Saturday, October 23, 2021 — Musical Smorgasbord

Introduction

Today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon has something for just about every musical taste.

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	High-pitched, // errant belter (6)

TREBLE* — anagram of (errant) BELTER

4a	Tape // group of songs penned by Indian group (8)

CAS(SET)TE — SET (group of songs) contained in (penned by) CASTE (Indian group)

9a	Punk era ballet // that may be changed (9)

ALTERABLE* — anagram of (punk) ERA BALLET

11a	Source of light // in that orchestra (5)

_T|ORCH_ — hidden in (in) thaT ORCHestra

12a	Musician, // a rhymer, oddly holding Al Pacino back (9,6)

{HARM(ONICA P|LA)<YER}* — anagram of (oddly) {A RHYMER} containing (holding) reversal of (back) {AL PACINO}

Scratching the Surface
Al Pacino[7] is an American actor of stage and screen, filmmaker, and screenwriter. Pacino, who has had a career spanning over five decades, is one of few performers to have won a competitive Oscar, an Emmy and a Tony Award for acting, dubbed the "Triple Crown of Acting".

13a	Back of a hit single // I had in “Sebastian” (4,1)

S(ID)E B — ID (I had; I'd [contraction]) contained in (in) SEB ([diminutive of] Sebastian)

15a	Musician // composes in room temperature (7)

CELL(IS)T — IS (composes) contained in (in) {CELL (room) + T(emperature)}

Compose^[5] is used in the sense (said of elements [constituents]) to constitute or make up (a whole, or a specified part of it) ⇒ Nitrogen composes 78% of the Earth's atmosphere.

19a	Moved yew near // time for “Auld Lang Syne” (3,4)

{NEW YEAR}* — anagram of (moved) YEW NEAR

20a	Ahead of the beat, // like “Fatha” Hines? (5)

EARLY — double definition, the second whimsical

Earl "Fatha" Hines^[7] (1903–1983) was an American jazz pianist and bandleader. He is regarded as one of the most influential figures—if not the most influential figure—in the development of jazz piano.

22a	Hit single’s begun weirdly // imitating Bessie Smith (7,3,5)

{SINGING THE BLUES}* — anagram of (weirdly) HIT SINGLES BEGUN

Bessie Smith^[7] (1894–1937) was an American blues singer widely renowned during the Jazz Age. Nicknamed the "Empress of the Blues", she was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s. She is often regarded as one of the greatest singers of her era and was a major influence on fellow blues singers, as well as jazz vocalists.

26a	Michael Jackson hit // one note in “Crazy” (2,3)

I'{M (B)AD} — I ([Roman numeral] one) + {B ([musical] note) contained in (in) MAD (crazy)}

I have to guess that the intended solution to the clue is "I'm Bad" despite the title of the song and the album on which it appears both being just "Bad" (although the phrase "I'm bad" does appear repeatedly in the lyrics).

Scratching the Surface
Wikipedia[7] lists more than 50 songs titled "Crazy". The earliest by far—and one with which I am familiar—is a 1961 composition by Willie Nelson that is most popularly associated with Patsy Cline.

27a	Bassist in group keeps // backing up (9)

_ASSIST|IN|G_ — hidden in (keeps) bASSIST IN Group

28a	Nudging // the Spanish violin technique (8)

EL|BOWING — EL (the Spanish; Spanish definite article) + BOWING (violin technique)

29a	Warning about British // royal performance hall (6)

AL(B)ERT — ALERT (warning) containing (about) B(ritish)

The Royal Albert Hall^[7], one of the United Kingdom's most treasured and distinctive buildings, is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. The name was bestowed on the building by Queen Victoria in memory of her husband, Prince Albert.

Down

1d	Trial including each // box of leaves (3,5)

T(EA CH)EST — TEST (trial) containing (including) EACH (†)

2d	Redundantly submitted // another version of entire den (7,2)

{ENTERED IN}* — anagram of (another version of) ENTIRE DEN

3d	Slow // Latin ship of old (5)

L|ARGO — L(atin) + ARGO (ship of old)

In Greek mythology, the Argo^[10] was the ship in which Jason sailed in search of the Golden Fleece.

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Largo^[5] is a musical direction meaning in a slow tempo and dignified in style.

5d	Space accommodating nation’s first // sports centre (5)

ARE(N)A — AREA (space) containing (accommodating) N (nation's first [initial letter])

6d	Receiving a report, locate // revolver? (9)

S(A|TELL)ITE — SITE (locate) containing (receiving) {A (†) + TELL (report)}

7d	Go slowly, // like black pitch (5)

TARRY — double definition

8d	Emergency rooms stocking the // old anaesthetics (6)

E(THE)RS — ERS (emergency rooms) containing (stocking) THE (†)

10d	Zest on revolutionary Cuban // sweet bread (7)

BRIO|CHE — BRIO (zest) preceding (on; in a down clue) CHE (revolutionary in Cuba)

Although Che Guevara^[7] (1928–1967) was a major figure of the Cuban Revolution, he was an Argentinian and not a Cuban. Of course, the clue does say "revolutionary in Cuba" and not "Cuban revolutionary".

14d	Doggy pronouncement about independent // view provider (3,6)

BOW W(IND)OW — BOW WOW (doggy pronouncement) containing (about) IND (independent)

16d	Trees // left beside vaults (7)

L|ARCHES — L(eft) + (beside) ARCHES (vaults)

17d	Quite sour bananas, // greenish-blue (9)

TURQUOISE* — anagram of (bananas) QUITE SOUR

18d	Octet maintaining sure // vision (8)

E(YES)IGHT — EIGHT (octet) containing (maintaining) YES (sure)

21d	Outrage following snake // dream (6)

ASP|IRE — IRE (outrage) following (†) ASP (snake)

23d	Catch bad smell from behind // fat cat (5)

NAB|OB< — NAB (catch) + reversal of (from behind) BO (bad smell)

24d	Look amused about a // cereal (5)

GR(A)IN — GRIN (look amused) containing (about) A (†)

25d	Herb // bails out (5)

BASIL* — anagram of (out) BAILS

Epilogue

As Richard puts it in his comment below, todays puzzle is "a short course in music appreciation".

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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