Saturday, August 7, 2021 — It's Magic

Introduction

The setters work their magic in today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon to give us a fairly light but quite enjoyable bit of entertainment.

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	Charm // rogue with a female supporter on either side (11)

A|BRA(CAD)A|BRA — CAD (rogue) contained in (with ... on either side) {A (†) + BRA (female supporter)}

9a	Attack // leader of rebels with one horse (3,4)

R|I|P INTO — R (leader [initial letter] of Rebels) + (with) I ([Roman numeral] one) + PINTO (horse)

10a	Edited libel, e.g., // that may be read (7)

LEGIBLE* — anagram of (edited) LIBEL EG

11a	Performing magic, // transformed corn in jug (9)

CONJURING* — anagram of (transformed) CORN IN JUG

12a	Exercise // place is coming back (3-2)

{SIT-UP}< — reversal of (coming back) {PUT (place) + IS (†)}

13a	Hit // small utility vehicle (6)

S|TRUCK — S (small; clothing size) + TRUCK (utility vehicle)

15a	Get rid of // hat in jet (5,3)

S(TAM)P OUT — TAM ([Scottish) hat) contained in (in) SPOUT (jet)

18a	Complaints // mom placed before gentlemen’s partners (8)

MA|LADIES — MA (mom) preceding (placed before) LADIES (gentlemen's partners)

19a	Cheap // wood in sample (6)

TR(ASH)Y — ASH (wood) contained in (in) TRY (sample)

22a	Cats // wrecked US map (5)

PUMAS* — anagram of (wrecked) US MAP

24a	Pain in the neck about errant dart, // part of a magic show (4,5)

C(ARDT*)RICK — CRICK (pain in the neck) containing (about) anagram of (errant) DART

26a	French author // produced empty drivel (7)

DID|E|ROT — DID (produced) + E (empty; symbol on fuel gauges) + ROT (drivel)

Denis Diderot^[5] (1713–1784) was a French philosopher, writer, and critic. (show more )

A leading figure of the Enlightenment in France, he was principal editor of the Encyclopédie (1751–76), through which he disseminated and popularized philosophy and scientific knowledge. Other notable works: Le Rêve de D'Alembert (1782) and Le Neveu de Rameau (1805).

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27a	Submits // metal-coated containers (5,2)

T(URNS) IN — TIN (metal) containing (-coated) URNS (containers)

28a	Strange enigma: elder // magician’s skill (11)

LEGERDEMAIN* — anagram of (strange) ENIGMA ELDER

Down

1d	Tree // in the form of female swan (5)

AS|PEN — AS (in the form of) + PEN (female swan)

2d	Gave up // small quantity in split (9)

REN(OUNCE)D — OUNCE (small quantity) contained in (in) REND (split)

3d	Murmur drunken // “relax” (4,2)

COO|L IT — COO (murmur) + LIT (drunken)

4d	Cut absorbing Georgia // conference attendee (8)

DELE(GA)TE — DELETE (cut) containing (absorbing) GA ([postal designator for] Georgia)

5d	Fake // swamp in front of our group (5)

BOG|US — BOG (swamp) preceding (in front of) US (our group)

6d	British explorer following a large form of a vampire // bird (9)

A|L|BAT|ROSS — ROSS (British explorer; either Sir John Ross^[5] (1777–1856) or his nephew Sir James Clark Ross^[5] (1800–1862)) following (†) {A (†) + L (large; clothing size) + BAT (form of a vampire; see vampire bat^[5])}

7d	Flower // occurs in mutant form (6)

CROCUS* — anagram of (in mutant form) OCCURS

8d	Montreal player beset by street // person with a certain appeal (6)

S(EXPO)T — EXPO (Montreal player) contained in (beset by) ST (street)

The Montreal Expos^[7] were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in the National League (NL) East Division from 1969 until 2004. Following the 2004 season, the franchise relocated to Washington, D.C., and became the Washington Nationals.

14d	Turning older, Elmo // admired figure (4,5)

{ROLE MODEL}* — anagram of (turning) OLDER ELMO

16d	Farrow, taking in speaker, // pauses (9)

M(ORATOR)IA — MIA (Farrow; American actress Mia Farrow^[7]) containing (taking in) ORATOR (speaker)

17d	Geographer // to put aboard French sea vehicle (8)

MER|CA(TO)R — TO (†) contained in (put aboard) {MER (French [word for] sea) + CAR (vehicle)}

18d	Clean Edward’s // Vespas and such (6)

MOP|ED|S — MOP (clean) + ED ([diminutive for] Edward) + S ('s)

Vespa^[5] (Trademark) is an Italian make of motor scooter.

Fact Check Fail?
I am not convinced that a Vespa is actually a moped as I don't believe it has pedals. A moped[15] is a motorized bicycle that has pedals in addition to a low-powered gasoline engine designed for low-speed operation. Origin: Swedish, from trampcykel med motor och pedaler ‘pedal cycle with motor and pedals’[5].

20d	Rocky’s way of greeting monarch // getting hitched (6)

YO|KING — YO (Rocky's way of greeting) + KING (monarch)

Rocky Balboa^[7] is the fictional title character of the Rocky film series. The character was created by Sylvester Stallone, who also portrayed him in all eight films in the series. He is depicted as a working class or poor Italian-American from the slums of Philadelphia who starts out as a club fighter and “enforcer” for a local loan shark and goes on to overcome the obstacles that occur in his life and in his career as a professional boxer.

In Philadelphia, "yo" is not merely a word of greeting. As an article in Philadelphia Magazine entitled “Yo” Is So Philly explains, "'yo' was made famous and synonymous with Philadelphia by Sylvester Stallone who, after intense studying of the Philadelphia dialect, concluded that if he just said 'yo' a lot, he would pass for a local. The word is used 41 times by Rocky in the movie. Of course, every 'yo' can have a different meaning."

21d	Compose a work containing bit of humorous // twist (6)

WRIT(H)E — WRITE (compose a work) containing (†) H (bit [initial letter] of Humorous)

23d	Shoot // Spanish tractor-trailer (5)

SP|RIG — SP (Spanish; as a language in dictionary entries) + RIG (tractor-trailer)

25d	Playwright // Ben is troubled (5)

IBSEN* — anagram of (troubled) BEN IS

Henrik Ibsen^[5] (1828–1906) was a Norwegian dramatist. (show more )

He is credited with being the first major dramatist to write tragedy about ordinary people in prose. Ibsen’s later works, such as The Master Builder (1892), deal increasingly with the forces of the unconscious and were admired by Sigmund Freud. Other notable works: Peer Gynt (1867), A Doll’s House (1879), Ghosts (1881).

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Epilogue

With a wave their magic wand accompanied by the customary invocation the setters begin their performance which involves conjuring, a card trick and some sleight of hand.

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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