Body contact (Solution No. 3,343)

The solution and annotation of The Nation puzzle no. 3,343 is below the fold.

In the latest edition of their rulebook, USA Hockey redesignated its checking and non-checking categories “Body Checking” and “Body Contact.”  I applauded the change because there is plenty of banging and crashing in the non-checking levels, and it might cut down on parents who scream at the ref because someone hit their kid and he’s down on the ice.

Of course you’re not supposed to body-check the ref at any level of hockey, but we take our lumps too.  One of the more dangerous times for a referee is when the puck gets dumped in over the blue line and players are chasing it.  Normally, I bump out away from the boards to give the defenseman a straight line to the puck; otherwise, the players try to go through me rather than around.  This time though, there was also a forward chasing, and he didn’t expect me to make the move.  He hit me at full speed and I got rocked.  That’s why we wear all that protective equipment.

D players are such bad skaters that if you can’t get out of their way, it’s time to retire.  Cs will run into you, but more often than not, they’re the one who lands on the ice.  Senior As are good skaters, and if you get in their way, they shove you aside and drop a few four-letter words on the way.  Bs have all the size and speed, but not the agility, which is a recipe for collisions.  We should get combat pay at that level.

This week’s puzzle referred to a much less physical pastime.  Read on to find out what one...

Solution to The Nation crossword #3,343

Link to puzzle: http://www.thenation.com/article/186361/puzzle-no-3343

Degree of difficulty (by standards of this weekly puzzle): Hard. Many of the fours and fives came along nicely, but they didn’t necessarily give you easy partials.

Themework: Five answers started with words relating to knitting.  That made 1a a lot easier, since once I had the P, I had a pretty strong suspicion it would be PURL....

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

1a	PUR(LOIN)E D LETTER	PURE (“chaste”) + ^D^evout (first letter indicated by “originally”) + LETTER (“landlord”) containing (“grabs”) LOIN (“a cut of meat”)
9a	L(*IP-R)EAD	LEAT (“clue”) containing (“about”) *RIP (anagram indicated by “torn”)
10a	*THRONES	*SHORTEN (anagram indicated by “dramatically”) Good clue: several possible ways to parse it.
11a	ANTONY_	ANTONY_m_ (“opposite,” omission of last letter indicated by “almost”)
12a	<LOOP HO LE<	<^EL^ephants (first two letters indicated by “pair of ”) + OH (†) + POOL (“kitty”)<, reversal of the whole thing indicated by “back”
14a	CAB LEG RAMS	CAB (“taxi”) + LEG (“limb”) + RAMS (“smashes”)
16a	S CAR	S (“small”) + CAR (“vehicle”)
19a	BEE P	BEE (“buzzer”) + ^P^orch (first letter indicated by “front”)
20a	*NEEDLESSLY	*YELL SENSED (anagram indicated by “disruptive”)
22a	R I(BOSOM)E	R (“resistance”) + IE (“that is”) containing (“enveloping”) BOSOM (“breast”)
25a	AU BURN	AU (“gold”) + BURN (“to turn red in the sun”) This one had me stumped for a while, but once I got it, I felt stupid for missing it.
28a	*UNICORN	*RUNIC NO (anagram indicated by “mysteriously”)
29a	W(HIT)ISH	WISH (“desire”) containing (“limits”) HIT (“success”) This one also had me stumped, because I was fixating on “wan” as part of the answer.
30	KINTTED ONES  BROW	KINTTED (theme) + *BORES NOW (anagram indicated by “crashing”)

Down

1d	POLK A	POLK (“one who presided”) + A (†) Another good one.  I was looking for “chair”
2d	*REPUTABLE	*ULTRA BEEP (cross-reference to 19d, anagram indicated by “eccentric”)
3d	OLEANDER	Pun (refers to the tale of Hero and Leander)
4d	<_NU DE_<	talent_ED UN_known (hidden word indicated by “takes,” reversal indicated by “up”)
5d	_D IT TO_	hol_D IT TO_gether (anagram indicated by “necessary to”)
6d	*ENRAPT	*PARENT (anagram indicated by “unfortunately”)
7d	TAN GO	TAN (“turn brown in the sun”) + GO (“leave”)
8d	*R(I SE E)ARLY	*LARRY (anagram indicated by “strangely”) containing “inside”) I (†) + SEE (“meet”)
13d	F(R)EE	R (“Republican”) containing (“installed in”) FEE (“commission”)
14d	*CYBE(R PUN)K	*BECKY (anagram indicated by “is confused”) containing (“about”) ^R^idiculous (first letter indicated by “opening”) + PUN (“play on words”)
15d	<MADE<	<EDAM< (“cheese,” reversal indicated by “turnover”)
17d	*COSTUMIER	*TOM CRUISE (anagram indicated by “freaked out”)
18d	SE(QUOI)AS	QUOI (“in France, what”) contained in (“is found in”) SEAS (“oceans”)
21d	*ESCOR T	*SCORE (anagram indicated by “unsatisfactory”) + T (“Tuesday”) Yes, the one-letter abbreviation is used a few places, but I didn’t like it.
23d	_BLIN I_	du_BLIN I_reland (hidden word indicated by “in”)
24d	<MINED<	<DENIM< (“material,” reversal indicated by “up”) Exclamation point for “brought material up” being the definition.
26d	<NO(H)OW<	<MOON< (“expose one’s backside,” inversion indicated by “turning around”) containing (“taking”) H (“heroin”) This was a beaut.  They chaged the M to W by turning it upside down
27d	*SWA N	*WAS (anagram indicated by “wounded”) + N (“Newton”)