Monday, January 28, 2013

A tester of a puzzle? (Solution No. 3,269)


The names of thirteen current US senators are strewn throughout the chamber.  The names of the Republican senators are more crossword-friendly than the Democrats, which might be to the chagrin of The Nation readers.  Eight of the thirteen are Republicans (colored red in the solution), three are Democrats (blue), and the two nominal independents who function as virtual Democrats.

The short names result in the grid having no long lights, so there were more clues than usual (see Hozom's September 21 comment: Counting Words).  The grid is spiced up (and an additional connection added) by the pair of three-letter words in the center.  

By my count, there are six more senators that could reasonably go into a crossword: Boxer, Carper, Coons, Graham, Kirk, and Tester.  There are more if you stretch a little and allow other proper nouns as definitions.  

Difficulty (by standards of this weekly puzzle):  Mostly easy, especially if you follow politics.

Political content: see theme.  

Musical content: 6d (part of wordplay).

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
*SESSIONS
*[NOISE + SS]  “repeatedly in one case” is a tip that one of the letters in NOISE is used multiple times in the anagram
6a
*COATS
*TACOS (anagram indicated by “shredded”)
10a
*ON GUARD
*A GROUND (anagram indicated by “breaking”)
A very slight bending of the rules, but you’ve been amply warned.
11a
DE(<ADP<)AN
DEAN (“school official”) containing (“takes”) <PDA< (“handheld device”, reversal indicated by “back”)
12a
_KING_
rumplestilts_KIN G_leefully (hidden word indicated by “traps”)
13a
PA(U)L
PAL (“friend”) containing (“embracing”) ^U^nitarian (first letter indicated by “leader”)
The evangelist referenced is St. Paul (Saul of Tarsus).
14a
F | LAKE
^F^rigid (first letter indicated by “source”) + LAKE (“body of water”)
15a
{R{EMOTE
EMOTE{R{ (“expressive person”, relocated letter indicated by “back at the front”)
17a
RUB NOSES
Spoonerism of NUB (“point”) + ROSES (“flowers”)
A play on the pop cultural image of Eskimo people rubbing noses as a greeting
19a
DIP_
^DIP^hthong (“two vowels”, selection of first three of nine letters indicated by “one third”)
Clues like this make it worth having some three-letter words in the grid from time to time.  Not to mention the unusual pattern in the center.
20a
PICK(E_T)ED
PICKED (“chose”) containing (“to surround”) E_stablishmen_T (first and last letters indicated by “entrance and exit”)
Exclamation point since “chose to surround” is also the definition
21a
SH(AD)OW
AD (“commercial) contained in (“interrupting”) SHOW (“program”)
24a
BLUNT
Double definition (“blunt” is a slang term for a cigar filled with marijuana)
26a
<REED<
<DEER< (“ruminant,” reversal indicated by “returns”)
27a
B(U)RR
BRR (“it’s cold”) containing (“around”) j^U^ne (second letter indicated by “second of”)
29a
*IFFIEST
*FIFTIES (anagram indicated by “counterfeit”)
30a
*SHU(T)TLE
*HUSTLE (anagram indicated by “criminal”) containing (“smuggling”) loo^T^ (last letter indicated by “ultimately”)
31a
HATCH
Double definition
32a
*SENATORS
*TREASON (anagram indicated by “unacceptable”)

Down
2d
ERGO | NO MIC
ERGO (“therefore”) + NO MIC (“with no amplification”)
3d
SCAR_
^SCAR^cely (selection of half the word indicated by “half)
4d
OR | DEAL
OR (†) + DEAL (“agreement”)
5d
*SADDLE UP
*SLAP DUDE (anagram indicated by “senseless”)
6d
CHA(FF)IN | CH
FF (“very loud”) contained in (“held by”) CHAIN (“string”) + CH (“church”)
7d
_ALPHA_
cruci_AL PHA_se (hidden word indicated by “part of”)
8d
SAN(<DER<)S
<RED< (“flushed”, reversal indicated by “up”) contained in (“in”) SANS (“without”)
9d
COR(K)ER
CORER (“kitchen utensil”) containing (“to keep”) K (“kosher”)
16d
*T(WENT)IETH
*IT THE (anagram indicated by “blast”) containing (“outside”) WENT (“disappeared”)
17d
RID_
RID_e (“trip”, omission of last letter indicated by “cut short”)
18d
*SODBUSTER
*DEBTS OURS (anagram indicated by “reorganized”)
19d
*DETRITUS
*I TRUSTED (anagram indicated by “unfortunately”)
20d
PU(B | LI)SH
PUSH (“sell drugs”) containing (“covering”) B (“Brooklyn”) + LI (“Long Island”)
22d
~WARREN
~WARRING (“going at it”, homonym indicated by “we hear”)
23d
*NELS | ON
ON (†) following (“after”) *LENS (anagram indicated by “cracked”)
25d
UN(F)IT
UNIT (“one”) containing (“grabbing”) ^F^ood (first letter indicated by “a piece of”)
28d
JUST
Double definition

2 comments:

  1. Strictly speaking, the four Evangelists are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; the Apostle Paul is not one of them. So this was rather jarring. Otherwise I love your elegant puzzles.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was ready to ding Hot and Trazom over that too, but when I wrote up the annotation, I decided to let it slide, since Paul would qualify as a small "e" evangelist. Considering that I've spoken here of we solvers as being evangelists for our pastime, I figured I was fully invested in the broader definition.

      Delete

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