Saturday, February 6, 2021 — Romantic Drama

Introduction

We find a bit of pre-Valentine's Day romance in 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	Go searching // for time (6)

FOR|AGE — FOR (†) + AGE (time)

4a	Historic city // bus in LA meandering around town’s west end (8)

{IS(T)ANBUL}* — anagram of (meandering) BUS IN LA containing (around) T (Town's west end [initial letter])

9a	A hole in California // government centre (7)

C(A|PIT)AL — {A (†) + PIT (hole)} contained in (in) CAL (California)

11a	Legal hurdle // uncovered by morning (3,4)

BAR E|X|AM — BARE (uncovered) + X (by; multiplication sign) + AM (morning)

12a	Lid atop // chicken (5)

CAP|ON — CAP (lid) + ON (atop)

13a	Outlaw daylight saving time along with // music venue (9)

BAN|DST|AND — BAN (outlaw) + DST (daylight saving time) + AND (along with)

14a	Jeer maudlin, too contrived // romance (5,3,6)

{ROMEO AND JULIET}* — anagram of (contrived) JEER MAUDLIN TOO

Romeo and Juliet^[7] is a tragedy by William Shakespeare first published in 1597.

18a	Head of theatre cast Ethel Waters in // tragicomedy (3,7,4)

T{HE WINTER'S TALE}* — T (head [initial letter] of Theatre) + anagram of (cast) ETHEL WATERS IN

The Winter's Tale^[7] is is a play by William Shakespeare originally published in 1623. Although it was once grouped among the comedies, many modern editors have relabelled the play as one of Shakespeare's late romances.

Scratching the Surface
Ethel Waters[7] (1896–1977) was an American singer and actress who frequently performed jazz, swing, and pop music on the Broadway stage and in concerts and was the first African American to star on her own television show.

22a	Author of Lincoln // objective about gun I had (4,5)

GO(RE V|ID)AL — GOAL (objective) containing (about) {REV (gun; as in rev an engine^*) + ID (I had; I'd).

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^* thank you to MG and Peter for pointing out the error in my original explanation

Lincoln^[7] is a 1984 historical novel, part of the Narratives of Empire series by American writer Gore Vidal (1925–2012).

24a	Drive // Ford model into tract of heather (5)

MO(T)OR — T (Ford model) contained in (into) MOOR (tract of heather)

26a	Six, quite sunburned, // shielded from the sun (7)

VI|SO|RED — VI (six) + SO (quite) + RED (sunburned)

27a	Run back, smack into // tungsten (7)

WOLF<|RAM — reversal of (back) FLOW (run) + RAM (smack into)

Wolfram^[10] is another name for tungsten.

28a	Superficial // type involved in leak (4,4)

S(KIN D)EEP — KIND (type) contained in (involved in) SEEP (leak)

29a	Tolkien baddie obscured // showy plant (6)

ORC|HID — ORC (Tolkien baddie) + HID (obscured)

An orc^[10] is a member of an imaginary race of evil goblins, especially in the fiction of English writer J. R. R. Tolkien (1892–1973).

Down

1d	Queen, e.g., // fear AC/DC playing (4,4)

{FACE CARD}* — anagram of (playing) FEAR AC/DC

Scratching the Surface
AC/DC[7] are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973 by Scottish-born brothers Malcolm and Angus Young.

2d	Tear apart // letter’s last one small seal (3,2)

R|I|P UP — R (letteR's last [letter]) + I ([Roman numeral] one) + PUP (small seal)

3d	Became fascinated by // colour in viscous stuff (3,4)

GO(T INT)O — TINT (colour) contained in (in) GOO (viscous stuff)

5d	Vaccine pioneer // wrong about a bee (5)

S(A|B)IN — SIN (wrong) containing (about) {A (†) + B (bee)}

The Sabin vaccine^[5,10] is an attenuated virus vaccine taken orally to immunize against poliomyelitis, developed by American virologist Albert Sabin (1906–1993) in 1955.

6d	Early internet enterprise packaging “Love // Spray” (7)

A(EROS)OL — AOL^[7] (early internet enterprise; American web portal and online service provider originally known as America Online) containing (packaging) EROS (love)

7d	Brownie, for one // team member, arrived wearing undergarment (3,6)

B(OX| CAME)RA — {OX (team member) + CAME (arrived)} contained in (wearing) BRA (undergarment)

8d	Innocent defence by a // Greek character (6)

LAMB|D|A — LAMB (innocent) + D (defence; abbreviation found on rosters of sports teams) + A (†)

Lambda^[5] is the eleventh letter of the Greek alphabet (Λ, λ).

10d	Country // lane winding around front of barn close by (7)

{LE(B)AN}*ON — anagram of (winding) LANE containing (around) B (front [initial letter] of Barn) + ON (close by; as in a cottage on a lake)

15d	Ham airs broadcast greeting // spiritual leader (9)

MAHARIS*|HI — anagram of (broadcast) HAM AIRS + HI (greeting)

A maharishi^[5] is a great Hindu sage or spiritual leader.

16d	Average guy // eager to start in position near the bottom (3,4)

JO(E) B|LOW — E (Eager to start [initial letter]) contained in (in) JOB (position) + LOW (near the bottom)

17d	Dirty // petition covered with frost (8)

BEG|RIMED — BEG (petition) + RIMED (covered with frost)

19d	United about state, // thought twice (7)

W(AVER)ED — WED (united) containing (about) AVER (state)

20d	Like // new mail wrapped with tag for a knight (7)

SI(MILA*)R — anagram of (new) MAIL contained in (wrapped with) SIR (tag for a knight)

21d	Savage ruined // succulent plants (6)

AGAVES* — anagram of (ruined) SAVAGE

23d	Venetian magistrate framing the head of dead // duck (5)

DO(D)GE — DOGE (Venetian magistrate) containing (framing) D (the head [initial letter] of Dead)

25d	Religious text // to cheer (5)

TO|RAH — TO (†) + RAH (cheer)

Epilogue

The centrepiece of today's puzzle comprises a couple of Shakespearean romances. The first, Romeo and Juliet, begins happily and ends tragically. The second, The Winter's Tale, apparently begins tragically and ends happily.

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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