Saturday, December 11, 2021 — Beer Flight

Introduction

Today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon presented an opportunity to sample a few brews as one worked through the grid.

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

7a	Tavern gets beer // deal for shoppers (7,4)

BAR|GAIN S|ALE — BAR (tavern) + GAINS (gets) + ALE (beer)

8a	Fabulous bird // displayed in brochure (3)

_ROC_ — hidden in (displayed in) bROChure

The roc^[5] is a gigantic mythological bird described in the Arabian Nights.

10a	Razzle-dazzle greeting // ballpark food? (7)

FAN|FARE — split (3,4) we have FARE (food) consumed by a patron at a ballpark (FAN)

11a	One proposing a salute // to garden flower (7)

TO|ASTER — TO (†) + ASTER (garden flower)

12a	Decree // cited erroneously (5)

EDICT* — anagram of (erroneously) CITED

13a	Note to self about a // leftover (9)

REM(A)INDER — REMINDER (note to self) containing (about) A (†)

14a	Pilfered the Spanish beer // carrier (5,6)

HOT|EL| PORTER — HOT (pilfered) + EL (the Spanish; Spanish definite article) + PORTER (beer)

20a	Cold, // agitated cat in cart (9)

ANTARCTIC* — anagram of (agitated) CAT IN CART

23a	Small German car // from an Arab land (5)

S|AUDI — S(mall) + AUDI (German car)

24a	Rib Mama, playing // musical instrument (7)

MARIMBA* — anagram of (playing) RIB MAMA

25a	Spirits // completely possessing kind of salmon (7)

AL(COHO)L — ALL (completely) containing (possessing) COHO (kind of salmon)

26a	Novel // understood when read aloud (3)

NEW~ — sounds like (when read aloud) KNEW (understood)

27a	Blow // cover for a club party with beer (11)

SOCK|DO|LAGER — SOCK (cover for a [golf] club) + DO (party) + LAGER (beer)

Sockdolager^[5,12] is obsolete US slang for something final or decisive, as a heavy blow ⇒ His talent was delivering sockdolagers with his rifle butt.

Down

1d	Threateningly wave // cereal bowl (8)

BRAN|DISH — BRAN (cereal) + DISH (bowl)

2d	Empty // small container into big container (6)

VA(CAN)T — CAN (small container) contained in (into) VAT (big container)

3d	Whole // triangle reconfigured (8)

INTEGRAL* — anagram of (reconfigured) TRIANGLE

4d	Barnyard bird // outlaw took initially in the morning (6)

BAN|T|AM — BAN (outlaw) + T (Took initially [initial letter]) + AM (in the morning)

5d	New York art museum housing surrealist’s // winner (8)

ME(DALI|S)T — MET (New York art museum) containing (housing) {DALI (surrealist) + S ('s)}

The Met^[5] is an informal name for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Salvador Dalí^[5] (1904–1989) was a Spanish surrealist painter.

6d	Was irritating // for all viewers? (6)

G|RATED — split (1-5) we have G-RATED ([suitable] for all viewers)

7d	Serve-yourself meal hit repeatedly (6)

BUFFET — double definition

9d	Poison // copper, very unusual (6)

CU|RARE — CU ([chemical symbol for] copper) + RARE (very unusual)

15d	Dessert: // is it a rum concoction? (8)

TIRAMISU* — anagram of (concoction) IS IT A RUM

Tiramisu^[5] is an Italian dessert consisting of layers of sponge cake soaked in coffee and brandy or liqueur with powdered chocolate and mascarpone cheese.

Delving Deeper

Traditional tiramisu[7] contains a short list of ingredients: ladyfingers (savoiardi), egg yolks, sugar, coffee, mascarpone cheese, cocoa powder and sometimes liquor. Marsala wine can be added to the recipe, but other liquors are frequently substituted for it in both the coffee and the cheese mixture, including dark rum, Madeira, port, brandy, Malibu, or Irish cream and especially coffee-flavoured liqueurs such as Tia Maria and Kahlúa. Disaronno is also often used to enhance the taste of tiramisu. Tiramisu may be a recent invention, with written mention of it first appearing in the later part of the 20th century. However, it has been claimed that tiramisu has aphrodisiac effects and was concocted by a 19th century Treviso brothel madam for her clientele, as the Accademia Del Tiramisù explains, to "solve the problems they may have had with their conjugal duties on their return to their wives".

16d	Groves // or greens (8)

OR|CHARDS — OR (†) + CHARDS (greens)

17d	Witch wearing cosmetic // fibrous stuff (8)

ROUG(HAG)E — HAG (witch) contained in (wearing) ROUGE (cosmetic)

18d	Guys creating spots on the back of 1,000 // loonies (6)

M|ADMEN — ADMEN (guys creating [advertising] spots) following (on the back of) M ([Roman numeral] 1000)

Scratching the Surface
For foreign readers, the surface reading alludes to loonie[5], an informal name for a Canadian one-dollar coin introduced in 1987. Origin: from the image of a loon on the back of the coin

19d	Norm pens sick // column (6)

P(ILL)AR — PAR (norm) containing (pens) ILL (sick)

21d	Tossed // monarch’s chair in the sound (6)

THROWN~ — sounds like (in the sound) THRONE (monarch's chair)

22d	Spell // “nectar” wrong (6)

TRANCE* — anagram of (wrong) NECTAR

23d	Land in the Mediterranean // south, coldly (6)

S|ICILY — S(outh) + ICILY (coldly)

Epilogue

Beer flights are small servings of various beers. Usually, you’ll receive a small 3–5 oz. glass of each beer you’d like to try on a wooden board called a Beer Flight Paddle.

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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