The Picard maneuver (solution No. 3,306)

Though I have never watched any Star Trek other than the original TV series, I at least knew who Captain Picard was.  But I’d not heard of the “Picard maneuver.”  Then I saw this video last week (HT: Neatorama).  I do the exact same thing on the ice all the time.

I don’t care for the polyester sweaters most referees wear; I’ve always worn acrylic ones: first a Bruce Hood model, and currently a Crossbar (both now out of production).  They’re soft and comfortable, but the cuff at the waist is rather tight, especially when they’re going over a protective girdle.  So my sweater rides up all the time.  When play stops, I find myself doing a Picard maneuver to pull the sweater back down.

When my partner has the face-off, there’s a rhythm to it.  Glide by and hand off the puck, skate a stride or two out from the face-off circle, pivot onto a backwards edge, and bend over into a ready position, hands on my knees, as I glide back to my spot at the blue line.  Two tugs at the back of my sweater, and I’m ready for the puck drop.

Solution to The Nation puzzle No. 3,306 below the fold.

The Nation cryptic crossword No. 3,306: solution and annotation.

Themework: none

Difficulty (by standards of this weekly puzzle): easy

Political content: 19d

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	_SIGNIFICANCE_	as_SIGN IF I CAN CE_rtain (hidden word indicated by “fragment”)
9a	TO *ENAIL	TO (†) + *ALIEN (anagram indicated by “mysterious”)
10a	T(OR)ONTO	TONTO (“western sidekick”) containing (“keeps”) OR (“gold”)
11a	MA | KEIT_	MA (“Ma” Barker, gangster) + KEIT_h_ (Keith Richards, drummer, omission of last letter indicated by “almost”)
12a	MAN | AGING	MAN (“husband”) + AGING (“getting older”)
14a	PET | TIC | OAT	PET (“favorite”) + TIC (“idiosyncrasy”) + OAT (“grass”)
16a	A DEPT_	A (†) + DEPT_h_ (“third dimension,” omission of last letter indicated by “diminished”)
17a	~CUTIE	~Q T (letters surrounding [“neighbors of”] “RS,” homonym indicated by “heard from”)
18a	BENIGHTED	~BE KNIGHTED (“receive a title,” homonym indicated by “audibly”)
20a	PEN | ELOPE	PEN (“writer”) + ELOPE (“to run off with”) Penelope refers to the wife of Odysseus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penelope
22a	E_(*NGAG)_E	*GANG (anagram indicated by “rioting”) contained in ^E^nduranc^E^ (first and last letters indicated by “limits of”)
25a	<TSU(NA)MI<	<I MUST (“it is incumbent on me”) containing AN (†)<, reversal of the whole thing indicated by “heading west”
26a	*HEINOUS	*IN HOUSE (anagram indicated by “degenerate”)
27a	FOREST RANGER	§FOR E STRANGE R (a peculiar-looking letter R replaces the E in “servant”) Reminder that a heteronym is a set of sequential letters with two different sets of spaces interspersing them.

Down

1d	*SITE MAP	*PASTIME (anagram indicated by “unusual”)
2d	G | REEK	startin^G^ (last letter indicated by “ultimately”) + REEK (“to smell”)
3d	IT | *AL(ICI)ZE	IT (†) + *ZEAL (anagram indicated by “unnatural”) containing (“around”) ICI (“here in Marseille”)
4d	*ISLE	*LEIS Exclamation point because of implicit definition (&Lit)
5d	*AT(TRACT)ING	*GIANT (anagram indicated by “abominable”) containing TRACT (“piece of land”)
6d	<_CIRCA<	<A (†) + CRIC_k_ (“pain in the neck,” omission of last letter indicated by “largely”)
7d	INC | I | DENT	INC (“incorporated”) + I (“one”) + DENT (“small depression”)
8d	FORGE | T	FORGE (“to fake”) + ^T^urmoil (†, first letter indicated by “the slightest bit of”)
13d	BOO(BY | PRI_)ZE	BOOZE (“alcohol”) containing (“swallowed”) BY (“next to”) PRI_g_ (†, omission of last letter indicated by “for the most part”)
15d	TI(*TANIU)M	TIM (Tim Curry, actor) containing (“contains”) *A UNIT (anagram indicated by “tainted”)
16d	<AR(>GENT>)INA<	GENT (“chap”) contained in (“featured in”) <AN IRA< (†, reversal indicated by “retrospective”)
17d	CO *PS TO	CO (“company”) + *TOPS (anagram indicated by “off”)
19d	*DREISER	*DEER SIR (anagram indicated by “misspelled”) Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945) wrote “An American Tragedy.”  Also noted as a member of the Communist Party, so it could have been anagrammed “Rise, Red!”
21d	<LLANO<	<ON ALL< (“over everything,” reversal indicated by “coming up”)
23d	*ALONG	*ANGLO (anagram indicated by “crazy”)
24d	CHAT	Double definition (French for “cat”)