Flocky Hockey (Solution No. 3,302)

Ron Flockhart.  Notice he’s wearing the
long pants the Flyers and Whalers
experimented with in the ‘80s!

Hey, it’s Monday!  Time for a solution.

The old-timers had a practice after my game Sunday morning, and some of them use the officials’ room to dress.  As I was getting out of my gear, someone mentioned the name of Ron Flockhart, tripping a flood of memories.

Flockhart was a rookie in 1980-81 (while I was in college), and had a breakout year in 81-82, his first full NHL season.  Things really clicked when coach Bob McCammon put a line together with Flockhart centering Brian Propp and Ray Allison.  They played a big role in the Flyers’ playoff run that year, and after they’d been together a while, writer Jay Greenberg of the Daily News said the line needed a name.

I had tickets to the game the next night, and drew an inspiration from the trolley line I’d take to the city in those days.  So I brought a banner to the game reading “Express to the finals: take the High-Speed Line.”  Greenberg and the team picked up on it, and Propp, Flockhart, and Allison became the “High-Speed Line.”  I have an autographed “Flocky Hockey”/“High Speed Line” t-shirt to prove it.

On the ice, Flockhart was all flash.  He would carry the puck up ice instead of passing, and he could deke with the best of them.  So his first few times around the league, he could deke left, deke right, pull the puck back, and skate by the defenseman.  But soon the defensemen got wise to the move.  Flockhart would deke left, deke right, pull the puck back, and then get rocked by the defenseman who wasn’t fooled this time.

Flockhart was the team’s matinee idol too.  Years after the Flyers moved their practice site from Penn to the Voorhees Coliseum in South Jersey, you could still see the graffiti beside the players’ entrance at the Class of ‘23 Arena: “Ron Flockhart, I love you.”

The solution and annotation to The Nation Puzzle No. 3,302 is 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, “‡” Spoonerism

Across

1a	_AL(L OVER)T | HE P | LACE	_h_ALT (“stop,” omission of first letter indicated by “after the first”) containing (“ensnaring”) LOVER (“Casanova”) + HEP (“groovy”) + LACE (“tie”)
9a	MOV_ES	MOV_I_ES (“pictures,” omission of I indicated by “omitting the author”): definition is a cross-reference to 11a
10a	F(*ERAL C)ATS	*CLEAR (anagram indicated by “out”) contained in (“in”) FATS (“Minnesota”) Minnesota Fats was a famous pool hustler of the 1970s, appearing as himself in a number of movies.
11a	*BUDGES	DEBUGS (anagram indicated by “problematic”): definition is a cross-reference to 9a
12a	FIR{M{WAR}E}	FIR}E} (“can”) + WAR{M{ (“heat up”), exchange of last letters indicated by “if terminals are interchanged” Probably unfair by American standards, less so in a British puzzle.  If the solution was a 4,4 there wouldn’t be a problem at all.
13a	_ACH ES_	Te_ACH ES_sential (hidden word indicated by “content”)
15a	SAGACITY	Pun on Icelandic sagas: Reykjavik is the capital of Iceland
17a	<SNAP< PIER	<PANS< (“vessels,” reversal indicated by “to return”) + PIER (“dock”)
19a	FOR | UM	FOR (†) + UM (“… I’m not sure”)
21a	‡KEYHOLES	‡HE COALS (Spoonerism of “male fuels”)
22a	A | *NKLET	*KNELT (anagram indicated by “dizzily”) following (“after”) A (†)
25a	*TR(OJ)AN WAR	*WARRANT (anagram indicated by “improper”) containing (“involving”) OJ (“Simpson”)
26a	GRANT	Double definition
27a	*SUNSET BOULEVARD	*ABSTRUSE UNLOVED (anagram indicated by “convoluted”)

Down

1d	AR(MY | BRA)T	ART (“skill”) containing (“hiding”) MY (†) + BRA (“support”)
2d	LI(V)I + D	LII (“52”) containing (“÷”: divided by ) V (“5”) + ^D^ivision (first letter indicated by “start of”)
3d	_VESPERS_	execut_VES PERS_onal (hidden word indicated by “running through”)
4d	R | AFT	R (“run’s”: punctuation has to be added) + AFT (“behind”)
5d	HA(RBI)NGER	HANGER (“one in suspense”) containing (“about”) RBI (“baseball stat”)
6d	POLE | MIC	MIC (“speaker’s need”) following (“to uphold”) POLE (“staff”)
7d	A | LAB | ASTER	A (†) + LAB (“dog”) + ASTER (“flower”)
8d	}E{ASTER	{F}ASTER (“one who abstains,”) replacement of F with E indicated by “has one more stroke”)
14d	*HONEYMOON	*OH MY NO ONE (anagram indicated by “disturbed”)
15d	<SPIDER< | WEB	<REDIPS< (“once again plunges,” reversal indicated by “reflecting”) + WEB (“Du Bois”) The printed puzzle incorrectly enumerates this as (3,6).  Hot confirms it should be (9).
16d	I | MIT | ATE | D	I (“one”) + MIT (“university”) + ATE (“took in”) + ^D^epartment (first letter indicated by “head”)
18d	PR | OFAN | E	PR (“marketing”) + OF AN (†) + ^E^vil (first letter indicated by “initiation”)
19d	FINA(G)LE	FINALE (“end”) containing (“grabbing”) G (“$1,000)
20d	<SKA | TES<	<SET (“prepared”) + AKS (“Alaska’s)<, reversal of whole thing indicated by “heading north”)
23d	<LLAM | A<	<A (†) + MALL (“shopping center”)<, reversal of whole thing indicated by “repelled”
24d	FRAU_	FRAU_d_ (“flimflam,” omission of last letter indicated by “curtailed”)