Catching up (Solution No. 3,283)

I had my hands full this week, in more ways than one.  While I might not finish solving the The Nation cryptic on the first crack at it, I usually get the remaining bits by the weekend for the usual Monday solution post.  That didn't happen this week.  Not with 12d.  So it got tied up in the work week, and I went on to some less-frustrating solves before finally giving in and going to the computer to figure out 12d.

On the other hand, the theme was pretty easy to find, especially if you know someone who went to Iowa State, in Ames.

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; “§” heteronym, “¶“ letter bank

Across

1a	*EUCL(IDEA)N	*UNCLE (anagram indicated by “eccentric”) containing (“entertaining”) IDEA (“notion)
6a	BAR(O)N	BARN (“farm structure”) containing (†) ^O^x (first letter indicated by “head”)
9a	<A}NN{ELID<	<DILE{MM}A< (“difficult decision, reversal indicated by “heading backward”), replacement of Ms with Ns indicated by “two legs missing” I’ve never seen a wordplay like this, but it makes sense.
10a	*GRANITA	*RATING A (anagram indicated by “nutty”)
11a	*P(H)ILANDERING	*PRIG ANNELID (†, cross-reference to 9a, anagram indicated by “obnoxious”) containing (“concealing”) ^H^usband (first letter indicated by “first”)
14a	ROUTED	Double definition How many of you pronounce “route” and its derivatives differently for the different definitions
15a	{M{ARK }D}OWN	}D}ARK {M{OWN (“in the night, trimmed,” Spoonerism indicated by “swapping leads”)
17a	TO | MA | HAWK	TO (“in the direction of”) + MA (“mother”) + HAWK (“bird”)
19a	PATTER	Double definition
21a	BILL | O | F RIGHTS	BILL (“twenty perhaps”) + FRIGHTS (“starts”)  following (“after”) O (“zero”) Not an easy charade, but fair since you get so many crossing letters and the enumeration is uncommon
25a	*RELIEV | E	*VERILE (anagram indicated by “incorrectly”) + E (†)
26a	CHA | LICE	CHAI (“tea”) + LICE (“parasites”)
27a	N | AMES	N (“no”) + AMES (“city in Iowa”)
28a	SAL(LOW)ES | T	SALES (“auctions”) + ^T^able (first letter indicated by “top”) containing (“covering”) LOW (“base”)

Down

1d	_EXAS | P(E)RATE	_t_EXAS (“Where [governor] Rick Perry is from,” omission of first letter indicated by “coming in late”) + PRATE (“to babble”) containing (“about”) E (“empty”)
2d	*CONTINUUMS	*COUNT SUMS IN (anagram indicated by “erroneously”)
3d	*ILL-FA | ME	*I FALL (anagram indicated by “apart”) + ME (“the writer”)
4d	_ENDED_	ke_EN DED_uction (hidden word indicated by “link”)
5d	*NIGERIAN	*GENII RAN (anagram indicated by “amok”)
6d	B | *EATNIK	^B^ohemians (first letter indicated by “early on”) + *TAKE IN (anagram indicated by “disheveled”)
7d	RUIN_	RUIN_g_ (“feeling regret about,” omission of last letter indicated by “incomplete”)
8d	NAAN	Palindrome (indicated by “upon reflection”) This got a follow-up comment from Hot and Trazom in this week’s Word Salad.
12d	PO(*ST CHA)ISE	POISE (“self-possession”) containing (“holding”) *CHATS (anagram indicated by “inappropriate”) A post chaise is a type of horse-drawn carriage. If anyone got this without reference to the computer, I tip my hat to you.  The problem was that this was a very obscure definition combined with an ambiguous wordplay.  I had the anagram, but I was seeing “self-possession” as something like “egotism.”
13d	*IN PROSPECT	*COPPER and TIN (anagram indicated by “mixture”) This is one of the composite anagrams Hot and Trazom warned us about last week.
16d	*D(WELL)ERS	*REDS (anagram indicated by “spilled”) containing (“around”) WELL (“hole in the ground”)
18d	HE | *IRESS	HE (“that man”) + *RISES (anagram indicated by “awkwardly”)
20d	_AGITATO_	fl_AG IT AT O_nce (hidden word indicated by “essential to”)
22d	FO(C)AL	FOAL (“colt”) containing (“loaded with”) ^C^artridge (first letter indicated by “initially”)
23d	WREN	Double definition Sir Christopher Wren designed several of the most important buildings in London
24d	<SLIM<	<MILS< (“units of thickness,” reversal indicated by “brought up”)