Clearing the spindle (Solution No. 3,353)

The solution to puzzle no. 3,353 is below the fold.

Solution to The Nation puzzle no. 3,353

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	INFORM ALI TIES	INFORM (“teach”) + ALI (“heavyweight”) + TIES (“attachments”)
9a	HER SHE Y	HER + SHE (by example: “they refer to women”) + Y (“male chromosome”)
10a	T(*OSTAD)A	TA (“professor’s helper”) containing (“eating”) *TOADS (anagram indicated by “stewed”)
11a	LOT US	LOT (“fortune”) + US (“United States”)
12a	<SPEED DIAL<	<LAID (“established”) + DEEPS (“oceans”)< (reversal of the whole thing indicated by “in retrospect”)
13a	*DEAF	*FADE (anagram indicated by “out”)
14a	<SALA MAN DER<	<RED (“communist”) + NAM (“war zone”) + ALAS (“unfortunately”) < (reversal of the whole thing indicated by “recalled”)
18a	¶PADDED CELL	¶PLACED (letter bank indicated by “shuffled about with some repetition”)
19a	B RAT	B (“second-rate”) + RAT (“pest”)
22a	IMPAT I_ENT	I’M PAT (“what the Rev. Robertson might say”) + I (†) + _w_ENT (“left,” omission of first letter indicated by “after inaugural”)
25a	*ME(C)CA	*CAME (anagram indicated by “stumbling”) containing
26a	HOLLAND_	HOLLAND_e_ (“president of France,” omission of last letter indicated by “stops short”)
27a	M(I)LKING	I (“one”) contained in (“adopted by”) M L KING (“civil rights leader”)
28a	UNDERPA(Y ME)NTS	^Y^ou (first letter indicated by “to begin with”) + ME (†) contained in (“donning”) UNDERPANTS (“unmentionables”)

Down

1d	IN HAL ED	IN (“at home”) + HAL (“prince”) + ED (“editor”)
2d	FIRS THAN D	FIRS (“trees”) + THAN (“in comparison with”) + woo^D^ (last letter indicated by “finish”)
3d	RE HASH	RE (“concerning”) + HASH (“a drug”)
4d	<_ABYSS_<	<mo_SSY BA_rbecue< (reversal indicated by “returning,” hidden word indicated by “through”)
5d	I N (THE M)AIL	I (“interstate”) + NAIL (“arrest”) containing (“apprehending”) THEM (“our rivals”)
6d	*ITS A DEAL	*LAST IDEA (anagram indicated by “rethinking”)
7d	SW AM I	SW (“southwest”) + AM I (“do I exist?”)
8d	JA(<ILE<)R	JAR (“clash”) containing (“keeping”) <ELI< (“Yale student,” reversal indicated by “up”)
15d	*ARC WELD ER	*CRAWLED (anagram indicated by “bum”) + ER (“um”)
16d	*DIRECTION	*INCITED OR
17d	WESTWARD	Visual pun: WARD is a reversal (“WEST”) of “draw”
18d	P LIGHT	P (“soft”) + LIGHT (“easy”) Took me a while to get this one
20d	*TEAR GAS	*GREAT AS (anagram indicated by “disperser”) Exclamation point since disperser is both definition and indicator.
21d	_EMBLEM_	po_EM BLEM_ish (hidden word indicated by “excerpt from”)
23d	*PILAU	*PAUL I (anagram indicated by “cooked”)
24d	TAM PA	TAM (“cap”) + PA (“Pennsylvania”) If you’re not careful, you’ll get misdirected into searching for a city in Pennsylvania.