Catching up (Solution No. 3,334)

Figuring out where to fit in blog time now that Sabers and Bangle are back in school and the schedule fills up again.  The solutions were done, just haven’t had time for commentary, so I’ll just get them up for your review.

Solution to The Nation puzzle no. 3,334

I will put a word in on this one because of the interesting themework.  Cross-refs are not uncommon, but I don’t think I’ve seen paired ones where the themes come back from the cross-refs.  However, you get two cracks at each one, so it’s more than fair to the solver.

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, “‡” Spoonerism

Across

6a	<STUN<	<NUTS< (“crazy,” reversal indicated by “running back”)
7a	See 19a
11a	See 21a
12a	_MATADOR_	diplo_MAT ADOR_es (hidden word indicated by “stuffing”)
13a	*THOUGHTS	*THUGS HOT (anagram indicated by “unsavory”)
16a	See 18a
18a, 16a	*SIT PRETTY	*AS PETS TRY (anagram indicated by “dancing”)
18a, 32a	§SI(T)-DOWN STRIKE	§SID (“Caesar,” actor) OWNS (“has”) TRIKE (“a vehicle”) containing (“taking”) T (“time”)
19a, 7a	ST (AND ON CEREM)ONY	STONY (“expressionless”) containing (“when eating”) AND (“alongside”) + ONCE (“formerly”) + R.E.M. (“disbanded rock group from Athens, GA”)
19a, 23a	§STANDOFFISH	§STAND OF FISH (“stall where you might buy a bass”)
21a, 11a	*LIE IN STATE	*ALIEN TEST I (anagram indicated by “failing”)
21a, 31a	LIE DORMANT_	LIED (“art song”) + OR (†) + MANT_ra_ (“spiritual chant,” omission of RA [“sun god”] indicated by “shaking off”)
23a	See 19a
24a	TUSK EG EE	TUSK (“source of ivory”) + EG (“say”) + d^EE^p (middle letters indicated by “the center of”)
29a	~KEYNOTE	~KEEN OAT (“peachy cereal,” homophone indicated by “mentioned”)
31a	See 21a
32a	See 18a
33a	~SHOE	~SHOO (“go away,” indicated by “hollered”)

Down

1d	T-SHIRT	^T^rumpet^S^ (first and last letters indicated by “sides of”) followed by (“supported by”) HIRT (“trumpeter Al”)
2d	<RU(*N SHORT) OF<	*THORNS (anagram indicated by “tangled”) contained in (“to fill”) <FOUR< (“square,” reversal indicated by “up”)
3d	*UNREST	*TUNERS (anagram indicated by “disrupted”)
4d	_LORD_	mai_L ORD_er (hidden word indicated by “carrier”)
5d	~EYE RHYME	~AYE RYME (“yes, frost,” homophone indicated by “recited”) Eye rhyme: I’ve never heard of that before.  Looks like it would make a great theme for a crossword.
8d	<E(MM)Y<	MM (“2000”) contained in (“included in”) YE (“the old”)
9d	_EN_TIRE	TIRE (“drain”) following (“under”) av^EN^ue (middle letters indicated by “middle of”)
10d	FANG	FAN (“enthusiast”) + lon^G^ (last letter indicated by “terminally”)
14d	See 20d
15d	<SMART<	<TRAMS< (“conveyances,” reversal indicated by “capsized”)
17d	<TE(LEGRAP)HS<	SHE (†) + ^T^ied (first letter indicated by “originally”) containing (“around”) PAR (“standard”) + GEL (“set”), reversal of the whole thing indicated by “to the roof”)
18d	*STOCKADE	*TASK CODE (anagram indicated by “mysterious”)
20d, 14d	DISHES	DIS (“put down”) + HES (“men”)
22d	AS(COT)S	ASS (“an idiot”) containing (“around”) COT (“bed”)
25d	U(*PDI)KE	UKE (“musical instrument”) containing (“taking”) *DIP (anagram indicated by “unfortunately”)
26d	KIRK	spoc^K^ (last letter indicated by “finally”) + IRK (“to irritate”)
27d	~_ESTHER	~_p_ESTER (“badger,” omission of first letter indicated by “topless,” homophone indicated by loudly) Unusual to combine wordplay elements like this: when you do so, you can make up pretty much anything, so it’s best used sparingly.
28d	BEAR	Double definition
30d	~YAWN	~YON (“over there,” homophone indicated by “is played on the radio”)