Saturday, May 29, 2021 — Reitman Retrospective

Introduction

Today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon is a bit of a film festival—appropriate, it seems, with theatres beginning to re-open in parts of the country.

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	Attorneys // allege a leg’s broken (5,6)

{LEGAL EAGLES}* — anagram of (broken) ALLEGE A LEGS

Legal Eagles^[7] is a 1986 American trial film produced and directed by Ivan Reitman and starring Robert Redford, Debra Winger, and Daryl Hannah.

9a	Three-wheeler straddled by senior // soccer player (7)

S(TRIKE)R — TRIKE (three-wheeler) contained in (straddled by) SR (senior)

10a	Profound // work: “Fourscore…” (7)

W|EIGHTY — W ([physics symbol for] work) + EIGHTY (fourscore)

11a	Fight // knight in archaeological site (3-2)

RU(N)-IN — N ([chess notation for] knight) contained in (in) RUIN (archaeological site)

12a	Exemplar of red hot spot for roasting // composer (9)

BEET|H|OVEN — BEET (exemplar of red) + H(ot) + OVEN (spot for roasting)

Beethoven^[7] is a 1992 American family comedy film, produced by Joe Medjuck, Michael C. Gross and Ivan Reitman, directed by Brian Levant and starring Charles Grodin and Bonnie Hunt.

13a	Mouth off after miscreant // dried fruit (7)

CUR|RANT — RANT (mouth off) following (after) CUR (miscreant)

14a	Guy maintaining otherwise is // actor in Ghost Busters (7)

M(OR)AN|IS — MAN (guy) containing (maintaining) OR (otherwise) + IS (†)

Ghostbusters^[7] is a 1984 American supernatural comedy film produced and directed by Ivan Reitman and starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis and Rick Moranis.

16a	Pound taking in faculty to hear // old script (6,1)

L(IN|EAR) B — LB (pound) containing (taking) {IN (†) + EAR (faculty to hear)}

19a	Some secretaries, // tipsy, disturbed Eliot (7)

(TYPIS*)TS — anagram of (disturbed) TIPSY + TS (Eliot; US-born British poet T.S. Eliot^[7])

21a	Oafs // lost a small bet (9)

MEATBALLS* — anagram of (lost) A SMALL BET

Meatballs^[7] is a 1979 Canadian comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman and starring Bill Murray.

23a	Bee deflated // helium-filled craft (5)

B|LIMP — B (bee) + LIMP (deflated)

25a	Picture puzzles // regarding public transportation (7)

RE|BUSES — RE (regarding) + BUSES (public transportation)

26a	Pilot // in Scandinavia to relax (7)

_AVIA|TO|R_ — hidden in (in) ScandinAVIA TO Relax

27a	Ian Holm cast in a benefit // film by Ivan Reitman (6,5)

A({NIMAL HO}*)USE — {anagram of (cast) IAN HOLM} contained in (in) { A (†) + USE (benefit)}

National Lampoon's Animal House^[7] is a 1978 American comedy film produced by Matty Simmons and Ivan Reitman, directed by John Landis and starring John Belushi, Tim Matheson, John Vernon, Verna Bloom, Thomas Hulce, and Donald Sutherland.

Down

1d	Earl’s redesigned // part of a CD burner (5)

LASER* — anagram of (redesigned) EARLS

2d	Hollywood actress // split scrap in recession (7)

{GAR|DNER}< — reversal of (in recession) {REND (split) + RAG (scrap)}

Ava Gardner^[7] (1922–1990) was an American actress and singer (who, to the best of my knowledge, never appeared in an Ivan Reitman film).

This clue is a minefield and I stepped on every one before eventually making it through. As MG mentions, the Hollywood actress could be Teri Garr. Furthermore, "split" could be a containment indicator and "scrap in recession" could be cluing a reversal of END (scrap). I attempted to assemble these pieces so as to arrive at a reversal of END inside GARR. However, two big problems. First, the logic was backwards (the parsing led to  GARR inside END, not the desired result) and, second, there is nothing left for a definition. At that point, it was back to the drawing board.

3d	African country’s held by the French, along with a // part of Malawi’s border (4,5)

LA(KE NYA|S)A — {KENYA (African country) + S ('s)} contained in (held by) LA (the French; French word meaning 'the') + (along with) A (†)

Lake Nyasa^[5] (also called Lake Malawi) is a lake in east central Africa, the third-largest lake in Africa. About 580 km (360 miles) long, it forms most of the eastern border of Malawi with Mozambique and Tanzania.

4d	Performance involving mug and a // tumbler (7)

AC(ROB|A)T — ACT (performance) containing (involving) {ROB (mug) + (and) A (†)}

5d	Headlight // distorted web in dirt (3,4)

LO(W BE*)AM — anagram of (distorted) WEB contained in (in) LOAM (dirt)

6d	Rustle // steers at last, by request (5)

S|WISH — S (steers at last; final letter of steerS) + (by) WISH (request)

7d	Second asylum // cut off completely (6)

S|HAVEN — S(econd) + HAVEN (asylum)

8d	His pony’s strange // trancelike state (8)

HYPNOSIS* — anagram of (strange) HIS PONYS

13d	Seafood // set off CIA alarm (8)

CALAMARI* — anagram of (set off) CIA ALARM

15d	Again put out // condiment around tavern (9)

RE(PUB)LISH — RELISH (condiment) containing (around) PUB (tavern)

17d	Barney moved // in the neighbourhood (6)

NEARBY* — anagram of (moved) BARNEY

18d	Play the role of drunkard with one // comic actor (7)

BE|LUSH|I — BE (play the role of) + LUSH (drunkard) + (with) I ([Roman numeral] one)

American comedian, actor and musician John Belushi^[7] had a starring role in National Lampoon's Animal House^[7] which was produced by Matty Simmons and Ivan Reitman.

19d	In the direction of street, spot a // Mexican dish (7)

TO|ST|AD|A — TO (in the direction of) + ST (street) + AD (spot; commercial message) + A (†)

20d	Massage technique // has suit messed up (7)

SHIATSU* — anagram of (messed up) HAS SUIT

22d	Arabs overhauled // Iraqi port (5)

BASRA* — anagram of (overhauled) ARABS

24d	Bit of soap in clean // bag (5)

PUR(S)E — S (bit [initial letter] of Soap) contained in (in) PURE (clean)

Epilogue

Today's puzzle is a tribute to Slovak-born Canadian film and television producer, director, and screenwriter Ivan Reitman^[7].

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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