Thursday, September 27, 2012

Woulda, shoulda, coulda (Puzzle No. 3,254)

When I got 13a in this week's puzzle, I thought "that would have made a great theme," but nothing else picked up on it.  Still some enjoyable and clever wordplay for you though, plus Trazom's obligatory composer reference at 18d and a name-check for Willz and for Hozom's boss at 27a.

Link to puzzle: http://www.thenation.com/article/170161/puzzle-no-3254

Hozom's comment: "Lit Parade," in which our constructors explain the convention of an exclamation point in a clue denoting "& lit" (literally, "and literally": a clue where both the definition and wordplay are contained in the same clue words.  I didn't know that our friends Hex don't use the exclamation point.  They think it's bragging, but I think it's an important signal to novice solvers.  Please go join the debate over at Word Salad.

Degree of difficulty: I didn't find this one too hard, though some might have a time of it parsing 14a.

Themework: Four puns in the solution, none of them real groaners.

Trazom's obligatory music content: 18d

Solution and annotation 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
~SEEMS
~SEAMS (“veins”, as in veins of ore, homonym indicated by “in the ear”)
4a
D (EB) ATING
DATING (“going out”) containing (“around”) E.B. (“East Broadway”, initials indicated by “at first”)
8a
<AE (ROBE) S<
ROBE (“dress”) contained in (“is engulfed by”) <SEA< (“water”, reversal indicated by “receding”)
9a
*BELU | GAS
GAS (“CO2, for instance”), preceded by (“trails”) *BLUES
11a
*ENGRAVERS
*VERSE RANG (anagram indicated by “free”)
12a
*VIRGO
*VIGOR (anagram indicated by “renewed”)
13a
<FI DO<
<OD (“overdose”) + IF (†) < (reversal indicated by “making a comeback”); definition cross-referencing 20d, “PET NAME”
14a
F_ALSE START
F_alse start (inverted clue: “F” is the start of “false”)
17a
HIS | TRIO | NIC_
HIS (“man’s”) + TRIO (“small combo”) + NICe (“pleasant”, omission of last letter indicated by “largely”)
19a
O_ | PEN
O (“O’hara”, first letter indicated by “chief”) + PEN (“writing implement”)
22a
A_T_E_U_P
At ThE cUsP (odd letters indicated by “oddly”)
23a
TOOK NOTES
Pun (double definition)
24a
<T (SARI) NA<
SARI (“wrap”) contained in (“grabbed by”) <ANT< (“soldier”, reversal indicated by “returning”)
A sari is a traditional woman’s costume from India, wonderfully colorful.
25a
N (IRV) ANA
NANA (“Grandma”) containing (“hugs”) IRV (“Irving”)
Easy, but satisfying, clue.
26a
*FASTENER
*FEARS NET (anagram indicated by “broken”)
27a
SH | EDS
EDS (“editors”: ref. to Will Shortz, puzzle editor of the NYT, and Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor of The Nation) following (“pursuing”) SH (“silence”)


Down
1d
STATE | OF T | HE ART
STATE (“announce”) + OFT (“frequently”) + LOVE  (“heart”)
2d
*ENRAGED
*ANGERED (exclamation point since “angered” anagrams to “enraged
3d, 23d
*SUBWAY TRAIN
~SUBWEIGHT (“light”) + ~REIN (“check”), homonym indicated by “discussed”
4d
*DESPE | *RADO
*SPEED (anagram indicated by “reckless”) + *ROAD (anagram indicated by “winding”)
5d, 21d
BABES IN ARMS
Pun (double definition)
6d
TE (LEVIS) E
LEVIS (“jeans”) contained in (“wearing”) TEE (“shirt”)
7d
<NI | GE | RIA<
<AIR (“song”) + E.G. (“for example”) + IN< (“popular”), reversal indicated by “retro”)
10d
SHOOTING STARS
Pun (double definition)
15d
SHI (POW) NER
POW (“bam!”) contained in (“sports”) SHINER (“black eye”)
16d
TRAPPIST
Pun (double definition)
The fur trader would be more properly called a “trapper.”  Trappist monks and nuns (a suborder of the Benedictines) are known for their crafted products including beers, breads, and jellies and preserves.
18d
_S MET AN A_
brahmS MET AN Austrian (hidden word indicated by “inside”)
I had always thought Bedřich Smetana was Czech rather than Austrian.  His most famous composition, “Má Vlast” (“My Homeland”) is decidedly Czech, and his opera “The Bartered Bride” was written in Czech, not German. 
(update: see comment, Hot is right)
20d
PET (<NAM<) E
PETE (“Pete” Rose, baseball player) containing (“holding”) <MAN< (reversal indicated by “up”)
“Pet name” is another phrase for a “term of endearment.”
21d
See 5d

23d
See 3d



2 comments:

  1. 18D: the def is "composer", not "Austrian composer". "Austrian" is there for the wordplay.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You're right Hot. It's a good piece of misdirection. I had to look at the clue a few times after I first solved the puzzle (I was familiar with Smetana) but then I forgot about it when I wrote up the annotation.

    --Braze
    [tried posting this Tuesday but Blogger keeps eating it]

    ReplyDelete

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