Electric (5)

RAN|GE — RAN (controlled) + (by) GE (General Electric)

11a	Bridge supporter // tossed letters (7)

TRESTLE* — anagram of (tossed) LETTERS

12a	Oral gel worked // quickly (7)

ALLEGRO* — anagram of (worked) ORAL GEL

The musical direction allegro^[5] means at a brisk speed.

13a	For starters, let it be rest area // sign (5)

L_|I_|B_|R_|A_ — the initial letters of (for starters) Let It Be Rest Area

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 September 23 and October 22.

15a	Leaves for a drink, one by one, // in jest (9)

TEA|SINGLY — TEA (leaves for a drink) + SINGLY (one by one)

17a	Roy Orbison tune // went past one of us in a rush, we hear (4,5)

{BLUE BAYOU}~ — sounds like (we hear) {BLEW BY (went past ... in a rush) + YOU (one of us)}

19a	Listened to calm // segment (5)

PIECE~ — sounds like (listened to) PEACE (calm)

20a	Essentially, // he tucked into a fruit pastry (2,5)

A|T (HE)ART — HE (†) contained in (tucked into) {A (†) + TART (fruit pastry)}

22a	Slip on job— // let’s not go into it (4,3)

DON|'T ASK — DON (slip on; put on [an item of clothing]) + TASK (job)

24a	Pupil’s place quarter hour // from Dublin (5)

IRIS|H — IRIS (pupil's place; part of the eye) + H (quarter hour; one of four letters in the word 'HOUR'}

25a	Alarming // old man making a cut (9)

PA|NICKING — PA (old man; father) + NICKING (making a cut)

27a	A thousand dollars— // good gracious! (3)

GEE — double definition

Three US dictionaries show gee^[3,11,12] as slang for a thousand dollars.

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 Origin: from the first letter of grand

28a	Under cover, ram // persons of note? (11)

SECRET|ARIES — SECRET (under cover) + ARIES (ram)

In astrology, Aries^[10] (also called the Ram) is the first sign of the zodiac, symbol ♈, having a cardinal fire classification, ruled by the planet Mars. The sun is in this sign between about March 21 and April 19.

Down

1d	Shoot // the old man (3)

POP — double definition

2d	Never loosely // pluck (5)

NERVE* — anagram of (loosely) NEVER

3d	Some claim a hat makes // one venerated (7)

_M|A|HAT|MA_ — hidden in (some) claiM A HAT MAkes

Mahatma^[5] is a South Asian term for a revered person regarded with love and respect; a holy person or sage.

4d	Working in wood, // find fault with door (9)

CARP|ENTRY — CARP (find fault) + (with) ENTRY (door)

5d	Member of clan in Japan? (5)

_N|IN|JA_ — hidden in (member of) claN IN JApan

In this &lit. clue^[7], the entire clue is both wordplay and definition.

A ninja^[3] was a member of a class of medieval Japanese mercenary agents who were trained in the martial arts and hired for covert operations such as assassination and sabotage.

6d	Learning island chain // hazard for German sailors (7)

LORE|LEI — LORE (learning) + LEI (island chain; Polynesian garland of flowers)

Lorelei^[5] is a siren said to live on the Lorelei rock, a rock on the bank of the Rhine. She is held by legend to lure boatmen to destruction with her enchanting song.

7d	Hearing transgression excited // house of worship (9)

{SYN|AGOGUE}~ — sounds like (hearing) {SIN (transgression) + AGOG (excited)}

8d	Rocker Peggy playing // actor (7,4)

{GREGORY PECK}* — anagram of (playing) ROCKER PEGGY

Gregory Peck^[5] (1916–2003) was an American actor; full name Eldred Gregory Peck. His many films range from the thriller Spellbound (1945) to the western The Big Country (1958); he won an Oscar for his role in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962).

11d	Bringing gossip, // reported an act of mooning? (11)

TALEBEARING~ — sounds like (reported) TAIL BARING (an act of mooning)

14d	Brief rush agitated // blaze in the countryside (5,4)

{BRUSH FIRE}* — anagram of (agitated) BRIEF RUSH

I actually initially wrote in SHRUB FIRE; fortunately, Roy Orbison quickly sorted things out for me.

16d	Much // roll in a ball (9)

A(BUN)DANCE — BUN (roll) contained in (in) {A (†) + DANCE (ball)}

18d	Sandy stretches // exist beside pines (7)

BE|ACHES — BE (exist) + (beside) ACHES (pines; longs)

19d	Call a turkey expert with a // cure-all (7)

PAN|ACE|A — PAN (call a turkey; give an unfavourable review) + ACE (expert) + (with) A (†)

21d	Theme // to movie (5)

TO|PIC — TO (†) + PIC (movie)

23d	A left-leaning pol I // excuse (5)

A|LIB|I — A (†) + LIB (left-leaning pol [politician]; liberal)

26d	Good, like // hot air (3)

G|AS — G(ood) + AS (like)

Epilogue

Brits often comment with regard to a less difficult puzzle that it contains "nothing to scare the horses". Well, putting 9a and 25a together in this puzzle does suggest a scared horse.

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Key to Reference Sources: 

  ^[1]   - The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition

  ^[2]   - Search Chambers - (Chambers 21st Century Dictionary)

  ^[3]   - TheFreeDictionary.com (American Heritage Dictionary)

  ^[4]   - TheFreeDictionarycom (Collins English Dictionary)

  ^[5]   - Lexico (formerly Oxford Dictionaries Online) (Oxford Dictionary of English)

  ^[6]   - Lexico (formerly Oxford Dictionaries Online) (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)

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Signing off for today — Falcon