Saturday, October 24, 2020 — Canadian Burgs

Introduction

Today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon takes us on a tour of Canadian communities from coast to coast to coast. I expect it may prove to be a bit of a geography lesson for solvers south of the border.

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	Each street // to Montreal, coming from Ottawa (4)

EA|ST — EA(ch) + ST(reet)

3a	Do // right amid stalemates (10)

D(R)EADLOCKS — R(ight) contained in (amid) DEADLOCKS (stalemates)

9a	Alberta town // crag lay destroyed (7)

CALGARY* — anagram of (destroyed) CRAG LAY

11a	Rocky peak atop // town in Ontario (7)

TOR|ONTO — TOR (rocky peak) + ONTO (atop)

12a	Border of pretty European country // badly burning? (9)

P_Y|ROMANIA — PY (border [initial and final letter] of PrettY) + ROMANIA (European country)

13a	Ring and buckle // from long ago (2,3)

O|F OLD — O ([letter shaped like a] ring) + (and) FOLD (buckle)

14a	Foragers in the forest skirting full // table (5)

DE(F)ER — DEER (foragers in the forest) containing (skirting) F (full; abbreviation found on a fuel gauge)

Here and There

Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon, the setters of this puzzle, are Americans. While they clearly appear to make an effort to avoid Americanisms in the National Post Cryptic Crossword puzzle, occasionally one creeps in — as is the case today with the word "table" (which, in fact, has appeared more than once before). In Canada, as in Britain, table[5] means to present formally for discussion or consideration at a meeting ⇒ more than 200 amendments to the bill have already been tabled. On the other hand, in the US, the term table[5] has essentially the opposite connotation, meaning to postpone consideration of ⇒ I'd like the issue to be tabled* for the next few months. * In Canada, we might say that the issue has been shelved or put on the back burner — expressions that I suspect may also be well-known in the US and the UK.

16a	Snakes inside of port // town in Ontario (7)

WINDS|_OR_ — WINDS (snakes; meanders) + OR (inside [interior letters] of pORt

19a	Coffee server in sort of boom // town in British Columbia (7)

B(URN)ABY — URN (coffee server) contained in (in) BABY (sort of boom)

20a	Empty in the extreme—//more than most (5)

E|VERY_ — E (empty; abbreviation found on fuel gauges) + VERY (in the extreme)

22a	Early astronaut // involved in much improvement (5)

CHIMP — hidden in (involved in) muCH IMProvement

24a	Choosy lad arranged // place to take classes (3,6)

{DAY SCHOOL}* — anagram of (arranged) CHOOSY LAD

27a	I stopped outside a lake // town in Nunavut (7)

I|Q(A|L)UIT — {I (†) + QUIT (stopped)} containing (outside) {A (†) + L(ake)}

28a	Young King Henry provided article by // town in Nova Scotia (7)

HAL|IF|A|X — HAL (young King Henry) + IF (provided) + A ([indefinite] article) + X (by; times, as a multiplication operator)

Prince Hal^[7] is the standard term used in literary criticism to refer to Shakespeare's portrayal of the young Henry V of England as a prince before his accession to the throne, taken from the diminutive form of his name used in the plays Henry IV, Part 1 and Henry IV, Part 2 almost exclusively by Falstaff.

29a	Pub’s first “Chicken” sign showing // something amazing (10)

P|HEN|OMEN|ON — P (Pub's first [letter]) +HEN (chicken) + OMEN (sign) + ON (showing)

30a	Giant of the sea // or California (4)

OR|CA — OR (†) + CA(lifornia)

Down

1d	Caper // in dunce’s cap adeptly (8)

_ES|CAP|ADE_ — hidden in (in) duncES CAP ADEptly

2d	Zoom around left // of the sun (5)

SO(L)AR — SOAR (zoom) containing (around) L(eft)

4d	Textile // drawer unopened (5)

_RAYON — [C]RAYON (drawer) with its initial letter removed (unopened)

5d	Actor // decorated vehicle with Asian cash backing (3,6)

ART CARNEY — ART CAR (decorated vehicle) + reversal (backing) of YEN (Asian cash; Japanese unit of currency)

Art Carney^[7] (1918 – 2003) was an Oscar-winning American actor in film, stage, television and radio. He is best known for playing Ed Norton opposite Jackie Gleason's Ralph Kramden in the 1950s sitcom The Honeymooners, and for his surprising Academy Award for Best Actor win for his role in Paul Mazursky's Harry and Tonto (1974).

6d	Large old ship // in slow motion? (5)

L|ARGO — L(arge) + ARGO (old ship; Jason's ship from Greek mythology)

Largo^[5] is a musical direction meaning in a slow tempo and dignified in style.

7d	Big hall // that we have in Canada’s capital (formerly) (9)

C|ONC(OURS)E — OURS (that we have) contained in (in) {C (Canada's capital [initial letter] + ONCE (formerly)}

8d	Song’s initial lyrics—//things that cut (6)

S|WORDS — S (Song's initial [letter]) + WORDS (lyrics)

10d	Notice muck close to your // fan (7)

AD|MIRE|R — AD ([commercial] notice) + MIRE (muck) + R (close [final letter] to youR)

15d	Make // Africa bet foolishly (9)

FABRICATE* — anagram of (foolishly) AFRICA BET

16d	Breed of chicken // today went wild (9)

WYANDOTTE* — anagram of (wild) TODAY WENT

17d	Letter-writing guide // confused clients (7)

STENCIL* — anagram of (confused) CLIENTS

18d	Daily sex improved // a learning disability (8)

DYSLEXIA* — anagram of (improved) DAILY SEX

21d	Pinch // curtain material softly (6)

SCRIM|P — SCRIM (curtain material) + P (softly; piano, musical direction to play softly)

It is pennies that are being pinched.

23d	Leaders in politics left us to our // small world (5)

P|L|U|T|O — the initial letters of (leaders in) Politics Left Us To Our

Pluto^[7] was once considered to be the ninth planet in the solar system. However, in a controversial 2006 decision, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) relegated Pluto to dwarf planet status.

25d	Brute // cheer (5)

YAHOO — double definition

26d	Tender // assassin? (5)

OFFER — double definition, the second being a person who makes their living offing people

Epilogue

Similar to Pluto being relegated by the IAU to dwarf planet status, the setters have demoted the six Canadian cities appearing in today`s puzzle to the status of towns.

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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