Saturday, August 28, 2021 — Horsing Around

Introduction

Today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon is one for horse enthusiasts.

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	Horse // moved into Act I (8)

CITATION* — anagram of (moved) INTO ACT I

Citation^[7] was the eighth winner (1948) of the American Triple Crown of horse racing^*. He won 16 consecutive stakes races and was the first horse in history to win US$1 million.

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^* victories in the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes

5a	Run into a fake // retreat (6)

A|SH(R)AM — R (run; baseball term) contained in (into) {A (†) + SHAM (fake)}

10a	Northern // meal starting late (5)

_UPPER — [S]UPPER (meal) with the initial letter removed (starting late)

For those who questioned upper being synonymous with northern, from a geographical perspective upper^[3] means situated on higher ground (upper regions), lying farther inland (the upper Nile), or northern (the upper Midwest).

11a	A site for experimenting with flower // vase material (9)

A|LAB|ASTER — A (†) + LAB (site for experimenting) + (with) ASTER (flower)

12a	Create a stir playing // “Horse” (11)

SECRETARIAT* — anagram of (playing) CREATE A STIR

Secretariat^[7] was the ninth winner (1973) of the American Triple Crown, setting and still holding the fastest time record in all three races. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest racehorses of all time. His record-breaking victory in the Belmont Stakes, which he won by 31 lengths, is widely regarded as one of the greatest races in history.

Scratching the Surface
The surface reading may be a reference to H-O-R-S-E[7], a variation of the game of basketball that can be played by two or more players.

13a	Fuss // first of all with haircut (3)

A|DO — A (first [letter] of All) + (with) DO (haircut)

14a	Fight // me and Spike (5)

ME|LEE — ME (†) + LEE (Spike; American film director Spike Lee^[7])

15a	One bit of advice about // culinary course (9)

AN|TIP|AS|TO — AN (one) + TIP (bit of advice) + AS TO (about)

17a	Defective Pilot pens // burst (5,4)

{SPLIT OPEN}* — anagram of (defective) PILOT PENS

Scratching the Surface
Pilot Corporation[7] is a Japanese pen manufacturer based in Tokyo, Japan.

19a	Piano next to a blobby, half-finished // Picasso (5)

P|A|BLO_ — P (piano; musical direction to play softly) + (next to) A (†) + BLO[BBY] with the latter half removed (half-finished)

Pablo Picasso^[5] (1881–1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, and graphic artist, resident in France from 1904. Regarded as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, he is known (among other things) for co-founding the Cubist movement.^[7] (more )

Picasso’s prolific inventiveness and technical versatility made him the dominant figure in avant-garde art in the first half of the 20th century. Following his Blue Period (1901-4) and Rose Period (1905-6), Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907) signalled his development of cubism (1908–14). In the 1920s and 1930s he adopted a neoclassical figurative style and produced semi-surrealist paintings using increasingly violent imagery, notably The Three Dancers (1935) and Guernica (1937).

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21a	Computer memory // crash (3)

RAM — double definition; the first being an acronym for random access memory

22a	Come to a legal understanding about a felled // horse (7,4)

SE(A)TTLE| SLEW — SETTLE (come to a legal understanding) containing (about) A (†) + SLEW (felled)

Seattle Slew^[7] was the tenth winner (1977) of the American Triple Crown. He is one of only two horses to have won the Triple Crown while been undefeated in any previous race; the second was Justify who won the Triple Crown in 2018 and is descended from Seattle Slew.

25a	Someone who is pushy // but can slide downhill (9)

BUT|TIN|SKI — BUT (†) + TIN (can; metal container) + SKI (slide downhill)

26a	Conferring approval on // Love Champion (5)

O|KING — O (love; nil score in tennis) + KING (champion)

27a	Arcaro and Day // went in a whirl (6)

EDDIE|D — EDDIE (Arcaro) + (and) D(ay)

Eddie Arcaro^[7] (1916–1997) won more American classic horse races than any other jockey in history and is the only rider to have won the U.S. Triple Crown twice (including aboard Citation in 1948).

28a	Bananas I fed farm // horse (8)

AFFIRMED* — anagram of (bananas) I FED FARM

Affirmed^[7] was the eleventh winner of the American Triple Crown. After Affirmed won the Triple Crown, there was a 37-year wait until American Pharoah^* swept the series in 2015, more than a quarter of a century later.

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^* this spelling is 'correct' as the horse's owner misspelled the word on the horse's registration papers

Down

1d	Chicago team gets 50 // bats (5)

C(L)UBS — CUBS (Chicago [National League baseball] team) containing (gets) L ([Roman numeral] 50)

2d	Currently pertinent // to type size Large (7)

TO|PICA|L — TO (†) + PICA (type size) + L (large; clothing size)

3d	Breaking tape there, // win yet again? (9)

THREEPEAT* — anagram of (breaking) TAPE THERE

To win again is to repeat; to win yet again is to threepeat.

Were one to extend the boundaries of the theme to encompass three victories rather than merely Triple Crown winners, then one might shoehorn this clue into the mix. I don't believe winning the Triple Crown constitutes a threepeat which is the third consecutive victory in a single major sports championship whereas the Triple Crown involves winning three different events a single time each (for a horse^*). While a jockey could achieve a threepeat, none have done so. The closest to accomplishing the feat was Eddie Arcaro who rode two horses to Triple Crown victories.

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^* the Triple Crown races are for three-year olds, so a horse is eligible to compete only once in its life

4d	Horse // in from a hayride (5)

OM|A|HA — hidden in (in) frOM A HAyride

Omaha^[7] was the third winner (1935) of the American Triple Crown.

6d	Begin // Celebrity Tea’s debut (5)

STAR|T — STAR (celebrity) + T (Tea's debut [initial letter])

7d	Brown hue seen in rodent’s // palms (7)

RAT(TAN)S — TAN (brown hue) contained in (seen in) {RAT (rodent) + S ('s)}

8d	Globetrotter // shot cola promo (5,4)

{MARCO POLO}* — anagram of (shot) COLA PROMO

Marco Polo^[5] (c.1254–c.1324) was an Italian traveler. With his father and uncle he traveled to China and the court of Kublai Khan via central Asia (1271–75). He eventually returned home (1292–95) via Sumatra, India, and Persia. His account of his travels spurred the European quest for the riches of the East.

9d	Ontario city // hotel chain accommodating in the morning (8)

H(AM)ILTON — HILTON (hotel chain) containing (accommodating) AM (in the morning)

14d	Rebel’s aim: awful // bad (9)

MISERABLE* — anagram of (awful) REBELS AIM

15d	Cheers // a brief break taking place (8)

A|P(PL)AUSE — A (†) + PAUSE (brief break) containing (taking) PL (place; abbreviation found on street signs)

16d	Pizza topping // tossed on preppie (9)

PEPPERONI* — anagram of (tossed) ON PREPPIE

18d	Confined // pest inside cover (7)

LI(MITE)D — MITE (pest) contained in (inside) LID (cover)

20d	Big mule roaming // country (7)

BELGIUM* — anagram of (roaming) BIG MULE

22d	Tree behind small ridge (5)

S|PINE — PINE (tree) following (behind) S (small; clothing size)

23d	Article about one failing burglar (5)

TH(I)E|F — THE ([definite] article) containing (about) I ([Roman numeral] one) + F (failing [grade on an exam])

24d	Conducted, /as/ war with elderly (5)

W|AGED — W (war, as in WWI and WWII) + (with) AGED (elderly)

Epilogue

The puzzle focuses on the US Triple Crown. Virtually every nation where horse racing exists has its own Triple Crown. However, I wonder how many could name a Canadian Triple Crown winner?

The Canadian Triple Crown consists of the Queen's Plate, the Prince of Wales Stakes, and the Breeders' Stakes and the last Triple Crown winner was Wando in 2003.

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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