Saturday, February 27, 2021 — Male Quartet

Introduction

It would appear that most solvers breezed through today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon.

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	Team leaders // ran games badly (8)

MANAGERS* — anagram of (badly) RAN GAMES

5a	Riding // pig in advertisement (6)

A(BOAR)D — BOAR (pig) contained in (in) AD  (advertisement)

9a	Participant in a class // prank holding back education (7)

STU(DE<)NT — STUNT (prank) containing (holding) {reversal of (back) ED (education)}

10a	Smart about Alien // scenery (7)

S(ET)TING — STING (smart) containing (about) ET (Alien; extraterrestrial^[2])

11a	Strange // lake, by the sound of it (5)

EERIE~ — sounds like (by the sound of it) ERIE (lake)

12a	Sound of hogs // at home interrupting blessing (7)

O(IN)KING — IN (at home) contained in (interrupting) OKING (blessing; OKing [okaying])

14a	Dadaist taking time with last of tuna // fish (5,3)

MAN(T|A) RAY — MAN RAY (Dadaist) containing (taking) {T(ime) + A (last [letter] of tunA)}

Man Ray^[5] (1890–1976) was an American photographer, painter, and film-maker; born Emmanuel Rudnitsky. A leading figure in the Dada and surrealist movements, he is known for his photographs in which images were manipulated and superimposed on one another.

16a	A great violinist // toward the back (6)

A|STERN — A (†) + STERN (great violinist; Russian-born US violinist Isaac Stern^[6])

18a	Small amphibian touching // scientist (6)

NEWT|ON — NEWT (small amphibian) + ON (touching)

Sir Isaac Newton^[5] (1642–1727) was an English mathematician and physicist, considered the greatest single influence on theoretical physics until Einstein.

20a	Main boat drifting around // lake (8)

MANITOBA* — anagram of (drifting around) MAIN BOAT

Lake Manitoba^[7] is the 14th largest lake in Canada and the 33rd largest lake in the world^*. It is located within the Canadian province of Manitoba.

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^* yet tiny compared to nearby Lake Winnipeg

23a	Following // blunder engulfing Nelson Mandela’s party (3,4)

F(AN C)LUB — FLUB (blunder) containing (engulfing) ANC (Nelson Mandela's party: African National Congress^[7])

The African National Congress^[5] (abbreviation ANC) is a South African political party and black nationalist organization. Having been banned by the South African government 1960–90, the ANC was victorious in the country’s first democratic elections in 1994 and its leader Nelson Mandela became the country’s President.

24a	Worker’s first step on a ladder // twisted (5)

W|RUNG — W (Worker's first [letter]) + RUNG (step on a ladder)

26a	Short story by monarch // making a statement? (7)

TAL_|KING — TAL[E] (story) with the first letter removed (short) + (by) KING (monarch)

27a	Cascades peak // having wetter weather (7)

RAINIER — double definition

Mount Rainier^[5] is a volcanic peak in the south-west of Washington State in the US. Rising to a height of 4,395 m (14,410 ft), it is the highest peak in the Cascade Range.

28a	Stoop containing “S” // pattern (6)

DE(S)IGN — DEIGN (stoop) containing (†) S (†)

29a	Paired up outside and // ordered (8)

M(AND)ATED — MATED (paired up) containing (outside) AND (†)

Down

1d	Plot out // Mom’s tenure in depth (10)

MA|S|TERM|IN|D — MA (mom) + S ('s) + TERM (tenure) + IN (†) + D(epth)

2d	Particle // nun tore off (7)

NEUTRON* — anagram of (off) NUN TORE

3d	Avian // essential to filming Rebecca (5)

_GREBE_ — hidden in (essential to) filminG REBEcca

Scratching the Surface
Rebecca[7] is a 1940 American romantic psychological thriller film starring Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine directed by English film director, producer and screenwriter Alfred Hitchcock. It is based on the 1938 novel of the same name by English author and playwright Daphne du Maurier.

4d	Sensible // liar, not a crackpot (8)

RATIONAL* — anagram of (crackpot) LIAR NOT A

6d	Intruder, // however, can make tracks in the snow (9)

BUT|TIN|SKI — BUT (however) + TIN (can) + SKI (make tracks in the snow)

7d	Excited // in skating lesson (7)

_ATING|LE_ — hidden in (in) skATING LEsson

8d	Likes // where one lives (4)

DIGS — double definition

10d	Vocalize // wrong note (4)

SIN|G — SIN (wrong) + G ([musical] note)

13d	At risk, // stopped bottling up rage (10)

END(ANGER)ED — ENDED (stopped) containing (bottling up) ANGER (rage)

15d	One leaping, // being rich (9)

A|BOUNDING — A (one) + BOUNDING (leaping)

17d	Disturbed crab near // Australian city (8)

CANBERRA* — anagram of (disturbed) CRAB NEAR

Canberra^[5] is the capital of Australia and seat of the federal government, in Australian Capital Territory, an enclave of New South Wales.

19d	Has trouble choosing // brunch options (7)

WAFFLES — double definition

21d	Eye doctor // is in love cult (7)

O|CUL(IS)T — IS (†) contained in (in) {O (love; nil score in tennis) + CULT (†)}

22d	Jam // left in machine part (4)

C(L)OG — L(eft) contained in (in) COG (machine part)

24d	Eccentrically wired?? (5)

WEIRD — anagram of (eccentrically) WIRED

This is an &lit. clue^[7] in which the entire clue is both wordplay and definition. A question mark in a clue is often a flag that there is something strange about the clue. Does the presence of two question marks up the ante from strange to weird?

25d	Dust off // sort of poker (4)

STUD* — anagram of (off) DUST

Epilogue

The rather uninspired title of today's review was prompted by 1a, 14a, 20a and 29a.

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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)

^[15]   - CollinsDictionary.com (Penguin Random House LLC/HarperCollins Publishers Ltd )

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Signing off for today — Falcon