Reindeer steak (Solution No. 3,206)

The solution to The Nation puzzle 3,206 is below the fold.

After a long day of museuming and hiking (I didn’t have any conference sessions to attend yesterday), a light dinner was not going to cut it.  And as much as possible, I want to sample local foods.  So tonight’s dinner was reindeer with grape-sized potatoes, vegetables, and wilted arugula. The Sami and other peoples of the far north have been herding reindeer (also known as caribou, especially in Canada) for centuries—even now it’s still an important part of their economy.

The meat was excellent: lean but not tough.  The slightly gamy flavor reminded me (for some unknown reason) of duck.

Solution and Annotation to The Nation puzzle 3,206 

Straightforward, but not easy, this puzzle was.  

Degree of difficulty (by standards of this weekly puzzle): hard

Agility factor: low

Themework: answers in red related to an energy theme.

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	IN CAS E	INCAS (“ancient Peruvians”) + E (“east”)
4a	COAL*ES(C)E	COAL (“‘clean’ fossil fuel”) + *SEE (anagram indicated by “distortion”) containing (“captured”) C (“carbon”) Exclamation point because “carbon captured” can go with “distortion” as well as indicating the container
9a	*SATIRIC	*SIR I ACT (anagram indicated by “subversively”)
11a	T ANGLED	T (“football formation”) + ANGLED (“slanted”)
12a	_THERMAL_	smoo_THER MAL_efactor (hidden word indicated by “concealing”)
13a	COMP_ETE	COMP_l_ETE (“all-out,” omission of ^L^iberal [first letter indicated by “leader”] indicated by “withdraws”)
14a	L ARK	L (“left”) + ARK (“boat”)
15a	*T(OIL)ETRIES	OIL (†) contained in (“discovered in”) *TRIESTE (anagram indicated by “maybe”)
18a	*SOLAR PANEL	*LA PERSONAL (anagram indicated by “eccentric”)
21a	ST(A)Y	STY (“pen”) containing (“surrounding”) A (†)
22a	*STA(N)DEE	*SEATED (anagram indicated by “doctor”) containing (“around”) N (“no”)
24a	*UNCLEAR	*NUCLEAR (anagram indicated by “meltdown”)
27a	_RAVIOLI_	orchest_RA VIOLI_nists (hidden word indicated by “full of”)
28a	§LEGENDS	§LEG ENDS
29a	{W{IND }F}ARM	}F}IND {W{ARM (†, exchange of first letters indicated by “”swapping heads)
30a	FR OWNS	FR (“France”) + OWNS (“has”)

Down

1d	*INSET	*STEIN (anagram indicated by “baroque”)
2d	*CATHEDRAL	*HATER CLAD (anagram indicated by “in tatters”)
3d	S CRAM	S (“short”) + CRAM (“stuff”)
5d	*OPTICAL	*CAPITOL (anagram indicated by “dysfunctional”)
6d	*LUNA MOTH	*TONAL HUM (anagram indicated by “weird”)
7d	S*OLVE	^S^end (first letter indicated by “primarily”) + *LOVE (anagram indicated by “all about”)
8d	*END(L)ES SLY	*DENSE (anagram indicated by “plastic”) containing (“encircles”) L (“large”) + SLY (“arch”)
10d	CELL O	CELL (“compartment”) + O (“old”)
14d	LAST <STRAW<	<WARTS< (“blemishes,” reversal indicated by “rising”) following (“underneath”) LAST (“endure”)
16d	*IN TH(E) K NOW	*THINK (anagram indicated by “engineer”) containing (“about”) E (“energy”) + NOW (“immediately”)
17d	*TR(AD)E OFF	*EFFORT (anagram indicated by “frantic”) containing (“to hide”) AD (“notice”)
19d	_ATLIER	st_ATELIER (“loftier,”) omission of ST (“saint”) indicated by “abandons”)
20d	E(QUA)L	QUA (“as”) contained in (“in”) EL (“Chicago train”) Actually, in Chicago, they use “L” to refer to the train.  It’s El in New York and Philadelphia (where we call it the El even where it runs underground)
23d	_ALVIN	_c_ALVIN (“religious reformer,” omission of first letter indicated by “decapitated”)
25d	C(IG)AR	I (“one”) + G (“grand”) contained in (“invest”) CAR (“automobile”)
26d	R USES	R (“republican”) + USES (“employs”)