Saturday, May 8, 2021 — To Mother's One and All ...

Designed by starline / Freepik

Introduction

Today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon is fairly light fare with a timely theme.

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

7a	Sort of picture // tied back (5)

DECAL< — reversal of (back) LACED (tied)

8a	Moron’s laughter conceals // attack (9)

_ONS|LAUGHT_ — hidden in (conceals) morON'S LAUGHTer

10a	Mother hanging around, // shirking work (11)

MA|LINGERING — MA (mother) + LINGERING (hanging around)

11a	Turning informer, // pitch (3)

TAR< — reversal of (turning) RAT (informer)

12a	Passenger vehicle, // revved, is in reverse (7)

{SI|DECAR}< — reversal of (in reverse) {RACED (revved) + IS (†)}

14a	Flash // Gordon’s first stretcher (7)

G|LITTER — G (Gordon's first [initial letter]) + LITTER (stretcher)

Scratching the Surface
Flash Gordon[7] is the protagonist of a space opera adventure comic strip. First published in 1934, the strip was inspired by, and created to compete with, the already established Buck Rogers adventure strip. The Flash Gordon comic strip has been translated into a wide variety of media, including motion pictures, television, and animated series.

15a	Mother on a farm tells stories about small pixie // insects (11)

DAM(S|ELF)LIES — {DAM (mother on a farm) + LIES (tells stories)} containing (about) {S(mall) + ELF (pixie)}

19a	Greek character // busted one’s lip (7)

EPSILON* — anagram of (busted) ONES LIP

Epsilon^[5] is the fifth letter of the Greek alphabet (Ε, ε).

21a	Outspoken wordsmith // closer to the truth? (7)

RIGHTER~ — sounds like (outspoken) WRITER (wordsmith)

The definition well deserves a question mark. If this is truly an actual word, it shouldn't be! I think the only expression I hated more was my daughter and her teenage friends describing things as "funner".

23a	Pair // likewise audible (3)

TWO~ — sounds like (audible) TOO (likewise)

24a	Mother working in realty // for a short time (11)

MOM|ENTARILY* — MOM (mother) + anagram of (working) IN REALTY

Having got the solution from the checkers and definition, I struggled to parse it until I realized the clue did not read "in reality". The curse of cataracts!

26a	Puzzle // sister, getting into fish and booze (9)

CO(NUN)D|RUM — NUN (sister) contained in (getting into) COD (fish) + (and) RUM (booze)

27a	Request // piano solo (5)

P|LEAD — P (piano; musical direction to play softly) + LEAD (solo)

Down

1d	Mounted // like a fish? (6)

SCALED — double definition

2d	Family // jail accommodating 50 (4)

C(L)AN — CAN ([slang term for] jail) containing (accommodating) L ([Roman numeral] 50)

3d	Realized // heavenly body is linked with regret (4,4)

COME T|RUE — COMET (heavenly body) + (is linked with) RUE (regret)

The definition (and solution) is not a verb (phrasal verb) but rather an adjective (phrasal adjective) ⇒ a dream come true.

4d	Posing questions // like Henry VIII, for example (6)

AS|KING — AS (like) + KING (Henry VIII, for example)

5d	Benefit in exposing // negotiation (10)

BAR(GAIN)ING — GAIN (benefit) contained in (in) BARING (exposing)

6d	Infotech adopted by a Microsoft founder // is disturbing (8)

A|G(IT)ATES — IT (infotech; information technology) contained in (adopted by) {A (†) + GATES (Microsoft founder)}

Microsoft^[7] was founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen.

7d	See dim bats // passing (6)

DEMISE* — anagram of (bats) SEE DIM

9d	Bullfighter // ripped half of robe (6)

TORE|RO_ — TORE (ripped) + RO (half of RO[BE])

It seemingly takes an army of toreros, toreadors, picadors and matadors to subdue a bull.

13d	Remark about place I // praise (10)

COM(PL|I)MENT — COMMENT (remark) containing (about) {PL (place; abbreviation used in street names) + I (†)}

15d	Don’t believe // Diana’s noble (8)

DI|S|COUNT — DI ([diminutive of] Diana) + S ('s) + COUNT (noble)

16d	Handle // for glossy paint, but not the finish (8)

FOR|ENAME_ — FOR (†) + ENAME[L] (glossy paint) with the final letter removed (but not the finish)

17d	Cancel tickets featuring // Boston pro athlete (6)

_CEL|TIC_ — hidden in (featuring) canCEL TICkets

The Celtics^[7] are an original eight NBA team based in Boston.

18d	Sounded like a donkey // ruined a derby (6)

BRAYED* — anagram of (ruined) A DERBY

20d	Gone, // or inhabiting Alaskan city (2,4)

NO M(OR)E — OR (†) contained in (inhabiting) NOME (Alaskan city)

22d	Record broken by one island // capital in Asia (6)

TA(I)PE|I — {TAPE (record; verb) containing (broken by) I ([Roman numeral] one)} + I(sland)

Taipei^[7] (officially Taipei City) is the capital of Taiwan (officially the Republic of China).

25d	A platter’s // high points? (4)

A|LP|S — A (†) + LP (platter; phonograph record) + S ('s)

Epilogue

Wishing all mothers a very Happy Mother's Day.

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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