Saturday, January 23, 2021 — Explosive Situations

Introduction

Today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon visits several areas around the world that have witnessed explosive events due to geological instability. However, is it also a comment on explosive events of a different nature?

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	Narrow-minded, // I got in bed (7)

B(I|GOT)ED — {I (†) + GOT (†)} contained in (in) BED (†)

5a	Sponges // eat surrounding woods (5,2)

S(OAKS) UP — SUP (eat) containing (surrounding) OAKS (woods)

9a	Agitated mob riots around large // site of some incendiary activity (9)

{STROMBO(L)I}* — anagram of (agitated) MOB RIOTS containing (around)L(arge)

L^[5] is the abbreviation for large (as a clothing size).

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Stromboli^[5] is a volcanic island in the Mediterranean, the most north-easterly of the Lipari Islands.

10a	Short tribute // to a saint (5)

TO|A|ST — TO (†) + A (†) + ST (saint)

11a	Present includes attending // dramatic performance (7)

THE(AT)RE — THERE (present) containing (includes) AT (attending)

12a	Lass filled up with London area // fuel (7)

GA(SOHO)L — GAL (lass) containing (filled up with) SOHO (London area)

13a	Per annum salary: a fruit (6)

PA|PAY|A — PA (per annum) + PAY (salary) + A (†)

15a	Revised a manual about old // volcano (5,3)

{MAUNA L(O)A}* — anagram of (revised) {A MANUAL} containing (about)O(ld)

In linguistics, O^[12] is the abbreviation for Old ⇒ (i) OFr [Old French]; (ii) OE [Old English].

However, a second entry from this same source shows o (lower case) meaning old (not capitalized) suggesting that the use of this abbreviation may not necessarily be confined to the field of linguistics.

Another possibility arises from the British abbreviation OAP^[5] standing for old-age pensioner.

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Mauna Loa^[5] is an active volcano on the island of Hawaii, to the south of Mauna Kea, rising to 4,169 m (13,678 ft).

17a	Nothing but a swallow seen from behind // eruption site (8)

{PIN|A|TUB|O}< — O (nothing; letter that looks like a zero) + BUT (†) + A (†) + NIP (swallow; sip of spirits)

Mount Pinatubo^[5] is a volcano on the island of Luzon, in the Philippines. It erupted in 1991, killing more than 300 people and destroying the homes of more than 200,000.

19a	Went after // clean audio? (6)

CHASED~ — sounds like (audio) CHASTE (clean)

23a	Peak shown to city (7)

TOR|ON|TO — TOR (peak) + ON (shown) + TO (†)

24a	Liberal embraced by philosopher // proceeds uncertainly (7)

HOBB(L)ES — L(iberal) contained in (embraced by) HOBBES (philosopher; 17th century English philosopher Thomas Hobbes^[5])

26a	Epic poet // hit outside of a park (5)

HOMER — double definition; a classical Greek poet and a four-bagger in baseball

27a	Met aunt on unstable // volcano (5,4)

{MOUNT ETNA}* — anagram of (unstable) MET AUNT ON

Mount Etna^[5] is a volcano in eastern Sicily, rising to 3,323 m (10,902 ft). It is the highest and most active volcano in Europe.

28a	I’m included in transfer // of ten (7)

DEC(IM)AL — IM (I'm) contained in (included in) DECAL (transfer)

29a	In Possessed, love the // volcanic sort? (7)

H(O|THE)AD — {O (love; nil score in tennis) + THE (†)} contained in (in) HAD (possessed)

Scratching the Surface
This clue does not appear to refer to any particular artistic, musical, literary or cinematic work although there are certainly any number of works titled Possessed[7] (or The Possessed) to choose from, including a short story by Arthur C. Clarke, a novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, a play by Albert Camus (adapted from Dostoyevsky's novel), and two different films starring Joan Crawford.

Down

1d	Marilyn Monroe movie // climax following kiss (3,4)

BUS S|TOP — TOP (climax) following (†) BUSS (kiss)

Bus Stop^[7] is a 1956 American romantic comedy-drama film starring Marilyn Monroe that is based on the 1955 play of the same name by William Inge.

2d	Fill up // ravine (5)

GORGE — double definition

3d	Drop back with your // grass (7)

TIMO<|THY — reversal of (back) OMIT (drop) + THY (your)

4d	Cattle dealer // right in English ferry port (6)

D(R)OVER — R(ight) contained in (in) DOVER (English ferry port)

5d	Tight-fisted, clutching tip of rod and a // fish (8)

STING(R|A)Y — STINGY (tight-fisted) containing (clutching) {R (tip [initial letter] of Rod) + (and) A (†)}

6d	Skilled worker // trains a bum (7)

ARTISAN* — anagram of (bum) TRAINS A

7d	A woman inside peddles // beach souvenirs (9)

SE(A|SHE)LLS — {A (†) + SHE (woman)} contained by (inside) SELLS (peddles)

8d	Fish stew containing T // bone (7)

PA(T)ELLA — PAELLA (fish stew) containing (†) T (†)

14d	Sweeping // operating room in the morning, in last-minute rush (9)

PAN(OR|AM)IC — {OR (operating room) + AM (in the morning)} contained in (in) PANIC (last-minute rush

16d	Freakish // L.A. mob ran wild (8)

ABNORMAL* — anagram of (wild) LA MOB RAN

17d	Cast // smeared with tarry goo (7)

PITCHED — double definition

Pitch^[5] (verb) is an archaic term meaning to cover, coat, or smear with pitch.

18d	Kick and bash puzzle (7)

TANG|RAM — TANG (kick) + (and) RAM (bash)

20d	Dwelling // somewhat within capacity (7)

H(A|BIT)AT — {A BIT} (somewhat) contained in (within) HAT (capacity)

Hat^[2] is a colloquial term for a role or capacity ⇒ wearing her vet's hat.

21d	Covering blemish, carried out // trash (7)

DI(SCAR)D — DID (carried out) containing (covering) SCAR (blemish)

22d	Hurry after the tailless // bird (6)

TH_|RUSH — RUSH (hurry) following (after) TH[E] with the final letter removed (tailless)

25d	Having flexibility: // essential to slithering (5)

_LITHE_ — hidden in (essential to) sLITHEring

Epilogue

I must say, it is a bit eerie to see this puzzled bookended by BIGOTED HOTHEAD and filled with rioting mobs running wild. Is this a puzzle about volcanoes or a thinly disguised commentary on recent events south of the border? Is its appearance so soon after the storming of the Capitol in Washington coincidence or prescience? It must be one or the other as one would think that these puzzles are prepared well in advance of publication (certainly with a lead time of much more than a couple of weeks).

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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