Saturday, December 12, 2020 — Down Under

Introduction

Perhaps responding to comments of too much Canadian content on the menu, today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon gives us a main course of Australia with sides of Ireland and New England.

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	Social service // dancing as we rock (8)

CASEWORK* — anagram of (dancing) AS WE ROCK

5a	Annoy // Fergie on the way back South (6)

HARAS<|S — reversal of (on the way back) SARAH (Fergie^*) + S(outh)

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^* Sarah, Duchess of York^[7] (born Sarah Margaret Ferguson, informally known as "Fergie") is a member of the British royal family. She is the former wife of Prince Andrew, Duke of York, the second son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

9a	Girl I clumsily introduced to Prime Minister, // one on a spiritual journey (7)

P(ILGRI*)M — anagram of (clumsily) {GIRL I} contained in (introduced to) PM (Prime Minister)

10a	More formal // introductory text, by the sound of it (7)

PRIMMER~ — sounds like (by the sound of it) PRIMER (introductory text)

11a	Surprisingly, codeine cured old // Aussie film figure (9,6)

{CROCODILE DUNDEE}* — anagram of (surprisingly) CODEINE CURED OLD

Crocodile Dundee^[7] is an 1986 action comedy film starring Australian actor Paul Hogan set in the Australian Outback and in New York City.

Delving Deeper

Crocodile Dundee was the highest-grossing film of all-time in Australia, the highest-grossing Australian film worldwide, the second-highest-grossing film in the United States in 1986, the highest-grossing non-US film at the US box office ever and the second-highest-grossing film worldwide for the year. There are two versions of the film: the Australian version, and an international version, which had much of the Australian slang replaced with more commonly understood terms, and was slightly shorter. The film was followed by two sequels: Crocodile Dundee II (1988) and Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles (2001), although both films failed to match the critical success of the predecessor.

12a	Produce wise // amount of medicine (6)

DO|SAGE — DO (produce) + SAGE (wise)

14a	Guy dispensing endless // string (8)

MAN|DOLIN_ — MAN (guy) + DOLIN[G] (dispensing) with the final letter removed (endless)

17a	Disagreeable // piece of rutabaga in cup on serving platter (8)

C|ON|TRA(R)Y — R (piece [initial letter] of Rutabaga) contained in (in) {C(up) + ON (†) + TRAY (serving platter)}

18a	Beyond // cold internalized by a polar explorer (6)

A(C)ROSS — C(old) contained in (internalized by) {A (†) + ROSS (polar explorer^*)

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^* either Scottish Royal Navy officer and polar explorer Sir John Ross (1777 – 1856) or his nephew, British Royal Navy officer and polar explorer Sir James Clark Ross (1800 – 1862).

21a	Cast admitting “LA Law,” “Z” // air from Down Under (8,7)

{WALTZING MATILDA}* — anagram of (cast) ADMITTING LA LAW Z

The song "Waltzing Matilda"^[7] is Australia's best-known bush ballad, and has been described as the country's "unofficial national anthem".

Scratching the Surface

L.A. Law[7] is an American Emmy Award-winning legal drama television series that ran for eight seasons on NBC, from 1986 to 1994. Z[7] is a 1969 Algerian-French political thriller film, directed by Costa-Gavras that presents a thinly fictionalized account of the events surrounding the assassination of democratic Greek politician Grigoris Lambrakis in 1963. The film won the 1970 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

24a	Vermin hunter catching large // snake (7)

RATT(L)ER — RATTER (vermin hunter) containing (catching) L(arge)

25a	Countless number // sick in Holy Land (7)

Z(ILL)ION — ILL (sick) contained in (in) ZION (Holy Land)

26a	Hot aboard dirty-looking // boat (6)

DING(H)Y — H(ot) contained in (aboard) DINGY (dirty-looking)

27a	One sister and one kid, // all together (2,6)

I|N UN|I|SON — I ([Roman numeral] one) + NUN (sister) + (and) I ([Roman numeral] one) + SON (kid)

Down

1d	Style of home // ceiling breaking code (4,3)

CAP|{E COD}* — CAP (ceiling) + anagram of (breaking) CODE

2d	In accusal, vocally // blast (5)

_SAL|VO_ — hidden in (in) accuSAL VOcally

3d	Enthusiastic about German // hawk (9)

WARM|ON|GER — WARM (enthusiastic) + ON (about; on the topic of) + GER(man)

4d	Keep // mother in check (6)

RE(MA)IN — MA (mother) contained in (in) REIN (check)

6d	I’ll see you // go out dressed in gold (5)

A(DIE)U — DIE (go out) contained in (dressed in) AU ([chemical symbol for] gold)

7d	Hard-shelled mammal // I’ll put in a room with trouble (9)

A|RM|AD(ILL)O — ILL (I'll) contained in (put in) {A (†) + RM (room; abbrev.) + (with) ADO (trouble)}

8d	Rise dramatically, playing // doctor (7)

SURGE|ON — SURGE (rise dramatically) + ON (playing)

10d	Cover up front // target split by Dad (6)

PRE(PA)Y — PREY (target) containing (split by) PA (dad)

13d	Confess, and reveal // something unique (9)

SING|LET|ON — SING (confess) + (and) LET ON (reveal)

I think "sing" is more akin to betray than confess.

15d	Hot candle ruined // Olympic event (9)

DECATHLON* — anagram of (ruined) HOT CANDLE

16d	Trimmer // Anglo-Saxon character surrounded by hype (6)

P(RUNE)R — RUNE (Anglo-Saxon character) contained in (surrounded by) PR (hype; Public Relations)

17d	At hearing, chicken // showed fear (7)

COWERED~ — sounds like (at hearing) COWARD (chicken)

19d	Hush, presently, around Northern // Ireland’s chief river (7)

SH|A(N)NON or SH|AN(N)ON — SH (hush) + ANON (presently) containing N (Northern)

The River Shannon^[7] is the longest river in the Republic of Ireland and on the island of Ireland at 360.5 km (224 miles). It drains an area which covers one fifth of the island. The river is named after Sionna, a Celtic goddess.

20d	A fellow going about Australia backing // online retailer (6)

A|MA(ZO)N — A (†) + MAN (fellow) containing (going about) a reversal of (backing) OZ (Australia)

22d	Nothing // in Brazil changed (5)

_ZIL|CH_ — hidden in (in) BraZIL CHanged

23d	Liberal shows // hiding places (5)

L|AIRS — L(iberal) + AIRS (shows)

Epilogue

It was pretty easy to zero in on a theme t'day.

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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