Saturday, February 13, 2021 — All In Order

Introduction

I got off to a remarkably fast start with today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon but hit a brick wall about half way through and slowly slogged through the rest of the puzzle.

The setters seem to be in a playful mood today with several rather whimsical turns of phrase scattered throughout the wordplay and definitions.

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	Changing habit, place // kind of order (10)

ALPHABETIC* — anagram of (changing) HABIT PLACE

6a	Dance // bouncer (4)

BALL — double definition, the second mildly cryptic

9a	Fellows/’/ protective leather wear (5)

CHAPS — double definition

10a	Giving orders, // ink in some food prep (9)

DIC(TAT)ING — TAT (ink; slang for tattoo) contained in (in) DICING (some food prep)

12a	Gear // alien set around comedians? (9)

E(QUIPMEN)T — ET (alien; extraterrestrial) containing (set around) QUIPMEN (comedians; whimsical, as indicated by the question mark)

13a	Swine by an // earthen abode (5)

HOG|AN — HOG (swine) + (by) AN (†)

14a	Meteorologist’s line: // “I cry a river” (6)

I|SOB|A|R — I (†) + SOB (cry) + A (†) + R(iver)

16a	At hearing, Bohr // gets ready to make a proposal (6)

KNEELS~ — sounds like (at hearing) NIELS (Bohr; Danish physicist Niels Bohr^[5])

20a	Left priests // some beasts (6)

L|LAMAS — L(eft) + LAMAS ([Tibetan] priests)

21a	Sheep // in summer in Ontario (6)

_MER|IN|O_ — hidden in (in) sumMER IN Ontario

24a	Taken out // frequently, so it’s said (5)

OFFED~ — sounds like (so it's said) OFT (frequently)

Offed^[3] is gangland slang for murdered.

26a	Gatekeeper holding top of an observatory // measuring device (9)

PE(DOME)TER — PETER (gatekeeper [stationed at the Pearly Gates]) containing (holding) DOME (top of an observatory)

28a	Backing off // taking tenants, including the Spanish (9)

R(EL)ENTING — RENTING (taking tenants) containing (including) EL (the Spanish; Spanish word meaning 'the')

29a	Shift smoothly // among house guests (5)

_SE|QUE_ — hidden in (among) houSE QUEsts

30a	Grow gradually larger and yellow, // like some ears (4)

WAX|Y — WAX (grow gradually larger) + (and) Y(ellow)

31a	Retrospective permits nothing more by Greek film // actor (4,6)

{Z|ERO M|O|STEL}< — reversal of (retrospective) {LETS (permits) + O ([letter that looks like] nothing) + (by) Z (Greek film)}

The film, Z^[7], a thinly fictionalized account of the events surrounding the assassination of democratic Greek politician Grigoris Lambrakis in 1963 made by Greek director Costa-Garvas based on a novel by Greek author Vassilis Vassilikos, is actually an Algerian-French co-production.

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Samuel Joel "Zero" Mostel (1915–1977) was an American actor, singer and comedian of stage and screen, best known for his portrayal of comic characters such as Tevye on stage in Fiddler on the Roof, Pseudolus on stage and on screen in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and Max Bialystock in the original film version of Mel Brooks' The Producers (1967).

Down

1d	Cooked chic meal // with changing power (8)

ALCHEMIC* — anagram of (cooked) CHIC MEAL

The phrase "with changing power" is a cryptic way of expressing "with the power to change [one element into another]".

2d	Wrongly put aloe in // cooking fluid (6,3)

{PEANUT OIL}* — anagram of (wrongly) PUT ALOE IN

3d	Sent back model with a // fabulous figure? (5)

{A|ESOP}< — reversal of (sent back) {POSE (model) + (with) A (†)}

The description "fabulous figure" is a cryptic way of saying "a figure associated with fabulous [tales]".

4d	Education stops // some turbulence (6)

ED|DIES — ED(ucation) + DIES (stops)

5d	Stimulating // popular observation in speech (8)

IN|CITING~ — IN (popular) + sounds like (in speech) SIGHTING (observation)

7d	Imitating // a light metallic sound (5)

A|PING — A (†) + PING (light metallic sound)

8d	Stage final // story (6)

LEG|END — LEG (stage; of a race or journey) + END (final)

11d	Two articles about call on a tennis court // player (7)

A|TH(LET)E — {A + THE} (two [grammatical] articles) containing (about) LET (call on a tennis court)

15d	A bunch of musicians on // leave (7)

A|BAND|ON — A (†) + BAND (bunch of musicians) + ON (†)

17d	Close-fitting // tee grabbed by runner before dark (4-5)

SKI|N(T)IGHT — T (tee) contained in (grabbed by) {SKI (runner) preceding (before) NIGHT (dark)}

18d	Mention about concert booster’s // temporary home (8)

C(AMP|S)ITE — CITE (mention) containing (about) {AMP (concert booster) + S ('s)}

19d	Broken bordello // buzzer (8)

DOORBELL* — anagram of (broken) BORDELLO

22d	Regret // broadcast involving Bruin great (6)

S(ORR)OW — SOW (broadcast [seed]) containing (involving) ORR (Bruin great; renowned Boston Bruins defenceman Bobby Orr^[7])

23d	Fuss about a game’s first quarter, one // played slowly (6)

AD(A|G|I)O — ADO (fuss) containing (about) {A (†) + G (Game's first quarter; first of four letters) + I ([Roman numeral] one)}

25d	Life altered by // Mendelssohn (5)

FELI*|X — anagram of (altered) LIFE + X (by; multiplication operator)

Felix Mendelssohn^[7] was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period.

27d	Flub // in form is doubted (5)

_MISDO_ — hidden in (in) forM IS DOubted

Epilogue

I did notice that the initial and final across clues began with A and Z respectively but have to admit that I failed to recognize that the across clues are all in 1a order, so I take my hat off to Henry for that observation.

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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