Customer service (Solution No. 3,288)

Hot and Trazom appear to be paying attention to the solvers who comment over at Word Salad and sometimes complain about clues that contravene the standard US cryptic cluing practice.  They haven’t done away with them altogether, but they are using them in moderation, which lets them function more as conversation pieces.  1a/28a is a perfect example of this: clever enough to make it worth bending the rules for.


Themework: none, other than the long answer at 1a/28a and its cross-reference in 2d.

Difficulty (by standards of this weekly puzzle): moderate

Political content: 15a, 26a (see comment)

Solution and annotation to The Nation puzzle No. 3,288 below the fold.

Legend: "*" anagram; "~" sounds like; "<" letters reversed; "( )" letters inserted; "_" or lower case: letters deleted; "†" explicit in the clue, “^” first or last letter or letters, “{“ relocated letter or letters; “§” heteronym, “¶“ letter bank

1a, 28a	CONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION	Double definition, referring to the film Camille (I had to look it up) and the Dumas novel by the same name.  The film starred Greta Garbo as Dame Camille: a French lady who by putting on airs of wealth and fame becomes wealthy and famous.  But that’s not enough to prevent her from coming down with tuberculosis, or as it was called then “consumption.”  See cross-reference in 2d.
7a, 27a	ANG LE | E	ANGLE (“fish”) preceding (“anticipating”) rumbl^E^ (last letter indicated by “conclusion”)
9a	B(A TH TU)B	BB (“walk”) containing (“outside”) the combination A (†) + TH (“Thursday”) + TU (“Tuesday”)
10a	J | OCULAR	^J^ests (first letter indicated by “originally”) + OCULAR (“related to peepers” [eyes])
11a	LOO | K IN	LOO (“bathroom”) + KIN (“relatives”) A look-in pass is pretty much what it sounds like.
12a	*OTTOMANS	*ONTO MATS (anagram indicated by “arranged”)
14a	PO(K | *ER HA)ND	^K^ronos (first letter indicated by “to begin with”) + *HERA (anagram indicated by “swimming”) contained in POND (“small lake”)
15a	FO | <LIO<	FO (Dario, Italian leftist and playwright) + <OIL< (“product of olive,” reversal indicated by “returning”) Had to look this one up too. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dario_Fo‎
16a	IRIS | H	IRIS (“flower”) + ^H^ungary (first letter indicated by “capital”) Lots of misdirection possible here.
18a	FAR | AND | OLE	OLE (“cheer”) following (†) FAR (“remote”) + AND (†) The literals here have some misdirection value.
20a	*CAVITIES	*IS ACTIVE (anagram indicated by “doctor”)
22a	*NEBULA	*UNABLE (anagram indicated by “to disperse”)
25a	<PILS | NER<	REN (“Stimpy’s friend”) + SLIP (“to slide”), reversal of the whole thing indicated by “back”
26a	A | C(TED) UP	TED (“Nugent”) contained in (“splitting”) A (†) + CUP (“mug”) Interesting choice here, since Ted Nugent is pretty well known for his conservative views and his love of guns and hunting.  But examples which might resonate more with The Nation readers (“Kennedy,” “Turner”) run afoul of the guideline Hot and Trazom espoused in a recent Word Salad post: Setting an Example: they’re not specific enough.

Down

1d	CAB | A | L	CAB (“hack”) + A (†) + ^L^inux (first letter indicated by “startup”) There is no cabal.
2d	N(E | TB)OOK	E (“transcendental number”) + TB (cross reference to 28a) contained in (“in”) NOOK (“a corner”)
3d	*PATR | *IARCH	*PART (anagram indicated by “playing”) preceding (“on”) *CHAIR (anagram indicated by “broken”)
4d	CUB | E	CUB (“baby”) + ^E^lephants (first letter indicated by “in front”) 8 is 2 cubed
5d	<OB< JETS | D’ART	<BO< (“Derek,” reversal indicated by “brought up”) + JETS (“flies”) + DART (“an arrow”)
6d	S_A_C_C_O	SeArCh CeO (selection of odd letters indicated by “oddly”)
7d	ALL HAIL	Double definition
8d	*GYRO | S | COPE	COPE (“to manage”) follwing (“after”) *ORGY (anagram indicated by “bacchanalian”) + S (“Saturday”)
13d	}W{AFF(LE I)RON	{S}AFFRON (“orange-yellow spice,” replacement of S with W indicated by “turning south to west”) containing (“around”) LEI (“floral wreath”) I like replacement and relocation clues.
14d	~PRINCIPAL	~PRINTS A PULL (“publishes a yank”, homonym indicated by “is heard”) Marginal at best.
15d	*FINGERTIP	*GRIP NET IF (anagram indicated by “tangled”)
17d	I | *N(V)OLVE	I (“the first”) + *NOVEL (anagram indicated by “experimental”) containing (“about”) V (†)
19d	*OPUS DEI	*OEDIPUS (anagram indicated by “undermined”) I don’t like “undermined” as an indicator.
21d	*TUNIC	*CUT IN (anagram indicated by “tailored”)
23d	AS | PEN	AS (“like”) + PEN (“enclosure”)
24d	_oa hu_	bOA HUnter (hidden word indicated by “covers”)