Saturday, March 6, 2021 — Rude Bets?

Introduction

Take your chances with 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 "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	Hack turned coach at // gambling game (8)

BAC<|CAR|AT — reversal of (turned) CAB (hack) + CAR ([railway] coach) AT (†)

6a	King bothers // poet (5)

K|EATS — K (king; chess piece or playing card) + EATS (bothers; worries)

John Keats^[5,7] (1795–1821) was an English poet. A principal figure of the romantic movement, he wrote all of his most famous poems, including ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’, ‘Ode to a Nightingale’, and ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’, in 1818 (published in 1820). He died from tuberculosis at the age of 25.

9a	From behind, catch racer’s first // mate (7)

PARTNE<|R — reversal of (from behind) ENTRAP (catch) + R (Racer's first [initial letter])

10a	Surprising Pat, I had // noodle dish (3,4)

{PAD THAI}* — anagram of (surprising) PAT I HAD

11a	Illuminated // tulip in a new way (3,2)

{LIT UP}* — anagram of (in a new way) TULIP

12a	Shortfall by Jay in bet on // gambling game (9)

B(LACK| J)ACK — {LACK (shortfall) + (by) J (jay; letter of the alphabet)} contained in (in) BACK (bet on)

13a	Member of the brass given round, // jewelled headwear (7)

COR(O)NET — CORNET (member of the brass) containing (given) O (round; letter having a round shape)

14a	Confined // tiny arachnid inside cover (7)

LI(MITE)D — MITE (tiny arachnid) contained in (inside) LID (cover)

17a	Rap about green // etiquette (7)

D(ECO)RUM — DRUM (rap) containing (about) ECO (green)

20a	In splitting California, help // Las Vegas establishments (7)

CA|S(IN)OS — IN (†) contained in (splitting) {CA (California) + SOS ([plea for] help)}

22a	Strangely dark power // game for gamblers (4,5)

{DRAW POKER}* — anagram of (strangely) DARK POWER

24a	Left key material (5)

L|ISLE — L(eft) + ISLE (key; island)

25a	Victories depressed // Homer (7)

WINS|LOW — WINS (victories) + LOW (depressed; sad)

Winslow Homer^[5] (1836–1910) was an American painter. He is best known for his seascapes which are painted in a vigorous naturalistic style considered to express the American pioneering spirit.

26a	Very cold northern // marsh dweller (7)

BITTER|N — BITTER (very cold) + N(orthern)

27a	King keeps the Spanish // calm (5)

RE(LA)X — REX (king; Latin) containing (keeps) LA (the Spanish; feminine form of the Spanish definite article)

28a	Interrupting travel plan, allow gambling game (8)

ROU(LET)TE — LET (allow) contained in (interrupting) ROUTE (travel plan)

Down

2d	Lawn tool // turning compost next to field (7)

{AERA|TOR}< — reversal of (turning) {ROT (compost) + (next to) AREA (field; sphere of activity or interest)}

3d	Crushed one pecan with right // kitchen tool (3,6)

{CAN OPENER}* — anagram of (crushed) ONE PECAN + (with) R(ight)

4d	Rodent consuming awful Brie // cheese dish (7)

RA(REBI*)T — RAT (rodent) containing (consuming) anagram of (awful) BRIE

5d	Work around Public School with a // piece of canvas (7)

TO(PS|A)IL — TOIL (work) containing (around) {PS (Public School) + A (†)}

6d	Bear tossing one // camera (5)

KOD_AK — KOD[I]AK ([grizzly] bear) with the I ([Roman numeral] one) removed (tossing)

7d	Two articles on painting, // essentially (2,5)

A|T HE|ART — {A + THE} (two [grammatical) articles) + (on) ART (painting)

8d	Fix // hockey equipment (5)

STICK — double definition, the first being a verb meaning to affix or attach

9d	Controlled // parasites in school of whales (7)

PO(LICE)D — LICE (parasites) contained in (in) POD (school of whales)

15d	Spray side away from the wind outside in the direction of // plant (9)

MIST|LE(TO)E — MIST (spray) + LEE (side away from the wind) containing (outside) TO (in the direction of)

16d	Recognize // scattered cinders (7)

DISCERN* — anagram of (scattered) CINDERS

18d	Broadcast band // name adopted by designer (7)

CHA(N)NEL or CHAN(N)EL — N(ame) contained in (adopted by) CHANEL (designer; French fashion designer Coco Chanel^[7])

19d	Bad karma we // fight (4,3)

{MAKE WAR}* — anagram of (bad) KARMA WE

20d	Actor Len grabbing head of big // reindeer (7)

CARI(B)OU — CARIOU (actor Len; Tony Award winning Canadian actor Len Cariou^[7]) containing (grabbing) B (head [initial letter] of Big)

Reindeer^[10] is the name by which the caribou is known in Europe and Asia.

21d	Emerging // mid-morning, rise (7)

N|ASCENT — N (mid-morning; middle letter of morNing) + ASCENT (rise)

22d	Weight gained by pricey // flask inventor (5)

DE(W)AR — W(eight) contained in (gained by) DEAR (pricey)

Sir James Dewar^[5] (1842–1923) was a Scottish chemist and physicist. He is chiefly remembered for his work in cryogenics, in which he devised the vacuum flask, achieved temperatures close to absolute zero, and was the first to produce liquid oxygen and hydrogen in quantity.

23d	Flower // bunches for recital (5)

PHLOX~ — sounds like (for recital) FLOCKS (bunches)

Epilogue

The title of today's review is inspired by a vision of games in 1a, 12a, 22a and 28a taking place at establishments defined by 14a + 17a + 20a.

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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