Saturday, March 27, 2021 — Music for the Road

Introduction

Today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon features a Canadian rocker along with a couple of other big name musicians in supporting roles.

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	Great, // the woman’s taking everything off in the morning (4,2,5)

H(ALL| OF F|AM)ER — HER (the woman) containing ([i]s taking) {ALL (everything) + OFF (†) + AM (in the morning)}

9a	Puccini opera French article // kept in proportion (2,5)

TO SCA|LE — TOSCA (Puccini opera) + LE (French [definite] article)

10a	Sensible // US soldier found in neighbourhood (7)

LO(GI)CAL — GI (US soldier) contained in (found in) LOCAL (neighbourhood)

11a	Band with new // material (5)

LINE|N — LINE (band) + (with) N(ew)

12a	Liquor czar behind tenor // horn player (9)

T|RUM|PETER — {RUM (liquor) + PETER (czar; Peter the Great, Czar of Russia)} following (behind) T(enor)

13a	Gentle soul inside performed vocals, // full of excitement (4-4)

S(LAM-B)ANG — LAMB (gentle soul) contained in (inside) SANG (performed vocals)

15a	Speak lovingly on fire // that’s enough (4,2)

COO|L IT — COO (speak lovingly) + LIT (on fire)

18a	Police leader acquiring right // sort of instrument (6)

ST(R)ING — STING (Police leader; English musician Gordon Sumner, leader of the rock band the Police^[7]) containing (acquiring) R(ight)

20a	Punk nailed it precisely (2,6)

{IN DETAIL}* — anagram of (punk) NAILED IT

23a	Distant beacon // sender’s ending: “So long, sailor!” (5,4)

R|ADIO S|TAR — R (sendeR's ending [final letter]) + ADIOS (so long) + TAR (sailor)

In astronomy, a radio star^[5] is a discrete source of radio waves outside the solar system (often subsequently identified as a galaxy). Now chiefly historical.

24a	Slice of meat // I left out of order (5)

FILET* — anagram of (out of order) I LEFT

25a	Presided over // outrage in African nation (7)

CHA(IRE)D — IRE (outrage) contained in (in) CHAD (African nation)

26a	Backing up left a groove, one // neither sharp nor flat (7)

{NA|TUR|A|L}< — reversal of (backing up) {L(eft) + A (†) + RUT (groove) + AN (one)}

In music, natural^[5] (adjective) denotes (of a note) neither sharp nor flat.

27a	Songwriter // moved to march, once (3,8)

{TOM COCHRANE}* — anagram of (moved) TO MARCH ONCE

Tom Cochrane^[7] is a Canadian musician known both as the frontman for the rock band Red Rider and as a solo singer-songwriter.

Down

1d	Cry from an adorer // who’s following the first Tolstoy heroine (7)

_HOS|ANNA — [W]HOS (who's following the first; the letters of "who's" excluding the first) + ANNA (Tolstoy heroine [Anna Karenina^[7]])

2d	Run into wiry // master (5)

LEA(R)N — R(un) contained in (into) LEAN (wiry)

3d	Obvious single // suggestion (8)

OVERT|ONE — OVERT (obvious) + ONE (single)

4d	Stuff // Philip vaguely overheard (4,2)

{FILL UP}~ — to some extent, sounds like (vaguely overheard) PHILIP

5d	Tool for amplifying // name in revised home page (9)

{MEGAPHO(N)E}* — N(ame) contained in (in) anagram of (revised) HOME PAGE

6d	Article misinterpreted // performance (7)

RECITAL* — anagram of (misinterpreted) ARTICLE

7d	Certain writers // pen catalogues (8)

STY|LISTS — STY ([pig] pen) + LISTS (catalogues)

8d	Indistinctly pronounce // insult (4)

SLUR — double definition

14d	Vagrant lies about Gordon playing // percussion instrument (5,4)

B{(ONGO DR)*}UM — BUM (vagrant) containing (lies about) anagram of (playing) GORDON

16d	In motel, Lt. Alexander/’s/ giving evidence (8)

_TEL|LT|ALE_ — hidden in (in) moTEL LT ALExander

17d	Reforming CNN, three // get established (8)

ENTRENCH* — anagram of (reforming) CNN THREE

19d	Prepare a new version of // brightly coloured float (7)

RED|RAFT — RED (brightly coloured) + RAFT (float)

21d	Breaking a leg, rat // on the loose (2,5)

{AT LARGE}* — anagram of (breaking) A LEG RAT

22d	Hunk and I love // small apartment (6)

STUD|I|O — STUD (hunk) + (and) I (†) + O (love; nil score in tennis)

23d	Hard-driving music // gem (4)

ROCK — double definition

24d	Somewhat of a thankless // jazz pianist’s nickname (5)

_F|A|THA_ — hidden in (somewhat) oF A THAnkless

American jazz pianist and bandleader Earl "Fatha" Hines^[7] (1903–1983) is widely recognized as one of the most influential figures in the development of jazz piano.

Epilogue

Hall of Famer Tom Cochrane

Tom Cochrane^[7], the winner of eight Juno Awards, is a member of the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and has been inducted onto the Canadian Walk of Fame.

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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