Saturday, November 21, 2020 — Wings or Horns?

Introduction

As the saying goes, today's offering from Cox & Rathvon was a puzzle of two halves. In my case, the top half of the grid was filled quickly and effortlessly; the bottom half, on the other hand, provided a demanding mental workout.

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	Ponder // work as a peacemaker, taking time (8)

MEDI(T)ATE — MEDIATE (work as a peacemaker) containing (taking) T(ime)

5a	Heard a flake // make a request (6)

APPEAL~ — sounds like (heard) {A (†) + PEEL (flake)}

9a	Tibetan priest straddling large // beast of burden (5)

L(L)AMA — LAMA (Tibetan priest) containing (straddling) L(arge)

10a	Clive’s tea spilled: // that’s the way the cookie crumbles (4,2,3)

{C'EST LA VIE}* — anagram of (spilled) CLIVE'S TEA

Although the practice is to generally ignore apostrophes and other punctuation, the apostrophe today seems very apropos.

12a	Old L.A. team // has genial name revised (7,6)

{ANAHEIM ANGELS}* — anagram of (revised) HAS GENIAL NAME

Team with an Identity Crisis

The Los Angeles Angels[7] are an American professional baseball team based in the city of Anaheim, California, part of Orange County and the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The Angels franchise was founded as the Los Angeles Angels in 1961 and played under that name until 1965, when it changed its name to California Angels upon its move from Los Angeles' Dodger Stadium to the new Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). In 1997, the team's name was changed to Anaheim Angels (as part of a deal with the city of Anaheim to fund the refurbishment of Angel Stadium). In 2007, the team made yet another name change, rebranding itself the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (the city sued the club over the name change but was unsuccessful in its bid to reverse it).[7]

14a	On pot, I altered // choice (6)

OPTION* — anagram of (altered) ON POT I

16a	Left interrupting captain, talk // nonsense (8)

C(L)AP T|RAP — L(eft) contained in (interrupting) CAPT (captain; abbrev.) + RAP (talk)

19a	Nameless wandering // vendors (8)

SALESMEN* — anagram (wandering) NAMELESS

20a	Theme about river // in the torrid zone (6)

T(R)OPIC — TOPIC (theme) containing (about) R(iver)

The definition and solution are an adjectival phrase and adjective respectively. As a noun, "the torrid zone" would be 'the tropics' not 'the tropic' (which is a parallel of latitude).

22a	Breaking up real thieves, I’d // create a disturbance (5,3,5)

(RAISE THE DEVIL}* — anagram of (breaking up) REAL THIEVES ID

26a	Evergreens around Salt // Peaks (9)

PIN(NACL)ES — PINES (evergreens) containing (around) NACL (salt; NaCl is the chemical formula for sodium chloride, common table salt)

27a	Wet blanket // general practitioner wrapped around eccentric (5)

G(RUM)P — GP (general practitioner) containing (wrapped around) RUM (eccentric)

Rum^[5] is a dated informal British term meaning odd or peculiar ⇒ it’s a rum business, certainly.

This word is seen frequently in British crossword puzzles. While it may seem a bit "rum" to find dated British slang in an American crossword puzzle, it is not the first time this word has appeared in a Cox and Rathvon offering.

28a	Toronto’s starter left before you initially // score (6)

T|WENT|Y — T (Toronto's starter [initial letter]) + WENT (left) preceding (before) Y (you initially; initial letter of You)

29a	Tape // collection kept by social group (8)

CAS(SET)TE — SET (collection) contained in (kept by) CASTE (social group)

Down

1d	Snacky crisp bread // almost beat crackers (5,5)

{MELBA TOAST}* — anagram of (crackers) ALMOST BEAT

2d	Play // doctor with a mom (5)

DR|A|MA — DR (doctor; abbrev.) + A (†) + MA (mom)

3d	Noted hams playing // parts for Macbeth and Macduff? (9)

THANEDOM* — anagram of (playing) NOTED HAMS

In the definition, "parts" does not refer to theatrical roles but to areas of the country (as in he left for parts unknown).

Macbeth^[7] (fully The Tragedy of Macbeth) is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, probably first performed in 1606. The title character, Macbeth is a general in the army of King Duncan; originally Thane of Glamis, then Thane of Cawdor, and later king of Scotland (after killing King Duncan). Lord Macduff, the Thane of Fife, suspects Macbeth of regicide and eventually kills Macbeth in the final act.

Historically, in Scotland, a thane^[5] was a man, often the chief of a clan, who held land from a Scottish king and ranked with an earl’s son. A thanedom^[10] is something that belongs to or lies within the jurisdiction of a thane.

4d	Big book about company // on the way (2,4)

TO (CO)ME — TOME (big book) containing (about) CO (company; abbrev.)

6d	Beat // chickpeas, lentils, etc. (5)

PULSE — double definition

7d	Prove Ed’s a straying // spy, in a way (9)

EAVESDROP* — anagram of (straying) PROVE EDS A

8d	Song // was false (4)

LIED — double definition

A lied^[5] is a type of German song, especially of the Romantic period, typically for solo voice with piano accompaniment.

11d	Croon the French // tune on the charts (6)

SING|LE — SING (croon) + LE (the French; French word meaning 'the')

13d	Catch sight of L.A. officer, a regressive, // massive disaster (10)

{A|POC|AL|YPSE}< — reversal of (regressive) {ESPY (catch sight of) + LA (L.A.) + COP (officer) + A (†)}

15d	Cheer in daze, // standing? (9)

T(OLE)RANCE — OLE ([Spanish] cheer) contained in (in) TRANCE (daze)

17d	Average mornings outside bore // models (9)

PAR|A(DIG)MS — PAR (average) + AMS (mornings) containing (outside) DIG (bore)

18d	Breakfast food // TV show announced (6)

CEREAL~ — sounds like (announced) SERIAL (TV show)

21d	Mount // Olympus has tableaux in the centre (6)

_S|HAS|TA_ — hidden in (in the centre) OlympuS HAS TAbleaux

Mount Shasta^[7] is a potentially active volcano at the southern end of the Cascade Range in California. At an elevation of 14,179 feet (4321.8 m), it is the second-highest peak in the Cascades and the fifth-highest in the state. The Shasta daisy^[5] is named after it.

Scratching the Surface

Mount Olympus[10] is a a mountain in northeastern Greece. It is the highest mountain in Greece, believed in Greek mythology to be the dwelling place of the greater gods. Height: 2911 m (9550 ft). Or maybe our American setters are forgoing international travel during the pandemic and taking us instead to Mount Olympus[10], a mountain in northwestern Washington in the US: the highest peak of the Olympic Mountains. Height: 2427 m (7965 ft).

23d	Not fitting // trendy apartment (5)

IN|APT — IN (trendy) + APT (apartment; abbrev.)

24d	Safe // jump (5)

VAULT — double definition

25d	See // dog in a primer (4)

SPOT — double definition, the second alluding to the Dick and Jane serices of primers used in schools in the middle of the last century.

Back to Basics

Dick and Jane[7] are the two main characters in a series of basal readers (primers) created to teach children to read. The characters first appeared in the Elson-Gray Readers in 1930 and continued in a subsequent series of books through the final version in 1965. These readers were used in classrooms in the United States and in other English-speaking countries for nearly four decades, reaching the height of their popularity in the 1950s, when 80 percent of first-grade students in the United States used them. Although the Dick and Jane series of primers continued to be sold until 1973 and remained in use in some classrooms throughout the 1970s, they were replaced with other reading texts by the 1980s and gradually disappeared from school curricula. "Dick" and "Jane" are the older brother and sister in a fictional family that included "Mother", "Father" and a younger sister named "Sally", their pets, "Spot" (originally a cat in the 1930s, but a dog in later editions), and "Puff", their cat; and a toy teddy bear named "Tim". Although Dick and Jane and their trans-specied pet Spot may have dominated classrooms across most of North America, that was not the case in 1950s Nova Scotia where Tom, Betty and Susan with their dog Flip ruled the roost*. * The Ginn Basic Readers series

Epilogue

Bobby Vee sums up the theme nicely in this hit from 1960.

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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