Saturday, October 9, 2021 — Thanksgiving Feast

Introduction

Today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon is appropriately themed for this Canadian holiday weekend.

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	Produce // small game Thursday, initially around five (7)

HAR(V)ES|T — {HARES (small game) + T (Thursday initially) containing (around) V ([Roman numeral] five)

5a	Going west, track island’s // gobblers (7)

TUR<|KEY|S — reversal of (going west) RUT (track) + KEY(island) + S ('s)

9a	Mother taking Ann // some heavenly food (5)

M(ANN)A — MA (mother) containing (taking) ANN (†)

10a	Forecasting aid, // love me in exchange (9)

BAR(O|ME)TER — {O (love; nil score in tennis) + ME (†)} contained in (in) BARTER (exchange)

11a	Lugs // Chess LP all over (7)

SCHLEPS* — anagram of (all over) CHESS LP

12a	Set fire to // bananas, dieting (7)

IGNITES* — anagram of (bananas) DIETING

13a	Emblems of Thanksgiving // crop a cousin arranged (11)

CORNUCOPIA* — anagram of (arranged) CROP A COUSIN

17a	Appetizer // nuts hero devours (4,7)

{HORS D'OEUVRES}* — anagram of (nuts) HERO DEVOURS

22a	Beat // part of an egg, adding a cup (7)

SHELL|A|C — SHELL (part of an egg) + (adding) {A (†) + C(up)}

23a	Relaxed, I eat sloppy // stuff (7)

SAT|IATE* — SAT (relaxed) + anagram of (sloppy) I EAT

25a	Recycled true ID tag, // thanks (9)

GRATITUDE* — anagram of (recycled) TRUE ID TAG

26a	Guest ultimately wasted // some dark meat (5)

T|HIGH — T (guesT ultimately) + HIGH (wasted; intoxicated)

27a	Overheard little // trick (7)

SLEIGHT~ — sounds like (overheard) SLIGHT (little)

28a	Hands over // metal-coated containers for coffee (5,2)

T(URNS) IN — URNS (containers for coffee) contained in (-coated) TIN (metal)

Down

1d	Bumpkin with some rum stuffing // longing for the old country (8)

H(OMES*)ICK — HICK (bumpkin) containing (with ... stuffing) anagram of (rum) SOME

As an anagram indicator, rum^[5] is used in a dated informal British sense meaning odd or peculiar ⇒ it’s a rum business, certainly.

2d	Managed singer/actress’s // low houses (8)

RAN|CHER|S — RAN (managed) + CHER (singer/actress) + S ('s)

3d	In strudel, a tender // thrill (5)

_EL|A|TE_ — hidden in (in)m strudEL A TEnder

4d	Half-basted in Mexican snack // sauce (7)

TA(BAS_)CO — BAS (half-BASted) contained in (in) TACO (Mexican snack)

5d	Interim changing // stations (7)

TERMINI* — anagram of (changing) INTERIM

6d	Get nostalgic // about sort of pie that’s served at holidays and is filling (9)

RE|MIN(IS)CE — RE (about) + MINCE (sort of pie that is served at holidays) containing (and ... filling) IS (†)

7d	Strange taste with eastern // property (6)

ESTAT*|E — anagram of (strange) TASTE + (with) E(astern)

8d	Pipe down some wines’ // remnants (6)

SH|REDS — SH (pipe down; admonition to be quiet) + REDS (some wines)

14d	Endorsing // wacko pol, hid gun (9)

UPHOLDING* — anagram of (wacko) POL HID GUN

15d	Ram goes around by way of // bird exhibits (8)

A(VIA)RIES — ARIES (Ram) containing (goes around) VIA (by way of)

Aries^[5] is a small constellation (the Ram), said to represent the ram in Greek mythology whose Golden Fleece was sought by Jason and the Argonauts.

16d	Pound gobbled by chewers on // long broadcast (8)

TE(L)ETH|ON — L (pound) contained in (grabbed by) TEETH (chewers) + ON (†)

The pound^[5] (also pound sterling) is the basic monetary unit of the UK, equal to 100 pence. While the symbol for pound is £, it is often written as L^[10].

18d	Tell // tally again (7)

RECOUNT — double definition

19d	Salt put in dry // pumpkin pie, e.g. (7)

DE(S)SERT or DES(S)ERT — S (salt; symbol on a salt shaker) contained in (put in) DESERT (dry; as an adjective)

20d	My group adopts wise // practices (6)

U(SAGE)S — US (my group) containing (adopts) SAGE (wise)

21d	Drumstick consumed // papal envoy (6)

LEG|ATE — LEG (drumstick) + ATE (consumed)

24d	Spud // treat freshly prepared (5)

TATER* — anagram of (freshly prepared) TREAT

Epilogue

Happy Thanksgiving to Canadian readers.

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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