Saturday, June 19, 2021 — Playing A Round

Introduction

In honour of the 121st U.S. Open^[7] currently underway at Torrey Pines Golf Course in La Jolla, California, the setters invite us to play a round in today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon.

Thank you to Heather for reminding me that I forgot to wish my fellow dads a Happy Father's Day.

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

9a	Preemptively thwart // Woods completely (9)

FOREST|ALL — FOREST (woods) + ALL (completely)

Scratching the Surface
The surface reading alludes to US professional golfer Tiger Woods[7] who has won the U.S. Open three times.

10a	Play // shot by Koepka at the end (5)

DRAM|A — DRAM (shot [of whisky, perhaps]) + A (Koepka at the end; final letter of KoepkA)

Scratching the Surface
American professional golfer Brooks Koepka[7] won the U.S. Open in 2017 and 2018, and the PGA Championship in 2018 and 2019, becoming the first golfer in history to hold back-to-back titles in two majors simultaneously.

11a	Seating /or/ some part of a match where golfers start (7)

SET|TEES — SET (some part of a [tennis] match) + TEES (where golfers start)

12a	Fair green spot // showed up next to parking area (7)

CAME|LOT — CAME (showed up) + (next to) LOT (parking area)

In Arthurian legend, Camelot^[5] is the place where King Arthur held his court.

Delving Deeper

The final number in the 1960 Tony Award winning Lerner and Loewe musical Camelot[7] contains the lines "Don't let it be forgot/ That once there was a spot/ For one brief, shining moment/ That was known as Camelot". According to Jackie Kennedy, the show's original cast recording had been a favourite bedtime listening for her husband President John F. Kennedy and that these were his favourite lines.

13a	Point out // Carlo from the movies (5)

PONTI* — anagram of (out) POINT

Carlo Ponti^[7] (1912–2007) was an Italian film producer with more than 140 productions to his credit. He was the husband of international film star Sophia Loren.

14a	Start game off // calculating plan (9)

STRATAGEM* — anagram of (off) START GAME

16a	Wrongly, Minnesota ranks a // golfing great (6,9)

{ANNIKA SORENSTAM}* — anagram of (wrongly) MINNESOTA RANKS A

Annika Sörenstam^[7] is a retired Swedish professional golfer regarded as one of the best female golfers in history. She is a three-time winner of the U.S. Women's Open.

19a	Country // club teacher I grade at the top (9)

MACE|DON|I|A — MACE (club) + DON (teacher) + I (†) + A (grade at the top)

21a	Golfing target I’d // figure for romantics (5)

CUP|ID — CUP (golfing target) + ID (I'd)

23a	Reportedly caught // green (7)

COLLARD~ — sounds like (reportedly) COLLARED (caught)

25a	Scoring // blemish connected with golfer Betsy (7)

MAR|KING — MAR (blemish; verb) + (connected with) KING (golfer Betsy; American professional golfer Betsy King^[7], who twice won the U.S. Women's Open)

27a	Dwarf // balancing a ball on the side of a club, e.g. (5)

STUNT — double definition

28a	Guards // drove in champion golfer Ernie (9)

SENT|IN|ELS — SENT (drove) + IN (†) + ELS (golfer Ernie; South African professional golfer Ernie Els^[7], two-time winner of the U.S. Open)

Down

1d	Dechambeau fosters somewhat // mysterious craft (4)

_U|FOS_ — hidden in (somewhat) DechambeaU FOSters

Scratching the Surface
Bryson DeChambeau[7] is an American professional golfer who won the 2020 U.S. Open.

2d	Greek islander // breaking trance (6)

CRETAN* — anagram of (breaking) TRANCE

3d	Starred // a horse, taking bet (10)

A|STE(RISK)ED — A (†) + STEED (horse) containing (taking) RISK (bet)

4d	Some jazz musicians // crazy about “Small Sister” (8)

BA(S|SIS)TS — BATS (crazy) containing (about) {S(mall) + SIS(ter)}

5d	Golfer mishitting the ball // damaged relics (6)

SLICER* — anagram of (damaged) RELICS

6d	Cheese // manufactured the wrong way (4)

EDAM< — reversal of (the wrong way) MADE (manufactured)

7d	Gee, a minor // form of illumination (8)

G|A|SLIGHT — G (gee) + A (†) + SLIGHT (minor)

8d	Playing Open mad, Tim // acted like a clown (10)

PANTOMIMED* — anagram of (playing) OPEN MAD TIM

13d	Auditing growing business, help // drugstore employee (10)

PHARM|ACIST~ — sounds like (auditing) {FARM (growing business) + ASSIST (help)}

15d	Turning scrutiny to // actor in Some Like It Hot (4,6)

{TONY CURTIS}* — anagram of (turning) SCRUTINY TO

Some Like It Hot^[7] is a 1959 American romantic comedy film directed, produced, and co-written by Billy Wilder. It stars Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon.

17d	Change of luck, as in // Jack of clubs? (8)

NICKLAUS* — anagram of (change of) LUCK AS IN

Jack Nicklaus^[7], nicknamed The Golden Bear, is an American retired professional golfer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest—if not the greatest—golfers of all time. He won the U.S. Open four times.

18d	Getting more guns // back before evil emperor (8)

REAR|MING — REAR (back) preceding (before) MING (evil emperor)

Ming the Merciless^[7] is a character who first appeared in the Flash Gordon comic strip in 1934. When the heroic Flash Gordon and his friends land on the fictional planet Mongo, they found it was ruled by an evil emperor, a despot who quickly becomes their enemy. He was not named at first, only being known as "the Emperor" until several issues later, when his name was revealed to be Ming.

20d	501s acquired by eccentric // colony member? (6)

NU(DI|S)T — {DI ([Roman numeral] 501) + S (†)} contained in (acquired by) NUT (eccentric)

Scratching the Surface
501 is a line of blue jeans manufactured by Levi Strauss & Co.[7] The company created its first pair of Levi's 501 Jeans in the 1890s.

22d	First of programs broadcast // in twos (6)

P|AIRED — P (first [initial letter] of Programs) + AIRED (broadcast)

24d	Roles played after the first // creative works (4)

_ARTS — [P]ARTS (roles played) after the first [the letters following the initial letter]

26d	Rush // in Augusta (4)

_GUST_ — hidden in (in) AuGUSTa

Scratching the Surface
Augusta National Golf Club[7], sometimes referred to as Augusta or the National, is a golf club in Augusta, Georgia. Since 1934, the club has played host to the annual Masters Tournament, one of the four men's major championships in professional golf, and the only major played each year at the same course.

Epilogue

Appropriately, I count 18 golf themed clues in this puzzle—12 out of 13 across clues and 6 out of 16 down clues. Does that suggest an unusual course layout with a front 12 and back 6?

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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