Saturday, August 15, 2015

Running in circles (Solution No. 3,370)

Call me Dopey if you like: I didn't spot the theme of this one until I got around to the bottom, though that came about because it was a smooth solve.  Usually I like to work in a circle around the puzzle rather than jumping ahead to fill in the easy answers first.  If I have to do the latter, it's a sign of a hard puzzle.

Link to puzzlehttp://www.thenation.com/article/puzzle-no-3370/

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

Agility factor: moderate

Themework: The across clues incorporated the names of the Seven Dwarfs from the tale of Snow White.




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
*REDUC E
*CURED (anagram indicated by “prepare”) + ^E^el (first letter indicated by “head”)
4a
~APACHE
~A PATCHY (“a scrappy,” homophone indicated by “give a hearing to”)
10a
*PHY(SIC)IAN
SIC (“that’s what it says here”) contained in (“is involved in”) *ANY HIP (anagram indicated by “replacement”)
11a
MIMI C
MIMI (“lead soprano in a Puccini opera [La Boheme] + C (“about”)
12a
*BURMA
*RUMBA (anagram indicated by “dancing”)
13a
~STUPEFIED
~STOOP (“bend down”) + ~IF I’D (†, homophone indicated by sounded”)
“Dopey” makes a good misdirection
14a
_IN GO OD S*PIR(I)TS
_r_INGO (“drummer [Starr],” omission of first letter indicated by “loses head”) + ODS (“takes an excessive amount of drugs”) + *TRIPS (anagram indicated by “out”) containing (“when eating”) p^I^e (middle letter indicated by “filling”)
18a
SHORT (TEMPE)RED
SHORT (“brusque”) + RED (“embarrassed’) containing (“about”) TEMPE (“Arizona city”)
24a
*DIFFIDENT
*I FIND DEFT (anagram indicated by “alien”)
25a
PUP I L
PUP (“small dog”) + I (“one”) + L (“large”)
27a
A L I B I
t^A^b^L^o^I^d ^B^a^I^t (alternate letters indicated by “ignoring the odds”)
28a
SO MNO LENT
SO (“consequently”) + MNO (“a set of letters associated with 6” [on a telephone) + LENT (“days of penitence”)
29a
DIG _EST
DIG (“appreciate”) + _j_EST (“joke,” omission of J (“Jack”) indicated by “leaves”)
30a
*SNEEZY
*YES ZEN (anagram indicated by “paradoxically”)
I was kind of oblivious on this one: didn’t realize it was a themed puzzle until I got around to this clue. 


Down
1d
REP*UBL(I)C
REP (“name”) + *CLUB (anagram indicated by “exotic”) containing (“outside”) ^I^talian (first letter indicated by “capital”)
2d
D(RYE)R
DR (“10” [cross-ref to 10a: physician]) containing (“eating”) RYE (“bread”)
3d
CHIC AGO
CHIC (“stylish”) + AGO (“past”)
5d
POMP E II
POMP (“ceremonial display”) + E II (“Edward the Second”)
6d
*COM(MISS)AR
*CAROM (anagram indicated by “wildly”) containing (“captivating”) MISS (“young female”)
7d
*EN(CO)DE
CO (“company”) contained in (“in”) *NEED (anagram indicated by “desparate”)
8d
RI(N)SES
RISES (“gets up”) containing (“to embrace”) ^N^atural (first letter indicated by “beginning of”)
9d
_INCUBI_
certa_IN CUBI_st (hidden word indicated by “has`”)
15d
G(AS IF YIN)G
AS IF (“it’s not likely”) + YIN (“the female principle”) contained in (“separating”) GG (“thousands”)
16d, 26d
PET (<PEEV<)E
PETE (“Rose” [baseball player]) containing (“accepts”) <VEEP< (“Biden,” reversal indicated by “ascent”)
17d
IDO(LA)TRY
I DO TRY (“I really make an effort”) containing (“to limit”) LA (“western city”)
19d
O*RIGINS
O (“ring”) + *RING IS (anagram indicated by “wrong”)
20d
THE(IS)Y
THEY (“that group”) containing (“clothing”) IS (†).
Definition cross reference to 17d: idolatry
21d
ENTOM}B}
}B}EN TOM (“Benjamin and Thomas,” relocation of B indicated by “with the former’s head at the latter’s foot”)
22d
P(*OPC)ORN
PORN (“film erotica”) containing (“enthralling”) *COP (anagram indicated by “crooked”) 
I must not have been reading this clue carefully when I first saw it: I was looking for “accomplishment” or something else besides “accompaniment.”
23d
*ID CA RD
*ACID (anagram indicated by “mixing”) + RD (“road”)
26d

See 16d


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