Take a trip to Baker Street (Puzzle No. 3,257)

Earlier this week I suggested a trip over to England for a specially-themed puzzle in the Financial Times.  Conveniently, Hot and Trazom offer us a puzzle this week that follows the British style, plus has a fitting theme.  Solve this one and then go give that FT puzzle a try.  You might not be able to finish it, but British cryptics often don't need to be finished to be rewarding.

Link to puzzle: http://www.thenation.com/article/170603/puzzle-no-3257

Hozom's comment: Cryptically, Stephen Sondheim, in which we meet Mark Halpin, theatre designer and cryptic constructor.  He links those two neatly by creating puzzles on themes from Stephen Sondheim shows: twenty, so far!  Good thing Sondheim was such a prolific (and singable) composer: we should have lots more of those puzzles in our future.  As an encore, he's also created mind-bending variety cryptics for the National Puzzlers' League.  There he goes by the nom "Zebraboy."

Want another interesting coincidence?  Like Cliff Johnson, creator of the puzzle games The Fool's Errand and 3 in Three, Halpin has also designed attractions for theme parks.  Cliff's new game The Fool and His Money is still scheduled for release later this month: keep your fingers crossed.

Degree of difficulty: hard if you're not used to the British style.

Themework: took me a while to find the theme answers and I'm still not sure I got them right--I was misdirected and trying to find literary references.

Composer references: no composers, but you do get a bit of music notation in 5a.

Political content: Emile Zola (21d) was a French intellectual who broke open the Dreyfus Affair.


Solution and annotation below the fold.

Legend: "@" theme answer; "*" 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	*WITN(ES)S	*TWINS (cross reference to 2d indicated by “2”, anagram indicated by “if confused”) containing (“about”) cluES (final two letters indicated by “parts”) Note: “See” is the definition part of the clue
5a	ST(U | FF)Y	STY (“filthy locale”) containing (“outside”) U (“university”) + FF (“very loud”)
8a	~ADIEU	~ADO (“trouble”, homophone indicated by “is heard”)
@9a	P(LEAS)URE	LEAS (“places where animals graze”) contained in (“in”) PURE (“unadulterated”) I had the P first, so I kept trying to fit “pasture” into the wordplay. Theme answer: SURE
@11a	TEST | AMEN | T	TEST (“examine”) | AMEN (“last word”) + fighT (last letter indicated by “end”) Theme answer: AMEN
12a	F (I) F (T) Y	IT (†) interlaced (“alternates”) with stuFFY (second half of cross referenced 5a)
13a, 10d	ELEMENTARY, MY DEAR WATSON	References James Watson, co-discoverer of DNA with Francis Crick, and Dr. Watson of the Sherlock Holmes stories.
16a	<OGRE<	<ERGO< (“therefore”, reversal indicated by “repulsed”)
18a	_AP SE_	che_AP SE_ats (hidden word indicated by “section of”)
19a	*SHEARWATER	*HAT WEARERS (anagram indicated by “harassed”) Wonder if the video of kids feeding a laxative to seagulls inspired this clue?
23a	<TAC< | IT	<CAT< (“hipster”, reversal indicated by “comeback”) + IT (†)
24a	*ROCK OPERA	*RECOOK RAP (anagram indicated by “creatively”)
26a	MAC + A + QUES_	MAC (“computer”) + A (†) + QUES_tion (first half indicated by “half-written”) I don’t like the “get” in this clue.  As a plural, it clashes with the singular “computer” so the wordplay doesn’t stand properly on its own.
28a, 15d	BR (*ONZE) AG | E	BRAG (“boast”) containing (“about”) *ZONE (anagram indicated by “ravaged”) + E_poch (first letter indicated by “onset”)
@29a	RIG | H_ | T ON	RIG (“equip”) + H (“hot”, first letter indicated by “head”) + TON (“heavyweight”) Theme answer: RIGHT

Down

1d	*WEAR THE PANTS	*HE WANTS A PERT (anagram indicated by “bombshell”)
2d	T | WINS	T (“ties”, first letter indicated by “at first”) + WINS (“victories”)
3d	<EDU>(CATE)>D<	<DUDE< (“fellow”, reversal indicated by “getting up”) containing (“to embrace”) CATE (“actress Blanchett”)
4d	*SAPIENT	*PANTIES (anagram indicated by “torn”)
5d	*SCEPTER	*RESPECT (anagram indicated by “irrationally”)
6d	*UNSAF | E	*SNAFU (anagram indicated by “disrupted”) + E (“enterprise”, first letter indicated by “beginning”)
7d	FIR | E (F) IGHT	FIR (“wood”) + EIGHT (“cube”, eight is two cubed) containing (“securing”) F (“fortress”, first letter indicated by “front”)
10d	See 13a
@14d	EASY CHAIR	Spoonerism of “CHEESY HEIR” Theme answer: EASY
15d	See 28a
17d	SW(_OON)ING	SWING (“go back and forth”) containing (“around”) n_OON (omission of first letter indicated by “starting a little late”)
20d	~HIRSUTE	~HER SUIT (“the lady’s outfit”, homophone indicated by “I hear”)
21d	<AC< *CUSER	<CA< (“California”, reversal indicated by “brought up”) + *CURSE (anagram indicated by “dreadful”)
22d	_S TRAIN_	rigorouS TRAINing (hidden word indicated by “a feature of”)
25d	EVERT	Double definition (Chris Evert won 18 Grand Slam events in the 70s and 80s; she is now a tennis commentator for ESPN)