Saturday, December 18, 2021 — Dress for the Season

Introduction

Today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon may be one to solve in front of the fireplace wrapped in a warm blanket sipping on a big mug of hot chocolate.

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	In epic, adored // bullfighter (7)

_PIC|ADOR_ — hidden in (in) ePIC ADORed

5a	Call for // bombastic speech about conflict? (7)

WAR|RANT — taken as a phrase, a WAR RANT is a RANT (bombastic speech) about [on the subject of] WAR (conflict)

9a	Vamoose // mid-afternoon, interrupting con game (5)

SC(R)AM — R (mid-afternoon; middle letter of afteRnoon)
  contained in (interrupting) SCAM (con game)

10a	California research centre backed liquid rock // head warmer (9)

{BAL|AC}<LAVA — reversal of (backed) {CA (California) + LAB (research centre)} + LAVA (liquid rock)

11a	Take place held by giant // Asian (7)

TI(BE)TAN — BE (take place) contained in (held by) TITAN (giant)

12a	Lowly worker // changed taverns (7)

SERVANT* — anagram of (changed) TAVERNS

13a	Test a slope after adjusting // skiwear (10)

SALOPETTES* — anagram of (after adjusting) TEST A SLOPE

16a	Mark // small wheels (4)

S|CAR — S(mall) + CAR (wheels)

18a	Someone manipulated // deposit as security (4)

PAWN — double definition

19a	Tucker lent bum // warm top (10)

TURTLENECK* — anagram of (bum) TUCKER LENT

22a	Confined // arachnid inside cap (7)

LI(MITE)D — MITE (arachnid) contained in (inside) LID (cap)

23a	Model // part of Spain after Portugal’s capital (7)

P|ARAGON — ARAGON (part of Spain) following (after) P (Portugal's capital [letter])

25a	Further south, temporarily leave a // warm jacket (4,5)

DOWN| PARK|A — DOWN (further south) + PARK (temporarily leave) + A (†)

26a	Drive through // English port (5)

D|OVER — D (drive; symbol on a gear shift) + OVER (through; complete)

27a	Taken as spoils, // like the Piper catching vermin (7)

PI(RAT)ED — PIED (like the Piper) containing (catching) RAT (vermin)

The clue is an allusion to the Pied Piper of Hamelin^[7].

28a	Bothered, // possesses means for coasting (7)

HAS|SLED — HAS (possesses) + SLED (means for coasting)

Down

1d	Old Spanish coins // placed among pod contents (7)

PE(SET)AS — SET (placed) contained in (among) PEAS (pod contents)

2d	Plagiarized work about a // West Indian (5)

C(A)RIB — CRIB (plagiarized work) containing (about) A (†)

3d	Poet made rambling // promotional sample (4,4)

{DEMO TAPE}* — anagram of (rambling) POET MADE

4d	Steal from popular // flyer (5)

ROB|IN — ROB (steal from) + IN (popular)

5d	Fruitful // sources of oil shut up (4-5)

WELL-S|PENT — WELLS (sources of oil) + PENT (shut up)

One comment below questions this clue. Well spent^[5] (said of money or time) means usefully or profitably expended—thus productive or fruitful.

6d	Company run in debit side // account (6)

RE(CO|R)D — {CO (company) + R (run; as a baseball term)} contained in (in) RED (debit side)

7d	A curtain surrounding hot // shower (9)

A|VALANC(H)E — A () + VALANCE (curtain) containing (surrounding) H(ot)

8d	Unfaithful sort; // characteristic otherwise (7)

TRAIT|OR — TRAIT (characteristic) + OR (otherwise)

14d	Agitated, warn Elmo about tungsten // cutting tool (4,5)

{LAWN MO(W)ER}* — anagram of (agitated) WARN ELMO containing (about) W ([chemical symbol for] tungsten; from the element's former name, wolfram)

15d	In start of twentieth century, economy initially // boomed (9)

T|HUND(E)RED — E (economy initially; initial letter of Economy) contained in (in) {T (start [initial letter] of Twentieth) + HUNDRED (century)}

17d	Man and new wife’s // place in Scotland (8)

HE|BRIDE|S — HE (man) + (and) BRIDE (new wife) + S ('s)

18d	Gathered // pooch outside sandwich shop on the way back (5,2)

P(ILED<) UP — PUP (pooch) containing (outside) reversal of (on the way back) DELI (sandwich shop)

20d	Considerate with regard to poor // cousins (7)

KIND|RE|D — KIND (considerate) + RE (with regard to) + D (poor; academic grade)

It is a revelation to me that kindred^[5] can be a noun as well as an adjective.

21d	Best among rest // cease and desist (4,2)

S(TOP) IT — TOP (best) contained in (among) SIT (rest; relax)

23d	Penny per // fruit (5)

P|EACH — P (penny; British abbreviation) + EACH (per)

24d	Hammer // presented by Liberal (5)

GAVE|L — GAVE (presented) + (by) L(iberal)

Epilogue

While the weather here in Ottawa doesn't yet call for us to bundle up to the extent suggested by the theme, that is not the case in Winnipeg—as Senf reports below—and other parts of the country.

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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