Saturday, April 17, 2021 — Down A Rabbit Hole

Introduction

Today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon introduces us to several characters from a much-beloved 19th century children's novel.

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	Supply food, medicine, and a red // tractor (11)

CATER|PILL|A|R — CATER (supply food) + PILL (medicine) + (and) A (†) R(ed)

The Caterpillar^[7] (also known as the Hookah-Smoking Caterpillar) is a fictional character appearing in the 1865 novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll..

9a	Get back // miracle fluid (7)

RECLAIM* — anagram of (fluid) MIRACLE

10a	Columbus’s last surviving // navigator’s instrument (7)

S|EXTANT — S (ColumbuS's last [letter]) + EXTANT (surviving)

11a	Antony and Her Highness are // loony at a tea party (5,4)

MARC|H H|ARE — MARC (Antony; misspelling^* [?] of Roman general Mark Antony^[7]) + HH (Her Highness) + ARE (†)

^* Although the Roman general's Latin name is Marcus Antonius, it seems always to be rendered in English as Mark Antony. Unless, of course, the reference is to the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon character Marc Antony [in several Wikipedia articles, the cartoon character's surname is spelled both Antony and Anthony (with both spellings sometimes appearing in the same article)].

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The March Hare^[7] is a character appearing in the tea party scene in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

12a	Signal to pause // mass, entering deep sleep (5)

CO(M)MA or COM(M)A — M (mass; abbreviation used in physics) contained in (entering) COMA (deep sleep)

13a	Drive into fish’s // Arctic habitats (7)

TUN(DR)A|S — DR(ive) contained in (into) {TUNA (fish) + S ('s)}

15a	Kid keeps close by // this evening (7)

TO(NIGH)T — TOT (kid) containing (keeps) NIGH (close by)

17a	Incapacitate // chief of Inuit wrapped in down and fur (7)

D(I)SABLE — I (chief [initial letter] of Inuit) contained in (wrapped in) {D(own) + (and) SABLE (fur)}

19a	Parries badly, // thrusting swords (7)

RAPIERS* — anagram of (badly) PARRIES

22a	Pack animal // arrived and left (5)

CAME|L — CAME (arrived) + (and) L(eft)

24a	Victim of mercury poisoning // had messed up in affair (3,6)

M(AD H*)ATTER — anagram of (messed up) HAD contained in (in) MATTER (affair)

The Hatter^[7] (called Hatta in Through the Looking-Glass) is a fictional character in English writer Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and the story's sequel Through the Looking-Glass (1871).

He is often referred to as the Mad Hatter, though this term was never used by Carroll. The phrase "mad as a hatter"^* pre-dates Carroll's works and the characters the Hatter and the March Hare are initially referred to as "both mad" by the Cheshire Cat, with both first appearing in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, in the seventh chapter titled "A Mad Tea-Party".

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^* Mercury was used in the manufacturing of felt hats during the 19th century, causing a high rate of mercury poisoning among those working in the hat industry. Mercury poisoning causes neurological damage, including slurred speech, memory loss, and tremors, which led to the phrase "mad as a hatter".

26a	Mother acquires representative // colour (7)

M(AGENT)A — MA (mother) containing (acquires) AGENT (representative)

27a	Bid // far from bottom (2,5)

NO T|RUMP — NOT (far from; as in the title of the CBC radio program Definitely Not the Opera) + RUMP (bottom)

28a	In bureau, employ chartered accountant… one with a big grin (8,3)

CHES(HIRE| CA)T — {HIRE (employ) + CA (chartered accountant)} contained in (in) CHEST (bureau; chest of drawers)

The Cheshire cat^[5] is a cat depicted with a broad fixed grin, as popularized through Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Delving Deeper

While now most often used in Alice-related contexts, the association of a "Cheshire cat"[7] with grinning predates the 1865 book — by nearly a century, at least. According to Brewer's Dictionary (1870), "The phrase has never been satisfactorily accounted for, but it has been said that cheese was formerly sold in Cheshire moulded like a cat that looked as though it was grinning". The cheese was cut from the tail end, so that the last part eaten was the head of the smiling cat.

Down

1d	Guides // Macbeth figures around curling surface (9)

C(ICE)RONES — CRONES (Macbeth figures) containing (around) ICE (curling surface)

I really messed myself up here supposing that the "curling surface" was a RINK and fitting it into  the latter part of the solution.

The Three Witches^[7], also known as the Weird Sisters or Wayward Sisters, are characters in William Shakespeare's play Macbeth (c. 1603–1607).

2d	Coach // lost the race (7)

TEACHER* — anagram of (lost) THE RACE

3d	Drink beer initially, before a // dance (5)

RUM|B|A — RUM (drink) + B (beer initially; initial letter of Beer) + A (†)

4d	Bug picking up piano or // police officer (9)

INS(P)ECT|OR — INSECT (bug) containing (picking up) P (piano; musical direction to play softly) + OR (†)

5d	Dictionary, // large one, penned by former inmate (7)

L{EX(I)CON} — L(arge) + {I ([Roman numeral] one) contained in (penned by) EX CON (former inmate)}

6d	True capital of Manitoba // province (5)

REAL|M — REAL (true) + M (capital [initial letter] of Manitoba)

Province^[5] and realm^[5] are used in the sense of field or domain of activity, special knowledge, interest or responsibility.

7d	Timely // point about play (6)

P(ROMP)T — PT (point; abbreviation used in place names) containing (about) ROMP (play)

8d	Passage for ships // directly in the sound (6)

STRAIT~ — sounds like (in the sound) STRAIGHT (directly)

14d	Two clubs accommodated by quiet // sauna (5,4)

S(TEAM| BAT)H — {TEAM ([first] club) + BAT ([second] club)} contained in (accommodated by) SH ([admonition to be] quiet)

16d	Soldier absorbing digest by a // relative (5,4)

GR(EAT| A)UNT — GRUNT (soldier) containing (absorbing) {EAT (digest) + (by) A (†)}

17d	Abruptly leave // a prime minister after December (6)

DEC|A|MP — A (†) + MP (prime minister; see note below) following (after) DEC(ember)

While a prime minister is indeed a Member of Parliament (MP), that seems a rather oblique way to clue the letters MP. The clue would have been far more effective in my view had it contained a reversal indicator of some sort, such as:

• Abruptly leave a prime minister suffering a setback after December (6)

18d	Compare // bishop with a weapon for a knight (7)

B|A|LANCE — B (bishop; chess notation) + (with) A (†) + LANCE (weapon for a knight)

20d	Cards used for credit // coming at the end in movie (7)

P(LAST)IC — LAST (coming at the end) contained in (in) PIC (movie)

21d	Take off back of The // Band (6)

STRIP|E — STRIP (take off) + E (back [final letter] of thE)

Scratching the Surface

The Band[7] was a Canadian-American* rock group formed in Toronto, Ontario, in 1967. Originally the backing band for Ronnie Hawkins and later Bob Dylan, the group released its debut album, Music from Big Pink, in 1968 to critical acclaim. Described by music critic Bruce Eder as "one of the most popular and influential rock groups in the world, their music embraced by critics ... as seriously as the music of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones". * The band consisted of four Canadians (Rick Danko, Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel and Robbie Robertson) and one American (Levon Helm).

23d	Wonderful // raincoat worn by soldier (5)

MA(GI)C — MAC ([British] raincoat; mackintosh) containing (worn by) GI ([American] soldier)

25d	Godfather or // philanthropist? (5)

DON|OR — DON (godfather; Mafia boss) + OR (†)

Epilogue

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland^[7] (commonly shortened to Alice in Wonderland) is an 1865 novel by English author Lewis Carroll (the pseudonym of Charles Dodgson). It tells of a young girl named Alice, who falls through a rabbit hole into a subterranean fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures.

Perhaps the novel with the strange logic that Alice encounters during her sojourn in Wonderland is an apt metaphor for the crazy existence we are living today.

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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