Resiliency (Solution No. 3,320)

The solution to The Nation puzzle No. 3,320 is below the fold.

One of the reasons I like kid sports is the lessons you see kids learning.  Last weekend, Bangle was skating at the Morris Open, a big competition in North Jersey and the last event she’s going to do before moving up to the Juvenile level (which is the first level where they use the IJS [Olympic] scoring system.

She landed her initial jump combination cleanly, but then wobbled out of her camel spin and wound up going the wrong way.  Fortunately, she had the resiliency to figure out what happened and change part of her program on the fly.  After the skate, she felt awful about the mistake and was convinced that it wrecked her performance.  But it turned out that the other skaters fell on their combinations or had some weaknesses in their fundamental skating skills.  She wound up finishing second and qualifying for the trophy round of the competition, where she finished second again, this time getting the program right.

So we made the point to her that she won that medal by not dwelling on the mistake: by continuing on, doing the best she could, and presenting a positive image to the judges.  So in the Godspell performance yesterday, when her headset mike started sounding scratchy, she had the presence of mind to keep singing and then at the end of the number, go grab a hand mike to finish the show with.  

Great job, Bangle!

Solution to Puzzle No. 3,320

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	SPEED OF LIGHT	SPEEDO (“swimsuit”) + FLIGHT (“escape”)
9a	PRO(VIDI)NG	PRONG (“point”) containing (“outside”) VIDI (“Julius Caesar said this”)
10a	*MINUS	*IN SUM (cross-reference to 26a, anagram indicated by “somehow”)
11a	RUM OR	RUM (“alcohol”) + OR (“as an alternative”)
12a	*TESTA(MEN)T	*STATE (anagram indicated by “absurd”) + ^T^heories (first letter indicated by “initially”) containing (“about”) MEN (“guys”)
13a	_EONS	_p_EONS (“workers,” omission of first letter indicated by “lacking leadership”)
14a	*ESCALATORS	*TALE ACROSS (anagram indicated by “tangled”)
18a	THREA(*TENE)D	*TEEN (anagram indicated by “agitated”) contained in (“interrupts”) THREAD (“online conversation”)
20a	VET O	O (“donut”) following (†) VET (“doctor”)
23a	ELIOT NESS	Pun on TS Eliot
25a	UM BRA	UM (“hesitation”) + BRA (“lingerie”)
26a	*IN SUM	*MINUS (cross-reference to 10a, anagram indicated by “altered”)
27a	*OUTSOURCE	*COURTEOUS
28a	EASTER N SA MOA	NSA (“spies”) + MOA (“extinct bird”) following (“after”) EASTER (“holiday”)

Down

2d	P(LOW M)AN	PAN (“pastoral deity”) containing (“embracing”) LOW (“humble”) + M (“mass”)
3d	*EMIGRE	*REGIME (anagram indicated by “changes”)
4d	_OD IS T_	g_OD IS T_he (hidden word indicated by “connection”)
5d	LEG IS LATE	LEG (“member”) + IS LATE (“misses the beginning”)
6d	G(AMMA_) RAY	GRAY (†) containing (“engulfing”) AMMA_n_ (“a middle eastern capital,” omission of last letter indicated by “most of”)
7d	T(ANGEL)O	ANGEL (“well-behaved child”) contained in (“is in”) TO (†) You have to mentally insert a space in “into”
8d	_PS ST_	was_PS ST_ing (hidden word indicated by “bears”) Nice example of a brief clue where the definition and indicator are well-disguised.
9d	*PERCENT	*PC ENTER (anagram indicated by “breaking down”)
15d	STEVE DO RE	STEVE (“Jobs”) + DO RE ([notes at the] “bottom of the scale”)
16d	ST(OR)AGE	STAGE (“present”) containing (“outside”) OR (“operating room”)
17d	PAS(_T)<IMES<	PA’S (“Pennsylvania’s”) + <SEMI< (“half,” reversal indicated by “back”) containing (“holding”) tigh^T^ (last letter indicated by “end”) Ignoring the fact that a halfback and a tight end are both offensive players and one isn’t going to hold the other, this is a gem of a clue.  Four different kinds of wordplay going on, plus you have to mentally insert a space in “halfback” to parse the clue.
19d	*REIS SUE	*RISE (anagram indicated by “unsteadily”) + SUE (“beg”)
21d	<EM BARG<O	<GRAB ME< (“seize me,” reversal indicated by “from below”) + O (“one type of blood”)
22d	C(UP)OLA	COLA (“soft drink”) containing (“consumed”) UP (“high”)
23d	<EVIL<	<LIVE< (“to be,” reversal indicated by “upset”) Definition is cross-reference to 24d: SATAN
24d	SAT A_N	SAT (“took a chair”) + ^A^usti^N^ (first and last letters indicated by “outskirts”)