Saturday, January 16, 2021 — Old Masters

Introduction

I found that today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon provided a gentler than usual 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	Renaissance // period of quiet painting or sculpture (7)

REST|ART — REST (period of quiet) + ART (painting or sculpture)

5a	Confined outside as a // lowly farm worker (7)

PE(AS|A)NT — PENT (confined) containing (outside) {AS (†) + A (†)}

9a	Dotty rears cute // animals (9)

CREATURES* — anagram of (dotty) REARS CUTE

10a	Class // thrown in the sound (5)

CASTE~ — sounds like (in the sound) CAST (thrown)

11a	Blues-tune rapper excited // old Master (5,4,6)

{PETER PAUL RUBENS}* — anagram of (excited) BLUES TUNE RAPPER

Sir Peter Paul Rubens^[5]

Venus and Adonis

(1577–1640) was a Flemish painter. The foremost exponent of northern Baroque, he is best known for his portraits and mythological paintings featuring voluptuous female nudes, as in Venus and Adonis (c.1635).

12a	Cheese sandwiches fool // club (7)

BR(ASS)IE — BRIE ([French] cheese) contains (sandwiches) ASS (fool)

In golf, brassie^[5] (variant spelling brassy)  is an informal name for a number two wood.

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Origin: so named because the wood was originally shod with brass

14a	Run // small RV (7)

S|CAMPER —  S(mall) + CAMPER (RV)

16a	Ed occupies cleaner // dormitory space (7)

B(ED)ROOM — ED (†) contained in (occupies) BROOM (cleaner)

18a	Made secure about tee, // drove (7)

MO(T)ORED — MOORED (made secure) containing (about) T (tee)

19a	Old Master // loved in Cairo and Mobile (8,2,5)

{LEONARDO DA VINCI}* — anagram of (mobile) LOVED IN CAIRO AND

Leonardo da Vinci^[5] (1452–1519) was an Italian painter, scientist, and engineer. (show more )

His paintings are notable for their blended colour and shading in the technique known as sfumato; they include The Virgin of the Rocks (1483–5), The Last Supper (1498), and the enigmatic Mona Lisa (1504–5). He devoted himself to a wide range of other subjects, from anatomy and biology to mechanics and hydraulics: his nineteen notebooks include studies of the human circulatory system and plans for a type of aircraft and a submarine.

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23a	“Moneybags,” the French // aristocrat (5)

NOB|LE — NOB (moneybags) + LE (the French; French word for 'the')

24a	Begin // talk grandly about one sort of booze (9)

OR(I|GIN)ATE — ORATE (talk grandly) containing (about) {I ([Roman numeral] one + GIN (sort of booze)}

25a	Loose // tee ref’s adjusted (3,4)

{SET FREE}* — anagram of (adjusted) TEE REFS

26a	Sea legs buckled, // never changing (7)

AGELESS* — anagram of (buckled) SEA LEGS

Down

1d	News summary // walker brought back (5)

RECAP< — reversal of (brought back) PACER (walker)

2d	Unfortunately went bad, as // part of a hat (9)

SWEATBAND* — anagram of (unfortunately) WENT BAD AS

3d	Moving // song about saint (5)

A(ST)IR — AIR (song) containing (about) ST (saint)

4d	Level patch // necessary to faster races (7)

_TER|RACE_ — hidden in (necessary to) fasTER RACEs

5d	Grinders // bother Lester (7)

PEST|LES — PEST (bother; as a noun) + LES(ter)

6d	Up-to-date // gold amount containing radium (2,7)

AU |COU(RA)NT — AU ([chemical symbol for] gold) + COUNT (amount) containing (†) RA ([chemical symbol for] radium)

7d	Store walkway // is flanked by some beer (5)

A(IS)LE — IS (†) contained in (flanked by) ALE (some beer)

8d	Loved // having confidence in stair part (9)

TREA(SURE)D — SURE (having confidence) contained in (in) TREAD (stair part)

My initial thought was that 'confident' would be a better synonym for 'sure' than 'having confidence'. However, after considerable contemplation, I came to the conclusion that the latter can also work ⇒ (Having confidence / sure) that she had thoroughly researched all aspects of the case, the lawyer was anxious to present her findings in court.

12d	Circle golf course after Bing’s partner // birdies? (9)

BOB|O|LINKS — {O ([letter that looks like a] circle] + LINKS (golf course)} following (after) BOB (Bing's partner)

Bob Hope^[5] (1903–2003) was a British-born US comedian; born Leslie Townes Hope. He often adopted the character of a cowardly incompetent, cheerfully failing to become a romantic hero, as in the series of Road films (1940–62) co-starring Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour.

13d	Boston airport described by visionary // motto-maker (9)

S(LOGAN)EER — LOGAN (Boston airport) contained in (described by) SEER (visionary)

The use of the word "described" as a containment indicator is a common cryptic crossword device which seems to rely on describe^[1,2,12] being used in the sense of to trace out or delineate ⇒ skaters describing circles on the ice^*.

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^* Although, to be precise, it is the tracks left by the skaters' blades that describe the circles.

15d	Summon about a monthly fee // extraction (9)

P(A|RENT)AGE — PAGE (summon) containing (about) {A (†) + RENT (monthly fee)}

17d	Double agent outside identifies // part of a shoe (7)

M(IDS)OLE — MOLE (double agent) containing (outside) IDS (identifies)

18d	Wine // concocted by one of the Gershwins (7)

MADE|IRA — MADE (concocted) + (by) IRA (one of the Gershwins

Ira Gershwin^[7] (1896–1983), born Israel Gershowitz, was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs in the English language of the 20th century.

20d	Circular path, // or small segment (5)

OR|BIT — OR (†) + BIT (small segment)

21d	Express // love amid sin (5)

V(O)ICE — O (love; nil score in tennis) contained in (amid) VICE (sin)

22d	Tossed aside // suggestions (5)

IDEAS* — anagram of (tossed) ASIDE

Epilogue

I am sure the theme will be obvious without me having to paint you a picture.

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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