Saturday, April 3, 2021 — Weather in Review

Introduction

While today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon was not overly challenging, the parsing of a few clues did give my mental faculties a bit of a workout.

Happy Easter everyone. Let's hope the Easter Bunny is exempt from lockdown restrictions.

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	Fearless // crackpot dealt heroin (4-7)

{LION-HEARTED}* — anagram of (crackpot) DEALT HEROIN

9a	City of Illinois // in a journey (7)

CHIC|A|GO — CHIC (in; trendy) + A (†) + GO (journey)

10a	Performing threesome going around a // province (7)

ON|T(A)RIO — ON (performing; Which act is on next?) + TRIO (threesome) containing (going around) A (†)

11a	Englishman who wrote satires // fast (5)

SWIFT — double definition

Would Dean Swift appreciate being labelled an Englishman? Perhaps not, the families of both of his parents fled to Ireland from England due to or to avoid political and religious persecution^[7].

Jonathan Swift^[5] (1667–1745) was an Irish satirist, poet, and Anglican cleric; known as Dean Swift. He is best known for Gulliver’s Travels (1726), a satire on human society in the form of a fantastic tale of travels in imaginary lands.

12a	Free // cap worn by scold (9)

LI(BERATE)D — LID (cap) containing (worn by) BERATE (scold)

13a	Set fire to one building, // made to glow (9)

BURN|I|SHED — BURN (set fire to) + I ([Roman numeral] one) + SHED (building)

15a	Live next to railroad with a // legendary catcher (5)

BE|RR|A — BE (live) + (next to) RR (railroad) + (with) A (†)

Yogi Berra^[7] (1925–2015) was an American professional baseball catcher, who later took on the roles of manager and coach. He played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) (1946–1963, 1965), all but the last for the New York Yankees. He was an 18-time All-Star and won 10 World Series championships as a player—more than any other player in MLB history. Berra had a career batting average of .285, while hitting 358 home runs and 1,430 runs batted in. He is one of only six players to win the American League Most Valuable Player Award three times. Widely regarded as one of the greatest catchers in baseball history, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972.

16a	River // level around first of bends (5)

TI(B)ER — TIER (level) containing (around) B (first [letter] of Bends)

The Tiber^[5] is a river of central Italy, upon which Rome stands. It rises in the Tuscan Apennines and flows 405 km (252 miles) generally southwestwards, entering the Tyrrhenian Sea at Ostia.

18a	Give a boy a gun in Maine // spread (9)

M(ARM|A|LAD)E — ARM A LAD (give a boy a gun) contained in ME (Maine)

It took me a few moments to discount MARGARINE as the spread.

20a	Conspicuous and behind, // play a higher card (9)

OVERT|RUMP — OVERT (conspicuous) + (and) RUMP (behind)

23a	Small, theatrical // rogue (5)

S|CAMP — S(mall) + CAMP (theatrical)

25a	Sleep aid // breaking PGA rule (7)

{EAR PLUG}* — anagram of (breaking) PGA RULE

26a	Writer of “Walden” // or “In the Gold” (7)

TH(OR)E|AU — OR (†) contained in (in) THE (†) + AU ([chemical symbol for] gold)

Henry David Thoreau^[5] (1817–1862) was an American essayist and poet, and a key figure in Transcendentalism. He is best known for his book Walden, or Life in the Woods (1854), an account of a two-year experiment in self-sufficiency.

27a	Marie’s plan B altered // coat material (7,4)

{PERSIAN LAMB}* — anagram of (altered) MARIES PLAN B

Down

1d	Catches // some salmon in the sound (5)

LOCKS — sounds like (in the sound) LOX (some salmon)

Catches^[5] is a noun used in the sense of devices for securing things such as a doors, windows or boxes.

2d	Musical including Ireland’s foremost // Hamlet portrayer (7)

OLIV(I)ER — OLIVER (musical) containing (including) I (Ireland's foremost [initial letter])

Oliver!^[7] is a British musical based on English writer Charles Dickens' novel Oliver Twist. It premièred in London's West End in 1960 and on Broadway in 1963 and was made into a musical film in 1968.

Laurence Olivier^[5], Baron Olivier of Brighton (1907–1989) was an English actor and director. Following his professional debut in 1924, he performed all the major Shakespearean roles; he was also director of the National Theatre (1963–73). His films include Rebecca (1940), Henry V (1944), and Hamlet (1948). Olivier is particularly known for his portrayal of Hamlet, both on stage and screen. He starred in and directed the 1948 film which became the first non-American film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, while he won the Award for Best Actor^[7].

3d	Better // rendition of “Hi there, Al” (9)

HEALTHIER* — anagram of (rendition of) HI THERE AL

4d	Ocean volcano’s remnant, // a ring (5)

A|TOLL — A (†) + TOLL (ring; sound a bell)

5d	Minstrel // improvised to our bard (9)

TROUBADOR* — anagram of (improvised) TO OUR BARD

6d	Check // temperature in venison (5)

DE(T)ER — T(emperature) contained in (in) DEER (venison)

7d	Impact scar, // one involved in boxing? (6)

CRATER — double definition; the second definition being a perhaps whimsical description of someone engaged in packaging things in big wooden boxes

8d	Traffic problem // in Cairo: a drag, essentially (4,4)

_RO|A|D RAG|E_ — hidden in (in) CaiRO A DRAG Essentially

13d	Fastened, // but ripped (8)

BUT|TONED — BUT (†) + TONED (ripped; muscular)

14d	Patty // fixed Ma her grub (9)

HAMBURGER* — anagram of (fixed) MA HER GRUB

15d	Really pushes // hibernator’s insulating material (5,4)

BEAR|S| DOWN — BEAR (hibernator) + S ('s) + DOWN (insulating material)

17d	Like eyes made tired // by taking in Shakespeare’s king (6)

B(LEAR)Y — BY (†) containing (taking in) LEAR (Shakespeare's king)

19d	Article crippled a // California town (7)

A|LAMED|A — A ([indefinite] article) + LAMED (crippled) + A (†)

Alameda^[7] is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is located east of San Francisco across San Francisco Bay adjacent to and south of Oakland.

21d	Something in a plot // oddly lit up (5)

TULIP* — anagram of (oddly) LIT UP

22d	Favourite Rhode Island // sort of dish (5)

PET|RI — PET (favourite) + RI (Rhode Island)

24d	Examine // fruit bar’s front (5)

PLUM|B — PLUM (fruit) + B (Bar's front [initial letter])

Epilogue

Today's puzzle seemingly provides a review of last month's weather.

"In like a lion, out like a lamb"^[7] is a proverb having to do with March weather. It has been speculated that its origin is from astrological Leo (lion) being followed by Aries (ram).

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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