Saturday, November 6, 2021 — Not Natural

Introduction

When tackling today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon, the solver need not stray from the black keys of the piano.

I, like many of those who have commented on their experience with the puzzle, found it quite a bit more of a challenge than usual.

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	Smart // dancing act has a spark (5,2,1,4)

{SHARP AS A TACK}* — anagram of (dancing) ACT HAS A SPARK

9a	Concerning // a boxing match (5)

A|BOUT — A (†) + BOUT (boxing match)

10a	Pile buttery spread on Nova Scotia // pastries (9)

NAP|OLEO|NS — NAP (pile) + OLEO (buttery spread) + NS (Nova Scotia)

11a	Cats // chase the horses around (8)

CHEETAHS* — anagram of (horses around) CHASE THE

12a	Attended // Tom’s debut in small role (4,2)

CAME (T)O — T (Tom's debut [initial letter]) contained in (in) CAMEO (small role)

14a	Japanese drama involving a // flood survivor (4)

NO(A)H — NOH (Japanese drama) containing (involving) A (†)

15a	State when surrounded by rubbish?? (10)

DRO(OPINE)SS — OPINE (state) contained in (surrounded by) DROSS (rubbish)

The double question marks tell us there is something highly unusual about  the clue. The entire clue is both wordplay and definition.

Droopiness^[3,11] denotes a state of sagging in dejection, disheartenment or exhaustion. I suppose being surrounded by rubbish might make one feel disheartened—especially if it were one's responsibility to clean up the mess.

Heather offers an interesting suggestion in the comments below—namely, the setters may have used rubbish^[5] in an informal British sense meaning to criticize severely and reject as worthless ⇒ he rubbished the idea of a European Community-wide carbon tax. As she puts it, "we wilt after criticism from all sides". However, it would be most unusual for C&R to employ such a blatantly British usage.

18a	A sort of corporal’s collecting base // payments (10)

A|L(LOW)ANCE|S — A (†) + {LANCE (sort of corporal) + S ('s)} containing (collecting) LOW (base)

In the British army, a lance corporal^[4] is a noncommissioned officer of the lowest rank. In the US Marine Corps, a lance corporal^[3] is a noncommissioned rank that is above private first class and below corporal. The rank of lance corporal existed in the Canadian army up to 1968.

19a	Supported by // 8/13 of the alphabet? (4)

A|TO|P — the letters A TO P constitute 8/13 of the alphabet or 16 out of 26 letters.

22a	Small-town // hoodlum takes overdose (6)

P(OD)UNK — PUNK (hoodlum) containing (takes) OD (overdose)

 Podunk^[11] (noun or adjective^*) denotes a small, insignificant, or inaccessible town.

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Origin: generic use of Podunk, either of two villages, one near Worcester, Massachusetts, the other near Hartford, Connecticut
^* dictionaries define Podunk as a noun^[3,11,12,15], a noun usually used as a modifier^[5], both a noun and an adjective^[1] and podunk as an adjective^[4,10]

24a	Mr. Young copies // twisters (8)

CY|CLONE — CY (Mr. Young) + CLONES (copies)

Cy Young^[7] (1867–1955) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher who played from 1890 to 1911. Each season, the Cy Young Award honors the best pitcher in each league.

Although a meteorologist would frown on the usage, cyclone is—according to some US dictionaries—"loosely"^[12] or "not in technical use"^[11] another name for a tornado.

26a	Beginning // in August, range through western Russia (9)

INAUGURAL — IN (†) + AUG (August) +URAL ([mountain] range through western Russia)

27a	Dispute about large // tomato’s impact (5)

SP(L)AT — SPAT (dispute) containing (about) L(arge)

28a	Level // of salad bar at ground (4,2,1,5)

{FLAT AS A BOARD}* — anagram of (ground) OF SALAD BAR AT

As an anagram indicator, ground is used as the past tense or past participle of the verb grind^[5]. An anagram indicator is typically a word that denotes movement or transformation. Grind denotes transformation, for example, in the sense of grain being ground into flour.

Down

1d	Obstruct // booth containing nothing new (9)

ST(O|NEW)ALL — STALL (booth) containing (†) {O (nothing; letter that looks like a zero) + NEW (†)}

2d	Quick // pickup Down Under with a street ahead (6)

A|ST|UTE — UTE (pickup Down Under; Australian term for a pickup truck) following (with ... ahead) {A (†) + ST (street)}

3d	Inebriated // doctor in joke bit (5-5)

PUN|CH-(DR)UNK — DR (doctor) contained in (in) {PUN (joke) + CHUNK (bit)}

Punch-drunk^[5] means dazed or stupefied by or as if by^* a series of heavy blows to the head.

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^* I didn't know that punch-drunk could mean inebriated in addition to meaning dazed from being pummelled by blows to the head; the key phrase in the definition is "or as if by".

4d	Drains // springs the wrong way (4)

SAPS< — reversal of (the wrong way) SPAS (springs)

5d	Some thought old alien // was deceitful (4,1,3)

_T|OLD| A LIE_ — hidden in (some) thoughT OLD ALIEn

6d	Finish // neck-and-neck (5)

CLOSE — double definition

7d	Two times, is able to // dance (6)

CANCAN — CAN (is able to) repeated (two times)

8d	A Highlander’s // ties (6)

A|SCOT|S — A (†) + SCOT (Highlander) + S (†)

13d	YMCA could be losing a renovated // place for entertainment (6,4)

{COMEDY CLUB}* — anagram of (renovated) {YMC[A] COULD BE after removing (losing) A}

16d	Caught // Tolkien creature and tried to catch fish (9)

ENT|ANGLED — ENT (Tolkien creature) + (and) ANGLED (tried to catch fish)

Ents^[7] are a species of beings in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy world Middle-earth who closely resemble trees.

17d	Victory in hard-fought // sort of doubleheader (3-5)

T(WI-N)IGHT — WIN (victory) contained in (in) TIGHT (hard-fought)

Twi-night^[11] is an adjective denoting a baseball doubleheader begun late in the afternoon and continued into the evening.

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Origin: twi(light) + night

18d	Household helper // happy in first-class atmosphere (2,4)

A(U P)AIR — UP (happy) contained in (in) {A (first-class) + AIR (atmosphere)}

20d	Former Spanish coin // rendered in shade of green (6)

PE(SET)A — SET (rendered) contained in (in) PEA (shade of green)

I was unable to find a source giving render and set as synonyms. However, I suppose the words can each mean create in their own specific contexts (but I can't think of an instance where they are synonyms in the same context). For example, a compiler sets a crossword puzzle and render^[5] can mean to represent or depict artistically.

21d	State, // “That’s a shame, Kay,” without finishing (6)

ALAS|KA_ — ALAS (That's a shame) + KA[Y] with the Y removed (without finishing)

23d	Southerner’s speech // left following sketch (5)

DRAW|L — L(eft) following (†) DRAW (sketch)

25d	Greek god // shows boldness after introduction (4)

_ARES — [D]ARES (shows boldness) with the initial letter removed (after introduction)

In Greek mythology, Ares^[5] is the war god, son of Zeus and Hera.

Epilogue

In music, natural^[5] (noun) is another name for natural note; that is, a note that is neither sharp nor flat. As an adjective, natural^[3] denotes having no sharps or flats—thus this puzzle is Not Natural as it has one of each. Sharps and flats are played on the black keys on a piano.

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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