Comprehension exam (Puzzle No. 3,250)

Update (Monday): In annotating the solution, I was impressed at how neatly this puzzle breaks the normal (American) rules of constructing and solving cryptic crosswords.  Read through the annotation to see all the examples.  


Be warned, this is a hard one.  Fortunately, there's no obscure fill (nice work there!), so you can use the crossing letters to get some of the answers.  But don't cheat yourself; if you figure out an answer that way, go back and work out the wordplay.  By my count, there were a dozen or so tough clues.  Some are the kinds of non-standard clues Hot and Trazom have been talking about in their blog the last month or two, others are a bit of a stretch in one indicator or another, and others rely on unusual definitions or divisions in the clue (shades of Hex).

If you have trouble with a clue, read back through Hot and Trazom's blog posts to see if you recognize the type of clue and how to deconstruct it.  Then post a comment here if you need further help.  One of us will steer you in the right direction.

If you can solve and explain all these: congratulations, you've passed the test and can call yourself a cryptic expert!

Link to puzzle: http://www.thenation.com/article/169612/puzzle-no-3250

Difficulty: very hard--challenging cluing, but all the fill is common.

Hozom's comment: "Collaboration," in which Hot and Trazom walk us through the process where two constructors create one puzzle:  http://www.thenation.com/blog/169650/collaboration. A must-read for anyone who's more than a casual cryptic fan.


Solution and explanation 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/28a	FIR ST AND | FORE(MO)ST	MO (“a way to do things”: modus operandi) contained in (“in”) FOREST (“woods”) following (“behind”) FIR STAND (“a conifer-covered area”) Frank Lewis would be proud.
5a	C | *AESAR	C (“Congress”, first letter indicated by “leader”) + *AREAS (anagram indicated by “bombed”)
10a	RAVEL	Double definition
11a/25	~LOCK STOCK AND BARREL	Homonym (“overheard”) of LOX TALK (“conversation concerning smoked fish”) AND (†) BERYL (“mineral”) You’ll groan, but once again, the wordplay is entirely by the book.
12a	CARAVAN	CAR + A VAN (“vehicles”, exclamation point for the clue doing double duty)
13a	DI(SOW)NS	DINS (“rackets”) containing (“incorporating”) SOW (“pig”)
14a	*TELEVISI | ON SET	*LEVITIES (anagram indicated by “gone bad”) + ONSET (“beginning”)
18a	TOMA(TO KE)TCHUP	TO MATCH UP (“to form pairs”) containing (“outside”) TOKE (“take in some herb”, “toke” being slang for a puff on a marijuana cigarette)
22a	sE(TERN)AL	TERN (“gull-like bird”) contained in (“swallowed by”) sEAL (“marine mammal”, first letter omission indicated by “without start”)
23a	*ICED TE | A	*DECEIT (anagram indicated by “treacherous”) + †A (rebus indicated by “leading to”)
25a	See 11a
26a	TIN | GE	TIN (“can”) + G_iraff_E (first and last letters indicated by “sides”)
27a	*O(XY)GEN	*GONE (anagram indicated by “crazy”) containing (“about”) XY (“male chromosomes”)
28a	See 1a

Down

1d	*FEROCITY	*CRY FIE TO (anagram indicated by “unnatural”)
2d	dRIVER	dRIVER (“engineer”, deleted letter indicated by “loses face”) Note misdirection here: most people will think of Ohio and Missouri as states first rather than rivers
3d	<TEL AVIV<	Reversal (“promoted”) of VI (“the sixth”) + VALET (“manservant”)
4d	NYLON	maNY LONgshoremen (hidden word indicated by “hiding”)
6d	ASS _l_ISTS	ASS (“idiot”) + l_ISTS (explicit in clue, omitted first letter indicated by “omitting Losses”)
7d	S(TOP)WATCH	SWATCH (“bit of fabric”) containing (“enveloping”) TOP (“first rate”)
8d	RAKISH	Pun on “rake-ish”, a rake is the tool the croupier uses to collect losing players’ chips.
9d	AC(ID) ROCK	I’D (†) contained in (“invested in”) A CROCK (“hogwash”)
15d	*LATTER-DAY	*TREAT LADY (anagram indicated by “badly”) The Mormon church is properly called “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.”  While presidential candidate Mitt Romney is an LDS member, Harry Reid (D-UT), Senate Majority Leader, is too.
16d	*SETTLER | S	*TRESTLE + S (“20” refers to the answer to 20d) This kind of cross-reference is often seen in British cryptics, especially ones that are themed.  It’s not allowed in the stricter interpretation of American rules
17d	<AP< PARENT	<PA< (“father”, reversal indicated by “bringing up”) + PARENT (“mother, perhaps”)
19d	MANDATE	Heteronym of “man-date” (“bromantic tête-à-tête”) Hot and Trazom explain heteronyms here: http://www.thenation.com/blog/169422/hetero
20d	*TRESTLE	*SLETTER (anagram indicated by “new”) Note the absence of punctuation between “new” and “sletter” is not strictly within the rules
21d	LE (GAT) O	LEO (†) containing (“covers”) GAT (“piece”, both words are slang for a handgun) Using “composer” or “Delibes” in the clue (Leo Delibes) would be a bit unfairly obscure, but a British constructor wouldn’t think twice
23d	IGLOO	leipzIG LOOting (hidden word indicated by “lurking in”)
24d	TAN | GO	TAN (“beat”, as in defeat) + GO (“energy”) Hard wordplay to figure out because both halves are obscure definitions, but easy to get the answer from the definition and crossing words.