A couple of those younger guys were on a line together, and they had three or four goals. The first was a beauty. One of them got the puck in the high slot, took one stride to tee it up, and then just crushed a slap shot. One look at it and you’ll understand why some players are said to have a “heavy” shot. It was a rising shot, and it went past the goalie, in the goal, hit the top back of the goal frame, and bounced out almost as fast as it went in.
I was in ideal position to see it, right on the goal line, and I had a great view of the puck going in and going out. Plus there was the sound of it hitting the goal frame: loud, but not as solid and resonant as a puck off the crossbar. I immediately pointed emphatically at the goal, yelling “it’s in, it’s in.” Nobody argued the call, not even the guys on the visitors’ bench. Too bad we didn’t have someone videotaping the game; it was the best shot I’ve seen in years.
Solution and explanation of The Nation Puzzle No. 3,308
Thinking about Hot and Trazom’s post this week in Word Salad, this is one of the puzzles it’s worth re-solving in full, not just filling the grid. It had several examples of combination wordplay, which is one of the tactics our constructors say they want to make more use of.
Themework: A mini-theme in 14a and 18a. I nailed these in a hurry, which made the puzzle pretty easy.
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
Across
1a
|
*SECULAR
|
*CLUES AR_e_ (omission of last letter indicated by
“mostly,” anagram indicated by “cryptic”)
|
5a
|
B(OUR)B | ON
|
OUR (†) contained in (“parting”) BB (“shot”) + ON (†)
|
9a
|
*NAIL BITER
|
*RETAIL BIN (anagram indicated by “reorganize”)
|
10a
|
TU | LIP
|
LIP (“edge”) following (“behind”) TU (“you in
Guatemala”)
|
11a
|
W <_EBCAM<
|
^W^illiam (first letter indicated by “beginning”) +
<MACBE_th_< (“Shakespeare play,” omission of last two letters indicated
by “all but the final two parts,” reversal indicated by “rewound”)
Complex and entirely fair.
|
12a
|
M(*EALT)IME
|
MIME (“someone who doesn’t say anything) containing
(“about”) *LATE (anagram indicated by “preparation”)
|
14a
|
VIRGINIA | S(L)IMS
|
VIRGINIA (“state”) + SIMS (“video game family”)
containing (“getting”) mentho^L^ (last letter indicated by “last of”)
|
18a
|
MINNESOTA <_FATS<
|
MINNESOTA (“state”) + <STAF_f_< (“workers,”
omission of last letter indicated by “mostly,” reversal indicated by
“returning”)
|
20a
|
*FOI(E G)RAS
|
E G (“for example”) contained in (“is eaten by”) *ROSA
IF (anagram indicated by “chopped”)
|
22a
|
CIRC(L)E
|
CIRCE (“sorceress”) containing (“has”) L (“large”)
|
25a
|
<OL< | DIE
|
<LO< (“look,” reversal indicated by “back”) +
DIE (“check out”)
|
26a
|
DRA(MAT IS)T
|
MAT (“rug”) + IS (†) contained in (“is described by”)
DRAT (“darn”)
|
27a
|
*DURANTE
|
*UNRATED (anagram indicated by “flop”)
misdirection from the obvious indicator not actually
being an indicator.
|
28a
|
*OLYMPUS
|
*PLUMS YO (anagram indicated by “rotten”)
|
Down
1d
|
SINE WAVE
|
Pun
|
2d
|
C | LIMB
|
^C^lown (first letter indicated by “head”) + LIMB
(“arm”)
|
3d
|
LIBRA | R(I)AN
|
LIBRA (“balance”) + RAN (“managed”) containing (“with
participation of”) I (“the author”)
Highlight clue.
Another difficult but entirely fair one
|
4d
|
_RITE_
|
_t_RITE_r_ (“less original,” omission of first and
last letters indicated by “in the nude”)
|
5d
|
BAR | *BERS | HOP
|
BAR (“to prevent” + *SERB (anagram indicated by
“riotous”) + HOP (“dance”)
|
6d
|
UNTIL
|
UN<LIT<
|
7d
|
*BALTIC SEA
|
*BASALT [and] ICE (anagram indicated by “mixture of”)
|
8d
|
NE | PHEW
|
NE (“born in France”) + PHEW (“what a relief!”)
Remember that NE comes in masculine form too: most of
the time we crossworders see the feminine.
Not sure I see grounds for an exclamation point here.
|
13d
|
S | IDES | ADDLE
|
ADDLE (“puzzle”) following (“after”) S (“Sunday”) +
IDES (“the 15th”)
|
15d
|
REM(A)INDER
|
REMINDER (“cue”) containing (“to take”) A (†)
|
16d
|
*IMAGINARY
|
*GAIN MARY [and] I (anagram indicated by
“redistributed”)
|
17d
|
§ASBESTOS
|
§AS BEST OS
|
19d
|
~AFFORD
|
~A FORD (homonym indicated by “loud”)
|
21d
|
GREEN
|
Double definition
|
23d
|
C_R | ISP
|
ISP (“online company”) following (“supporting”)
^C^ompute^R^ (first and last letters indicated by “peripherals”)
|
24d
|
FAR | O
|
FAR (“remote”) + O (“ring”)
|
Puzzle 3308, 6d: (The next issue, with solution, just arrived here in Santa Fe on 21 Jan.) UNTIL is clear, especially after getting the rest of the puzzle. "Before" in the clue is a definition. "rising illuminated" gives us LIT. But where does UN come from, presumably using "well" in the clue?
ReplyDelete"Nu" is a Yiddish interjection meaning "Well?", as in "So nu? why so long between phone calls?"
ReplyDelete