Saturday, November 20, 2021 — Enchanting Quintet

Introduction

I found today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon to be a somewhat gentle solve compared to some of their recent offerings.

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	Singer // rolling dice online (6,4)

{CELINE DION}* — anagram of (rolling) DICE ONLINE

6a	Song // covered by Mariah (4)

_ARIA_ — hidden in (covered by) MARIAh

9a	Flowers // out of bed planted in rows (7)

L(UP)INES — UP (out of bed) contained in (planted in) LINES (rows)

10a	Feeling of scorn // in ads I’d revamped (7)

DISDAIN* — anagram of (revamped) IN ADS ID

12a	Cicero’s offering // doughnut allotment (7)

O|RATION — O ([letter that looks like a] doughnut) + RATION (allotment)

Marcus Tullius Cicero^[7] (106 BC – 43 BC) was a Roman orator.

13a	Phrase // “I’m embracing God” in Italian (5)

I(DIO)M — IM (†) containing (embracing) DIO (God in Italian; Italian word meaning 'God')

15a	Manage // love poetry with surprise at the end (7)

O|VERSE|E — O (love; nil score in tennis) + VERSE (poetry) + (with) E (surprise at the end; end [final letter] of surprisE)

17a	Hero’s love // in sable and ermine (7)

_LE|AND|ER_ — hidden in sabLE AND ERmine

Hero and Leander^[7] were lovers in Greek myth.

18a	Clothing // trim in one place (7)

A|P(PARE)L — PARE (trim) contained in (in) { A (one) + PL (place; abbreviation in street addresses)

21a	Revered Indian // mom given headwear (7)

MA(HAT)MA — MAMA (mom) containing (given) HAT (headwear)

23a	Breakwater /that’s/ blackish? (5)

JETTY — double definition; I thought the second might be whimsical but this sense is actually listed in dictionaries

24a	As is, run crazy /in/ Putin’s language (7)

RUSSIAN* — anagram of (crazy) AS IS RUN

Vladimir Putin^[7] is the current president of Russia.

27a	Wild // river to the Caspian, after turning brownish (7)

NAT<|URAL — URAL (river to the Caspian) following (after) reversal of (turning) TAN (brownish)

The Ural^[7] is a river flowing through Russia and Kazakhstan in the continental border between Europe and Asia. It originates in the southern Ural Mountains and discharges into the Caspian Sea.

28a	Build up // 100 in a Greek island (7)

A(C)CRETE — C ([Roman numeral] 100) contained in (in) {A (†) + CRETE (Greek Island)}

29a	Returned health resort’s // dumbbells (4)

{S|APS}< — reversal of (returned) {SPA (health resort) + S ('s)}

30a	Singer // said to have supper on the beach? (5,5)

{DINAH SHORE}~ — sounds like (said) DINE ASHORE (to have supper on the beach [rather than, for example, on a boat])

Down

1d	Mostly finished Yo-yo Ma’s instrument // room (4)

CELL_ — CELL[O] (Yo-yo Ma's instrument) with the final letter removed (mostly [but not quite] finished)

Yo-Yo Ma^[7] is an American cellist (born in Paris, France, to Chinese parents).

2d	Blanket // investigation starting with Los Angeles (3,4)

LA|P ROBE — PROBE (investigation) preceded by (starting with) LA (Los Angeles)

3d	Man in jail conceals // warrior in camouflage (5)

_N|IN|JA_ — hidden in (conceals) maN IN JAil

4d	Have an aversion to // island surrounded by sea wall (7)

D(ISL)IKE — ISL (island) contained in (surrounded by) DIKE (seawall)

5d	Like first or second // kind of test, interrupted by noise (7)

OR(DIN)AL — ORAL (kind of test) containing (interrupted by) DIN (noise)

7d	Prepared // a cube in crimson (7)

RE(A|DIE)D — {A (†) + DIE (cube)} contained in (in) RED (crimson)

8d	A merry nun, a deranged // singer (4,6)

{ANNE MURRAY}* — anagram of (deranged) A MERRY NUN

The audio and video may not be well-synced but Anne's folksy Maritime personality shines through in this live performance.

11d	Flying chaps in // green (7)

SPINACH* — anagram of (flying) CHAPS IN

14d	Johnson era punk // singer (5,5)

{NORAH JONES}* — anagram of (punk) JOHNSON ERA

16d	Mister // Glass’s last hope (7)

S|PRAYER — S (GlasS's last [letter]) + PRAYER (hope)

19d	Break from driving // Dad around: it’s time (3,4)

P(IT S|T)OP — POP (Dad) containing (around) {ITS (†) + T(ime)}

20d	Heard Laura misinform // legendary rock singer? (7)

LORELEI~ — sounds like (heard) {LAURA (†) + LIE (misinform)}

Lorelei^[5] is a siren said to live on the Lorelei rock, a rock on the bank of the Rhine. She is held by legend to lure boatmen to destruction with her enchanting song.

21d	Cosmetic // Yo-yo put around a flaw (7)

M(A|SCAR)A — MA (Yo-yo^*) containing (put around) {A (†) + SCAR (flaw)}

^* The cellist from 1d returns for an encore.

22d	Cherub goes inside for // fruit (7)

T(ANGEL)O — ANGEL (cherub) contained in (goes inside) TO (for; in the direction of ⇒ heading for the border)

25d	Old Peruvians, // if cut short (5)

IN|CAS_ — IN CAS[E] (if) with the final letter removed (cut short)

26d	Wilder // trait transmitter (4)

GENE — double definition; the first being American actor Gene Wilder^[7], professional name of Jerome Silberman (1933–2016)

Epilogue

Today's puzzle is graced by a quintet of enchanting singers—comprising a pair of Canadians, a couple of Americans and one from German folklore.The latter brought disastrous consequences to those enchanted by her song; the four modern ladies are much more considerate of the well-being of their fans.

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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