Catching up (solution no. 3,331)

The solution and annotation to The Nation puzzle No. 3,288 is below the fold.

I thought it was going to be an easy month...  I’ll clear the backlog of posts over the next coupla days, starting with last week’s The Nation solution.

A few people complained about having a variety puzzle, but it’s not like it was unsolvable.  As variety puzzle twists go, this was a very gentle one (clues being wordplay only) and it only affected seven clues.  Further, they were part of a theme that was really easy to identify and finish.  In other words, an ideal first variety puzzle to do.




Link to puzzle: http://www.thenation.com/article/180658/puzzle-no-3331

Themework: “VISIBLE SPECTRUM”—the colors of the rainbow.  You can’t ask for an easier theme. 

Difficulty (by standards of this weekly puzzle):  Very easy, as long as you didn’t freak out at the grid.

Musical content: 20a, 29a, 14d

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	VISIBLE	Theme part 1 (unclued)
6a	*AMP	*MAP (anagram indicated by “out”)
8a	<RED<	<DER< (“an article in the Süddeutsche Zeitung,”) reversal indicated by “recalled”)
9a	*LYDIAN	*LADY IN (anagram indicated by “riots”)
11a	*OMAN	*MOAN (anagram indicated by “anguished”)
12a	_URGE_	_b_URGE_r_ (“patty,” omission of first and last letters indicated by “shelled”) Misdirection here because most solvers will first associate “shelled” with “egg”
13a	*LARCE NY	*CLEAR (anagram indicated by “suspicious”) + NY (“New York”)
18a	*GREEN	*GENRE (anagram indicated by “with strange and unpredictable twists”) Longer indicator disguises that this is wordplay only
20a	~TENOR	~TENNER (“bill,” homophone indicated by “heard”)
21a	ME(L)TS	METS (“ballplayers”) containing (“eating”) ^L^iverwurst (first letter indicated by “some of”) Note the “of” in this clue: Hot and Trazom being very precise in indicating the first letter.
23a	B LIP	B (“bishop”) + LIP (“insolence”)
24a	<ELIOT<	<TOILE< (“fabric,” reversal indicated by “reversible”)
26a	ELM_	ELM_o_ (“puppet,” omission of last letter indicated by “cut short”)
27a	IN DIG O	IN (“fashionable”) + DIG (“to appreciate”) + O (“love”)
28a	YOU NG	YOU (“the solver”) + NG (“no good”)
29a	COD A	COD (“fish”) + A (†)
30a	SPECTRUM	Theme part 2 (unclued)

Down

1d	V(*IOL)ET	VET (“a soldier once”) containing *OIL (†, anagram indicated by “spill”)
2d	<I(R)MA<	<AM I< (“existential question,” reversal indicated by “raised”) containing (“involving”) despai^R^ (last letter indicated by “the end of”)
3d	_SE AR_	hor_SE AR_ound (hidden word indicated by “embracing”)
4d	~BLUE	~BLEW (“moved like the wind,” homophone indicated by “in your ear”)
5d	LYING	Double definition
6d	A IRS	A (†) + IRS (“government agency”)
7d	MAG NET	MAG (“a periodical”) followed by (“on”) NET (“the web”)
10d	N EON	station^N^ (last letter indicated by “closing”) + EON (“a long period of time”)
14d	C(HOPI)N	^C^anadia^N^ (first and last letters indicated by “borders”) containing (“limit”) HOPI (“Native American”)
15d	YE(L LO)W	LO (“look”) following (“after”) ^L^ight (first letter indicated by “source of”) contained in (“in”) YEW (“tree”) Again a long clue that’s wordplay only
16d	AN IMUS	AN (†) IMUS (“offensive radio host”)
17d	O RAN GE	^O^bama (first letter indicated by “at first”) + RAN (“was in charge of”) + GE (“a multinational conglomerate”)
19d	<RELI(C)T<	<TILER< (“bathroom renovator, perhaps,” reversal indicated by “getting up”) containing (“to cover”) ^C^oncrete (first letter indicated by “bit”)
21d	M*EDIC	^M^cCoy (†, first letter indicated by “chief”) + *DICE (anagram indicated by “tossed”) How many of you immediately thought “Bones” when you saw this clue?
22d	S TEAM	S (“small”) + TEAM (“squad”)
23d	BE YS	BE (“live”) + YS (“fitness clubs”) Must have been the last section of the grid
25d	_IGOR	_r_IGOR (“hardship,” omission of first letter indicated by “having no head”)