Saturday, October 17, 2020 — Stand-ins

Introduction

It took me a while to get into today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon.  After eventually establishing a foothold in the southeast corner, I gradually teased out solutions radiating out from that point. The bottom half was finished first with the top half trailing well behind.

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	Gallery offering back its // properties (6)

TRA<|ITS — reversal of (back) ART (gallery offering) + ITS (†)

4a	The boy’s utter fear // of a certain ethnicity (8)

HIS|PANIC — HIS (the boy's) + PANIC (utter fear)

The markup shown supposes that the solution is an adjective. Should one prefer to treat the solution as a noun, the markup would be:

• The boy’s utter fear /of/ a certain ethnicity (8)

where the word "of" becomes a link word.

9a	I give a bad name to small // NHL players (9)

I|SLANDER|S — I (†) + SLANDER (give a bad name to) + S(mall)

The New York Islanders^[7] are an American professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn that competes in the National Hockey League (NHL). They are a member of the league's Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference.

11a	Love // in the morning that we share (5)

AM|OUR — AM (in the morning) + OUR (that we share)

12a	Loose-limbed // drunk, this fellow (5)

LIT|HE — LIT (drunk) +HE (this fellow)

13a	Rosa, we tossed your // safe in the water (9)

SEAWOR*|THY — anagram of (tossed) ROSA WE + THY (your)

14a	Grand // you deposit in a bank (8)

THOU|SAND — THOU (you) + SAND (deposit in a bank; deposit being a noun)

16a	You and I step halfway inside // upscale hotel (6)

WE|ST_|IN — WE (you and I) + ST (step halfway; half of the word STep) + IN (inside)

19a	The girl in Michael Jackson’s 1987 album // hit (6)

BA(SHE)D — SHE (the girl) contained in (in) BAD (Michael Jackson's 1987 album)

20a	Mom and that guy greeting while catching a // fish (8)

MA|HIM(A)HI — MA (mom) + (and) {HIM (that guy) + HI (greeting)} containing (while catching) A (†)

23a	Plant collection: // the woman’s element (9)

HER|BARIUM — HER (the woman's) + BARIUM (element)

Alternative parsing (treating the 's as a contraction for the word 'has'):

• HER|BARIUM — HER (the woman) + ('s; contraction of has) BARIUM (element)

25a	Artificial // swamp in front of our group (5)

BOG|US — BOG (swamp) preceding (in front of) US (our group)

27a	Stood for // bug behind yours truly (5)

ME|ANT — ANT (bug) following (behind) ME (yours truly)

28a	Figure out // check that I have (9)

DETER|MINE — DETER (check; prevent) + MINE (that I have)

29a	Large amount in gold: love my // independence (8)

AU(TON)O|MY — TON (large amount) contained in (in) {AU ([chemical symbol for] gold) + O (love; nil score in tennis) + MY (†)}

30a	Curtains // you need at both sides (3,3)

THE E|ND — THEE (you) + ND (need at both sides; initial and final letters of NeeD)

Down

1d	Tour allowed // one of three kids (7)

TRIP|LET — TRIP (tour) + LET (allowed)

2d	Everyone retreating to // pass out (5)

ALL|OT< — ALL (everyone) + reversal of (retreating) TO

3d	Teens seen wandering about // state (9)

TENNESSEE* — anagram of (wandering about) TEENS SEEN

5d	I’m acquiring North Sea // clothing line (6)

I(N|SEA)M — IM (I'm) containing (acquiring) {N(orth) + SEA (†)}

6d	Philosopher // in the position of breaking up Oslo Accords party (5)

PL(AT)O — AT (in the position of) contained in (breaking up) PLO (Oslo Accords party; Palestine Liberation Organization)

The Oslo Accords^[7] are a pair of agreements between the Government of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

7d	Fish // swimming near to net (4,5)

{NEON TETRA}* — anagram of (swimming) NEAR TO NET

8d	Emily who painted that // kind of bag (5-2)

CARR|Y ON — CARR (Emily who painted; Canadian artist Emily Carr^[7]) + YON (that)

10d	Soothing, // for example, about a transgression (6)

E(A|SIN)G — EG (for example) containing (about) {A (†) + SIN (transgression)}

15d	Alert // operator and British maid or butler (9)

O|B|SERVANT — O ([telephone] operator) + B(ritish) + SERVANT (maid or butler)

17d	Bishop picked up by hired gun drifting around // Scottish place (9)

{EDIN(B)URGH}* — B (bishop; chess notation) contained in (picked up by) anagram of (drifting around) HIRED GUN

18d	Rodent // limb grabbed by cat on the way back (6)

M(ARM)OT — ARM (limb) contained in (grabbed by) reversal of (on the way back) TOM ([male] cat)

19d	Czech region // starts to be our home, except maybe it ain’t (7)

B|O|H|E|M|I|A — the initial letters of (starts to) Be Our Home Except Maybe It Ain't

21d	Rather // stained bananas (7)

INSTEAD* — anagram of (bananas) STAINED

22d	Headwear // displayed by Lydia demurely (6)

_DIA|DEM_ — hidden in (displayed by) LyDIA DEMurely

24d	Sean known for acting // like soldier material (5)

AS|TIN — AS (like) + TIN (soldier material)

Sean Astin^[7] is an American actor whose roles include Samwise Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

26d	Costume // men discussed loudly (5)

GUISE~ — sounds like (discussed loudly) GUYS (men)

Epilogue

The solution to every across clue contains a pronoun, a word which acts as a 'stand-in' for a noun. I didn't pick up on this fact while I was solving the puzzle (likely because I jumped around between across and down clues). However, it became very evident as I composed the review.

---

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)

---

Signing off for today — Falcon