Shot of the year (solution no. 3,308)

The solution to this week’s The Nation cryptic crossword (No. 3,308) is below the fold

One of my games this weekend was the Wissahickon old-timers’ team versus the Bethlehem Ratz. Wissahickon is probably the best old-timers’ team in the area.  They’ve got several guys who played top-flight college hockey, and I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them also played minor pro earlier in their careers.  There’s quite a mix of ages, with some guys who looked to be in their early 30s and some who might even be near 60.

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”)