Physical therapy (Solution No. 3,367)

The solution to puzzle no. 3,367 is below the fold.

For the better part of a year, I’ve had some pain in my knees: interestingly, it strikes when I’ve been sitting still for a while. Walking, running, or skating, they’re fine. But a long car trip or a day behind my desk is uncomfortable without regular breaks to walk around for a while. It’s probably fencing-related: something in my stance or the additional strength in my legs straining the joint, but not traumatic. I’m fortunate that I’ve never had any knee injuries. And I don’t want to let up on fencing, since it’s been a good way to get more exercise into my routine.

So when the hamstring I injured a couple of months ago took its time healing (the bumpy roads and sidewalks of Oslo were pretty bothersome), I made an appointment to see a physical therapist. We started this week. After a head to toe evaluation of my strength and range of motion, he started me on exercises to open up my hips and reduce quadriceps tightness. The hypothesis is that the quads are pulling on my kneecap, straining the tendons on the other end of it.

For what it’s worth, the knees do feel better after the first week. The pain isn’t gone by any account, but I can notice a difference.

Link to puzzle: http://www.thenation.com/article/210273/puzzle-no-3367

  

Difficulty (by standards of this weekly puzzle): hard

Themework:  As 30a/31a tell us, there are eight playing pieces from the game Monopoly hidden in this puzzle.   

Political content:  11a, 14a

Musical content:  15d

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	BLI(N)TZ	BLITZ (“attack”) containing (“around”) kitche^N^ (last letter indicated by “back”)
4a	EN(TRY)WAY	YAWNE_d_ (“opened wide,” omission of last letter indicated by “nearly”) containing (“with”) TRY (“effort”_ This was really hard to parse out
9a	*TEN-SP OT	*SPENT (anagram indicated by “unwisely”) + OT (“overtime”)
11a	SEC*R(E)CY	*CRY (anagram indicated by “uncontrollably”) containing (“about”) ^E^vil (first letter indicated by “launch”) following (“after”) SEC (“a short time”)
12a	*LYCRA	*CARLY (anagram indicated by “improved”)
14a	R(I+DIC)ULE	RULE (“authority”) containing (“imprisoning”) I (“myself”) + DIC_k_ (“Cheney,” omission of last letter indicated by “endlessly”)
16a	S HOE	S (“small”) + HOE (“tool”)
17a	*VI(C)TORIANA	^C^ollected (first letter indicated by “initially”) contained in (“in”) *VARIATION (anagram indicated by “haphazard”)
19a	IS OTHER MAL	IS (“lives”) + OTHER (“different”) + MAL_e_ (“man,” omission of last letter indicated by “almost”) The wordplay is not easy to sort out unless you take a very careful Ximinean look and recognize the “almost” must have some significance.
21a	<IRON<	<NORI< (“sushi ingredient,” reversal indicated by “reversed”) Punny definition, but it helps with the token.
23a	<CIT<RUSES	<TIC< (“jerk,” reversal indicated by “in retreat”) + RUSES (“dodges”)
25a	LAW(N)S	orego^N^ (last letter indicated by “ultimately”) contained in (“breaking”) LAWS (“ordinances”)
27a	~THIMBLE	~SYMBOL (“~THIGN”) The clue spells out “sign” as with a lisp, indicating that the answer should have the same alteration.
28a	§METHANE	§ME THANE (Macbeth’s title is “Thane”)
30a	MO(N)O*POLY	MOO (“low”) containing (“to capture”) N (“knight” [in chess notation]) + *PLOY (anagram indicated by “deceptive”)
31a	TO(K)ENS	*STONE (anagram indicated by “rolling”) containing (“includes”) K (“$1,000”)

Down

1d	BAT*TLES HIP	BAT (“hit”) + *LET’S (anagram indicated by “recast”) + HIP (“fashionable”)
2d, 29d	INN ATE	INN (“pension”) + ATE (“consumed”)
3d	T(OP) HAT	OP (“1960s art”) contained in (“seen in”) THAT (†)
5d	N O S E D	NeOn SpEeDo (alternate letters indicated by “oddly”)
6d	RACECAR	The only wordplay is the indicator (of a palindrome) “whether heading north or south.”
7d	WHEE LB ARROW	WHEE (“this is a lot of fun”) + LB (“pound”) + ARROW (“a projectile”)
8d	<YO_YO_<	<_t_OY_t_OY< (†, omission of T indicated by “timeless,” reversal indicated by “coming up,” repetition indicated by “repeatedly”) Five star clue: three kinds of wordplay on the same fodder, plus an exclamation point!
10d	T(ERR)IER	TIER (“story”) containing (“involving”) ERR (“stray”) Good surface on this one.
13d	*CROCODI(LI)AN	*ACCORDION (anagram indicated by “playing”) containing (“captivates”) LI (“Long Island”)
15d	SAINT S(A)ENS	*NASTINESS (anagram indicated by “vile”) containing (“engulfing”) A (†)
18d	<T(RAN)SOM<	RAN (“extended”) contained in (“inside”) <MOST< (“the majority,” reversal indicated by “building”) Another tricky clue to parse: “building” is an obvious indicator.
20d	HAR(D B O)P	HARP (“instrument”) containing (“keeps”) DB (“decibels”) + O (“zero”) Hard bop is what be-bop evolved into in the 60s and 70s.
22d	B LOTTO	LOTTO (“game of chance”) following (“after”) ^B^everage (first letter indicated by “sip”)
24d	S(M)ELL	SELL (“dump”) containing (“overwhelming”) ^M^ayor (first letter indicated by “at first”)
26d	*ITEM	*TIME (anagram indicated by “edited”)