Sunday, July 15, 2012

See the theme (Puzzle No. 3245)



Hozom’s comment: “Following Frank” http://www.thenation.com/blog/168745/following-frank
Hot and Trazom call out some of the signature elements of Frank Lewis’s style which they’ve endeavored to carry on in their own way.  This was something I picked out in their audition puzzle (search on “Cosima K. Coinpott”), and explained in a long e-mail to The Nation’s editors why this made the case for Hot and Trazom to get this gig.

Now, do you agree or disagree that US solvers are too straitlaced about the rules?  Comments are open.

Themework: 100%.

Difficulty (by standards of this weekly puzzle):  moderate.  Usually, the last words in the puzzle tend to be the hardest, but once you get the theme, it finishes pretty easily.

Political content: 7d

solution and comments below the fold

Legend: "*" anagram; "~" sounds like; "<" letters reversed; "( )" letters inserted; "_" or lower case: letters deleted; "†" explicit in the clue, “^” first letter or letters, “{“ relocated letter or letters


Across
1a
SENDS
SuEz NuDeS (alternate indicated by “oddly)
4a
F | RE (E) VERSE
F (forte: “loud”) + REVERSE (“flip”) containing (“infused with”) E (“energy”)
9a
PR (ET) EEN
ET (“alien”) contained in (“interrupts”) PREEN (“groom”)
10a
*TE (LL) ERS
*STEER (anagram indicated by “recklessly”) containing (“around”) LL (“lines”)
11a
EL *LEN DEG <ENERES<
EL (“the” in Spanish) + *LEGEND anagram indicated by (“disoriented”) + <SERENE< (“calm”, reversal indicated by “reflective”)
Nice piece of assembly
13a
BE (R) ET
weareR (last letter indicated by “finally) contained in (“cuts into”) BEET (“vegetable”)
15a
NEPENTHE
enshrine PEN THErapy (container indicated by “it holds”)
17a
RE (LENT) ED
REED (“woodwind part”) containing (“in”) LENT (“fast time”).  Clever cluing for “lent.”
19a
NEWER
niNE WERe (container indicated by “inside”).  Could have clued this better, I’m sure.
22a
*EVER (G) R EEN TREES
*REVERE (anagram indicated by “irrationally” + COURSES (“entrées”) containing (lit.) Giant (initial indicated by “seed of”)
25a
WELL S | ET
_H.G._ WELLS (“science fiction novelist”) + ET (French for “and”)
26a
DR | *ESDEN
*NEEDS (anagram indicated by “desparately”) preceded by (“at front”) DR (abbrev. doctor: “medic”)
27a
RE | DRESSER
RE (“in connection with”) + DRESSER (“piece of furniture”)
28a
*EXECS
*EXCESs (omission of last letter indicated by “nearly), anagram indicated by “rumpled”)

Down
1d
*SEPT (EMBER) S
*STEPS (anagram indicated by “clumsily”) containing (“around”) EMBER (“remnant of fire”)
2d
NEE | <D (L)ER<
NEE (“born”) + Latvia (initial indicated by “capital”) contained in (“amid”) <RED< (“communist”, reversal indicated by “uprising”)
3d
STERN
Double definition
4d,
21d
FENDER BENDER
Pun on “whammy bar” and “Fender” (a brand of electric guitar)
A whammy bar alters the sound of a guitar by tightening and loosening the strings, “bending” the notes.
5d
*EX (TREME) S
TREME (TV series on HBO) contained in *SEX (anagram indicated by “kinky”: would you expect any other indicator?)
6d
*VELVETEEN
*ELEVEN (anagram indicated by “bats”) containing (“surrounding”) VET (“animal doctor”)
The Velveteen Rabbit is a famous children’s book by Margery Williams with illustrations by William Nicholson.
7d
REEL | *ECT
REEL (“sway”) + *ETC (anagram indicated by “convert”)
8d
*EELS
*ELSE (anagram indicated by “slippery”).  That’s another obbious choice for indicator.
12d
*REPRESENT | S
*PRETENSES (anagram indicated by “false”) + depictS (last letter indicated by “ultimately”)
14d
TE (N | DRESS) E
N (“new”) + DRESS (“gown”) contained in TEE (“a shirt”)
16d
*SECRE (TE) S
TreasurE (outside letters indicated by “on the periphery”) contained in (“in”) *RECESS (anagram indicated by “shady”)
18d
L (EVEL) ED
EVEL (Evel Kinevil, famous stuntman) contained by (“outside”) LED (“first”)
20d
~WHEEDLE
Sounds like “weed’ll” (weed [“mary jane”: marijuana] + “will”)
23d
THE | M | E
†THE + M (“one thousand”) + E (fifth letter in the alphabet)
24d
~EWER
Sounds like “you were” (homonym indicated by "")

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