Saturday, March 20, 2021 — Quebec Culinary Treat

Introduction

Today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon serves up a Quebec culinary gift to the world. I'm not sure how far abroad this dish may have travelled but I believe it is well-known in most — if not all — of Canada.

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 "wavy underline" - whimsical and inferred definitions
Click here for further explanation and usage examples of the symbols and markup conventions used on this blog.

Across

1a	Study // South American country’s area beside lake (7)

PERU|S|A|L — PERU (South American country) + S ('s) + A(rea) + L(ake)

5a	Conservative wearing thong? /It’s/ a disgrace (7)

S(C)ANDAL — C(onservative) contained in (wearing) SANDAL (thong)

9a	Congenial // halfwit and a jerk hug (9)

SIMP|A|TIC|O — SIMP (halfwit) + (and) A (†) + TIC (jerk) + O ([symbol for a] hug)

10a	Weight: after losing it, // unexpected benefit (5)

GRAV||Y — GRAV[IT]Y (weight) with IT removed (losing IT)

Markup Note

I am introducing a new symbol "||" in the solution to indicate the removal of one or more letters. In the past, I have either indicated the removal of letters from the interior of words by using one or more underscores (e.g., GRAV_Y or GRAV__Y) or have simply provided no indication at all. I think the "||" indication is a more elegant way to show this removal and is also consistent with the way I mark the divisions between the elements of a charade. It treats the removal of an element as a replacement of that element with a null character.

11a	Live around uranium // deposit (7)

RESID(U)E — RESIDE (live) containing (around) U ([chemical symbol for] uranium)

12a	Wrap // dope, having turned on back outside (7)

{T((INFO))IL}< — INFO (dope) contained in (having ... outside) a reversal of (back) LIT (turned on)

It took me forever to parse this clue as there are three possible synonyms for "dope" in the solution and I failed to see the correct one for the longest time. In addition to the one that we need, there is NIT, British slang for a fool (short for nitwit) and FOIL (a dupe or fool). The former could well have been a possibility due to the reversal indicated in the clue.

Markup Note

I am introducing another new markup symbol here, a double set of parentheses "((...))", to indicate that the contained element INFO is not subject to the action of the reversal operator (<) that is acting on the containing element LIT. This resolves a problem I have been struggling with for some time: how to differentiate between the situation found in this clue and one in which the order of the operations is reversed. For example, one in which the element OFNI is inserted into the element LIT before the whole lot is reversed. For example, had the clue been worded: Wrap // illuminated outside of Northern Ireland turned over (7) {T(IN|FO)IL}< — reversal of (turned over) {LIT (illuminated) containing (outside) <OF (†) + NI (Northern Ireland)>} In situations such as the latter, the use of a single set of parentheses will henceforth denote that the reversal operator (<) acts on both the containing element (LIT) as well as the contained element (OF|NI). In the past, I believe I have likely used the latter markup in either situation which, of course, made the markup ambiguous.

13a	Finer chefs wrongly taking right // side order (6,5)

{F(R)ENCH FRIES}* or {FRENCH F(R)IES}* — anagram of (wrongly) FINER CHEFS containing (taking) R(ight)

18a	Decrees such “processed // dairy product” (6,5)

{CHEESE CURDS}* — anagram of (processed) DECREES SUCH

21a	Wear // love, in embracing love (7)

EROS|I(O)N — EROS (love; Greek god of love whose name is used as a symbolic representation of love) + IN (†) containing (embracing) O (love; nil score in tennis, zero looking like the letter 'O')

23a	Include // random bums in petition (7)

SU(BSUM*)E — anagram of (random) BUMS contained in (in) SUE (petition)

24a	Bag containing northern // dish like poutine, perhaps (5)

S(N)ACK — SACK (bag) containing (†) N(orthern)

25a	U.S. president, // the first woman, left in place to rule (9)

ROOS(EVE|L)T — {EVE (the first woman; Adam's mate) + L(eft)} contained in (in) ROOST (place to rule; from the expression "rules the roost")

Could be either of two U.S. presidents, Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt^[5] (the 26th) or Frankin Delano Roosevelt^[5] (the 32nd).

26a	Lampooning // movie about Alex Rodriguez (7)

P(AROD)IC — PIC (movie) containing (about) AROD (Alex Rodriguez^[7]; former professional baseball player who retired in 2016 whose nickname is A-Rod)

27a	Sneak with hesitation, returning // boots (7)

{MU|KLUKS}< — reversal (returning) of {SKULK (sneak) + (with) UM (hesitation)}

Down

1d	Fathers sample // something baked (6)

PAS|TRY — PAS (fathers) + TRY (sample)

2d	Negligent // misers reformed (6)

REMISS* — anagram of (reformed) MISERS

3d	Mikita gets out of // deadlocks (9)

STAN|DOFFS — STAN (Mikita^[7]; former professional hockey player who retired in 1980 and died in 2018) + DOFFS (gets out of)

4d	Stories about one // river through Tours (5)

LO(I)RE — LORE (stories) containing (about) I ([Roman numeral] one)

The Loire^[5,7] is a river of west central France. France’s longest river, it rises in the Massif Central and flows 1,015 km (630 miles) north and west to the Atlantic at St-Nazaire, on the way passing through the city of Tours.

5d	Carrying some wines, leave marks on // snazzy vehicle (6,3)

S(PORTS) CAR — SCAR (leave marks on) containing (carrying) PORTS (some wines)

6d	Gas // kept inside near gondola (5)

_AR|GON_ — hidden in (kept inside) neAR GONdola

7d	Fiendishly clever // alibi Doc arranged (8)

DIABOLIC* — anagram of (arranged) ALIBI DOC

8d	Ivy League school’s among bunch // most constant (8)

LO(YALE|S)T — {YALE (Ivy League school) + S ('s)} contained in (among) LOT (bunch)

14d	Curious // cup and penny pinched by Clapton (9)

E(C|CENT)RIC — {C(up) + (and) CENT (penny)} contained in (pinched by) ERIC ([musician Eric] Clapton^[7])

15d	Bats flying around in bizarre // swift attack (4,5)

F(AST B*)REAK — anagram of (flying around) BATS contained in (in) FREAK (bizarre)

 A fast break^[5] is a swift attack from a defensive position in basketball, soccer, and other ball games.

16d	Have dinner after second team // blows it (6,2)

S|CREW|S UP — SUP (have dinner) following (after) { S(econd) + CREW (team)}

17d	Suave // young socialite being broadcast (8)

DEB|ON|AIR — DEB (young socialite; short for debutante) + ON AIR (being broadcast)

19d	Boyfriend obtains very old city // office (6)

B(UR)EAU — BEAU (boyfriend) containing (obtains) UR (very old city)

Ur^[5] is an ancient Sumerian city formerly on the Euphrates, in southern Iraq. It was one of the oldest cities of Mesopotamia, dating from the 4th millennium BC, and reached its zenith in the late 3rd millennium BC. Ur^[7] is considered by many to be the city of Ur Kasdim mentioned in the Book of Genesis as the birthplace of the Hebrew patriarch Abraham.

20d	Greek characters // lasted poorly (6)

DELTAS* — anagram of (poorly) LASTED

Delta^[5] is the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet (Δ, δ).

22d	Signed // in “King Edward” (5)

IN|K|ED — IN (†) + K (king; playing card or chess piece) + ED ([diminutive of] Edward)

23d	Tempest or mayhem, essentially? (5)

_ST|OR|M_ — hidden in (essentially) tempeST OR Mayhem

The entire clue, under different interpretations, serves as both wordplay and definition.

Epilogue

Poutine is a 24a with Quebec origins that consists of 13a and 18a smothered in 10a.

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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