Congratulations, Bangle (Solution No. 3,329)

Another trip to Maryland, another gold medal.  Bangle made it a three-peat at the Chesapeake Open, winning her compulsory and finishing eighth in the free skate with a personal best score (well, it was her first competition with IJS [Olympic] judging).  And The Other Doctor Mitchell placed third in her event.  Next up is Sabers at fencing nationals.

How did you do on the puzzle?  Landed all the wordplay cleanly?  Look for the solution below the fold.



[interim post, complete comments on the puzzle to follow]

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	GENE _RIC	GENE + _e_RIC (“names for two men,” omission of E indicated by “overlapping”) Novel piece of wordplay.  We might see this more if there were some less obvious indicators.
5a	A BRIDGE	A (†) + BRIDGE (“span”)
9a	<RECAP<	<PACER< (“Indiana [NBA] athlete,” reversal indicated by “coming back”)
10a	*OPPONENTS	*PEN POST ON (anagram indicated by “poison”)
11a	F LAWLESS	F (“failing”) + LAWLESS (“criminal”)
12a	SUMMER	Double definition
14a	§EXIT	§EX-IT ("one who just tagged somebody” [in a game of tag])
15a	§DISLOCATED	§D IS LOCATED
18a	S(PEL_)UNKING	SUN KING (“Louis XIV”) containing (“clutches”) PEL_t_ (“fur,” omission of last letter indicated by “mostly”)
19a	BAN G	BAN (“exclude”) + G (“gravity”)
22a	<EN(JO)IN<	<NINE (“baseball team”) containing (“to swallow”) OJ (“drink”), reversal of the whole thing indicated by “in retreat”) Easy indicators.
24a	ASSESSES	Plural of ASSESS (“female donkey”)
26a	S(P RINK)LED	SLED (“equipment for winter fun”) containing (“around”) ^P^hiladelphia (first letter indicated by “front of”) + RINK (“hockey arena”) For a moment I was looking for “Spectrum” (I’ve refereed there), but it doesn’t fit.
27a	_LEECH_	feeb_LE ECH_o (hidden word indicated by “contains”)
28a	NORIEGA	N OR I + EGA
29a	DIG IT AL_	DIG IT (“enjoy”) + AL_l_ (“everything,” omission of last letter indicated by “almost”)

Down

1d	G(I R)AFFE	GAFFE (“mistake”) containing (“eating”) I (“first”) + ^R^abbit (first indicated by “head”)
2d	*NECTARINE	*IN TREE CAN (anagram indicated by “burst”)
3d	~_RIPPLE	~_t_RIPLE (“a great hit,” homophone indicated by “on the radio,” omission of first letter indicated by “after the first”)
4d	CHOPS TICKS	CHOPS (“cuts up”) + TICKS (“insects”)
5d	AS PS	AS (†) + PS (“an afterthought”)
6d	*RENOUNCE	*ECRU NEON (anagram indicated by “blend”)
7d	<DENIM<	<MINED< (“taken from inside the earth,” reversal indicated by “upward”)
8d	EN(*SURE)D	END (“goal”) containing (“involving”) *RUSE (anagram indicated by “deceptive”)
13d	B(L)INDS IDED	^L^iar (first letter indicated by “initially”) contained in (“trapped in”) BINDS (“difficult situations”) + ID’ED (“fingered”)
16d	T(*RANSI)ENT	TENT (“temporary shelter”) containing (“lets in”) *RAINS (anagram indicated by “horrible”)
17d	AU DIE_NCE	AU (“gold”) + DIE (“cube”) + _o_NCE (“formerly,” omission of first letter indicated by “lacking face”)
18d	§STEPSON	§STEPS ON
20d	GA(SOHO)L	GAL (“young woman”) containing (“circling”) SOHO (“New York neighborhood”)
21d	P EG L EG	^P^equod (first letter indicated by “chief”) + EG (“for example”) + L (“large”) + EG (“for example”)
23d	J U R O R	^J^erusalem ^U^rging ^R^ight ^O^f ^R^eturn (initial letters indicated by “leaders”)
25d	_OL GA_	whirlpo_OL GA_laxy (hidden word indicated by “captivates”)