Bravo, Dan and USA (Puzzle No. 3,317)

Two winners to recognize today: Dan Feyer, five-time American Crossword Puzzle Tournament winner; and Team USA, three-time Paralympic sled hockey champions.  The Americans beat Canada 3-0 in the semifinal Thursday, and avenged a loss in pool play with a 1-0 victory over Russia in the gold medal final.

Share in a little of that glory if you solved puzzle no. 3,317.  The solution and annotation is below the fold.

Bonus puzzle (you know I couldn’t resist this one): “Penalty Boxes,” a straight crossword by Erik Asgard.

Solution to The Nation puzzle no. 3,317

Link to puzzle: http://www.thenation.com/article/178790/puzzle-no-3317

Degree of difficulty (by standards of this weekly puzzle): easy to moderate, and very consistent

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	¶SINGIN IN THE RAIN	¶EARTH SIGN (letter bank indicated by “composed only of ... symbols”) It’s important to ensure that all the letters in the bank get used in the answer.  Otherwise
9a	E <LLIPS< E	office^E^ (last letter indicated by “ending”) + <SPILL< (“tumble,” reversal indicated by “backward”) + E (“excellent”)
10a	*MOSH PIT	*MOST HIP Exclamation point for the clue and definition being the same.
11a	*PHE(NO MEN)A	NO MEN (“ladies only”) contained in (“in”) *HEAP (anagram indicated by “random”)
12a	_ELEGY_	isra_EL EGY_pt (hidden word indicated by “connection”)
13a	*ENUMERATION	*MOUNTAINEER (cross-reference to 19a, anagram indicated by “revision of”) Here the (11) serves as definition as well as enumeration.
16a, 18a	REDRAW	RED (“rare”) + RAW (“rare”) A double definition made explicit (“doubly”).
19a	*MOUNTAINEER	*ENUMERATION (cross-reference to 13a, anagram indicated by “differently”)
21a	~SOLES	~SOULS (“spirit,” homonym indicated by “listening to”)
22a	AND(ROME)DA	AND (†) + DA (“prosecutor”) containing (“taking in”) ROME (“capital”)
25a	<AVO< CAD O	<OVA< (“eggs,” reversal indicated by “returned”) + CAD (“rotter”) + O (“bagel”)
26a	T(_RIC)ORN	_e_RIC (†, omission of E (“ecstacy”) indicated by “dropping”) contained in (“wears”) TORN (“lacerated”)
27a	GREAT DEPRESSION	Double definition

Down

1d	S(<LEEP<)WEAR	SWEAR (“promise”) containing (“to hide”) <PEEL< (“skin,” reversal indicated by “pulling up”)
2d	NO(L)TE	NOTE (“bill”) containing (“gets”) L (“left”)
3d	IM PRO VE	IM (“I am”) + PRO (“for”) VE (“victory in Europe”)
4d	_IRENE_	questiona_IRE NE_arly (hidden word indicated by “reveals”)
5d	TIM PAN IS T	TIM (“Burton”) + PAN (“negative review”) + IS (†) + T (“time”)
6d	*EASTE(R)N	*SENATE (anagram indicated by “dysfunctional”) containing (“welcomes”) R (“republican”)
7d	APPLE T RE E	APPLET (“single purpose computer program”) + RE (“concerning”) E (“energy”)
8d	NATTY	Pun (reference to Nat Turner, rebel)
14d	*UNWELCOME	*CLUE WOMEN (anagram indicated by “nasty”)
15d	A CUT (ABO V)E	ACUTE (“description of disease”) containing (“getting”) ABO (“blood types”) + V (“five”)
17d	DART AG NAN	DART (“move quickly”) + AG (“silver”) + NAN (“bread”) I usually spell “naan” with two As (I love Indian breads, and judge Indian restaurants by the quality of their bread)
19d	M IS CAST	M (“[James] Bond’s boss”) + IS (†) + CAST (“thrown”)
20d	IV(OR)IES	IVIES (“some schools”) containing (“restricting”) OR (“gold”)
23d	DE_TER	DE_x_TER (“serial killer on TV,” omission of X (“adult rating”) indicated by “losing”)
24d	*E C(O)LI	*LICE (anagram indicated by “disgusting”) containing (“devouring”) O (“love”)