Do they really mean "in all areas" and "will continue to be accepted until..." in Computer Science faculty opening ads in the US? The following is an extension of the question Job applications reviewed &quot;until the position is filled&quot; (i.e. soft deadline): What does that really mean?.

In most US job announcements of faculty openings (of any rank) in computer science I've seen no hard deadlines for applications and no hard subdiscipline designations. (In Europe, this is different: the deadlines and the subdiciplines are typically hard restictions.) Most of the time, we see sentences such as


  The search will focus on candidates in the areas X1, X2, and X3. However, outstanding candidates in all research areas will be considered.


and


  Preference will be given to applications submitted before Date Y, but we will continue accepting applications until the positions are filled.


Wee see such phrases way too often and may consider them boilerplate in the meantime.


Does the search team actually sometimes look at applications outside of the mentioned areas (X1, X2, and X3) and at the applications submitted after the deadline? Or are the above phrases introduced for some other reasons (legal, politics, ...), and the search team never looks at anything beyond the mentioned subdisciplines or anything past the deadline? 
Has anyone already been hired despite being outside of areas X1-X3 or beyond the date Y?
In practical terms, if the applicant is a normal scientist but has missed the deadline, how long after that he/she should apply?
In practical terms, if the applicant is a normal scientist, is on time, but the subdiscipline is slightly off, should he/she still apply?
In practical terms, if the applicant is a normal scientist but the subdiscipline is slightly off and the deadline has passed, how long after that he/she should apply?


(An aside: Assume that the applicant cannot get this information directly by asking, e.g., due to the absense of contact data, and that the applicants network, including that of the supporting advisors if there are any, does not cover the location.)

This question seeks answers from folks who have participated in search committees, have supervised their work, or have received feedback as applicants. If it is the case for you, say so.
As to the research area, whether they really mean that any research area will be considered is impossible to know from the ad.  Sometimes the search committee really is open to a broad range of areas; other times, there is really so strong a preference for one particular area that people from outside area have essentially no chance.  I have served on search committees of both types; although the relevant verbiage in the ad was the same in either case, in one case, a majority of the committee was committed to hiring somebody from a very narrow area.

As to the deadline statement, I think that is pretty much always meant seriously.  The statements is there so that the committee does not have any possible obligation to not consider applications that are not completed until after the deadline.  There's no practical reason for the committee not to consider applications that come in a little late, and in my experience, slightly late applications have always been given full consideration.

By "slightly late," I mean a couple weeks. Actual review of the applications by the committee typically doesn't start until that long after the due date. (That's particularly true if the due date is early, falling during the winter break or earlier.) The latest application that I can recall getting full consideration was completed about a month late, but at that point things are probably getting dicey. And (just like in graduate admissions) committee members are likely to be more flexible about the dates of recommendation letters than the package put together by the job applicant.