Saturday, November 13, 2021 — Moon Starers

Introduction

Today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon is one for those who study the heavens.

Fortunately, most of the star gazers were known to me and the one who wasn't was able to be worked out from the wordplay. He is the one who most readers report stumbling over—the father of trigonometry.

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	Scientist // running after amphibian (6)

NEWT|ON — ON (running) following (after) NEWT (amphibian)

Sir Isaac Newton^[5] (1642–1727) was an English mathematician and physicist, considered the greatest single influence on theoretical physics until Einstein. (show more )

In his Principia Mathematica (1687), Newton gave a mathematical description of the laws of mechanics and gravitation, and applied these to planetary motion. Opticks (1704) records his optical experiments and theories, including the discovery that white light is made up of a mixture of colours. His work in mathematics included the binomial theorem and differential calculus.

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4a	Clutching crook-shaped object, wades across // coastal inlets (6)

F(J)ORDS — FORDS (wades across) containing (clutching) J (crook-shaped object)

9a	Lead about additional // plant for cooking (7)

P(OTHER)B — PB ([chemical symbol for] lead) containing (about) OTHER (additional)

10a	General, boxer, pope, // astronomer (7)

G|ALI|LEO — G (general; film rating) + ALI (boxer; American boxer Muhammad Ali^[5]) + LEO (pope; the name of thirteen popes^[7])

Galileo Galilei^[5] (1564–1642) was an Italian astronomer and physicist. (show more )

He discovered the constancy of a pendulum's swing, formulated the law of uniform acceleration of falling bodies, and described the parabolic trajectory of projectiles. He applied the telescope to astronomy and observed craters on the moon, sunspots, Jupiter's moons, and the phases of Venus.

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11a	Disturb // right boot (5)

R|OUST — R(ight) + OUST (boot)

12a	Boozers // as far as southern locales (8)

TO|S|SPOTS — TO (as far as) + S(outhern) + SPOTS (locales)

13a	Cool and dry American // astronomer (10)

HIP|PARCH|US — HIP (cool; fashionable) + (and) PARCH (dry) + US (American)

Hipparchus^[5] (c.170–after 126 BC) was a Greek astronomer and geographer. (show more )

He is best known for his discovery of the precession of the equinoxes and is credited with the invention of trigonometry.

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15a	Hero // exchanged vow with lady at the front (4)

I|DO|L_ — I DO (exchanged vow; "exchanged" is an adjective) + (with) L (lady at the front; initial letter of Lady)

18a	Knock English // record (4)

TAP|E — TAP (knock) + E(nglish)

Record and tape are more synonymous when interpreted as verbs.

20a	Manage hospital wards, engaging nurse // scientist (10)

COPE|RN|ICUS — {COPE (manage) + ICUS (hospital wards)} containing (engaging) RN ([registered] nurse)

Nicolaus Copernicus^[5] (1473–1543) was a Polish astronomer; Latinized name of Mikołaj Kopernik. (show more )

He proposed a model of the solar system in which the planets orbited in perfect circles around the sun, and his work ultimately led to the overthrow of the established geocentric cosmology. He published his astronomical theories in De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (1543).

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23a	Shaker // started fishing with a mesh? (8)

CAST|A|NET — CAST (started fishing) + (with) A (†) + NET (mesh)

25a	Deserve // new timer (5)

MERIT* — anagram of (new) TIMER

27a	Given time, employ travelling // astronomer (7)

P(T)OLEMY* — anagram of (travelling) EMPLOY containing (given) T(ime)

Ptolemy^[5] (2nd century) was a Greek astronomer and geographer. (show more )

His teachings had enormous influence on medieval thought, the geocentric view of the cosmos being adopted as Christian doctrine until the late Renaissance. Ptolemy's Geography, giving lists of places with their longitudes and latitudes, was also a standard work for centuries, despite its inaccuracies.

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28a	Secret // container filling a pirate’s drink (7)

A|R(CAN)UM — CAN (container) contained in (filling) {A (†) + RUM (pirate's drink)}

29a	Film industry // reworked Iceman (6)

CINEMA* — anagram of (reworked) ICEMAN

Scratching the Surface
The Iceman Cometh[7] is a play written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill in 1939. First published in 1946, the play premiered on Broadway in October 1946, where it ran for 136 performances before closing in March 1947.

30a	Astronomer // withdrawing stink about place (6)

KE(PL)ER< — reversal of (withdrawing) REEK (stink) containing (about) PL (place; abbreviation in street addresses)

Johannes Kepler^[5] (1571–1630) was a German astronomer. (show more )

His analysis of Tycho Brahe's planetary observations led him to discover the three laws governing orbital motion.

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Down

1d	Bidding term // other than “bottom” (2,5)

NO T|RUMP — NOT (other than) + RUMP (bottom)

2d	Bird that eats insects, // grain and some corn (8)

WHEAT|EAR — WHEAT (grain) + (and) EAR (some corn)

Wheatears^[5,7] are several species of mainly Eurasian and African songbird in the flycatcher family, with black and buff or black and white plumage and a white rump.

Delving Deeper
Male Northern Wheatear Wheatears[7] are an Old World group, but the northern wheatear has established a foothold in eastern Canada and Greenland and in western Canada and Alaska. The name "wheatear" is not derived from "wheat" or any sense of "ear", but is a folk etymology of "white" and "arse", referring to the prominent white rump found in most species.

3d	Revolution // or routine (5)

OR|BIT — OR (†) + BIT ([theatrical] routine)

5d	Cut into bird // crate (6)

JA(LOP)Y — LOP (cut) contained in (into) JAY (bird)

6d	Told // communist about past (7)

RE(LATE)D — RED (communist) containing (about) LATE (past)

7d	Put away // small tug (4)

S|TOW — S(mall) + TOW (tug)

8d	Error in talk show: a true show // topper? (5,3)

OP(E)RA H|A|T — E (error; baseball term) contained in (in) OPRAH (talk show) + A (†) + T(rue)

10d	Greet us with shifting // hand signal (7)

GESTURE* — anagram of (with shifting) GREET US

14d	Get treacly about a single // actor in Ocean’s Eleven (7)

CLO(ONE)Y — CLOY (get treacly) containing (about) ONE (a single: the team scored not a single run)

Ocean's Eleven^[7] (a remake of the 1960 Rat Pack film of the same name) is a 2001 American heist comedy film featuring an ensemble cast, including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, Andy García, Bernie Mac and Julia Roberts.

16d	Fall behind // hoop placed in green (4,4)

L(O|SE T)IME — {O ([letter that looks like a] hoop) + SET (placed)} contained in (in) LIME ([shade of] green)

17d	Hostile // in claim, I snarled (8)

INIMICAL* — anagram of (snarled) IN CLAIM I

19d	Philosopher attached to // military unit (7)

PLATO|ON — PLATO ([ancient Greek] philosopher) + ON (attached to)

21d	Intersection occupied by bagel // examiner of sorts (7)

COR(O)NER — CORNER (intersection) containing (occupied by) O ([letter that looks like a] bagel)

22d	Current // dancing master (6)

STREAM* — anagram of (dancing) MASTER

24d	Follow // end of great contest (5)

T|RACE — T (end [final letter] of greaT) + RACE (contest)

26d	Grand narrative // in the picture (4)

_E|PIC_ — hidden in (in) thE PICture

Epilogue

The title is an anagram of ASTRONOMERS.

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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