Tough enough for you? (Puzzle No. 3243)

    

Link to puzzle: http://www.thenation.com/article/168237/puzzle-no-3243

Hozom’s comment: “Loosening Up” (http://www.thenation.com/blog/168290/loosening)

Are American cryptic constructors descendants of the Puritans?  If you’re setting for The Nation, then you might well be expected to question authority. 

Themework: don’t know if a theme was intended, but 1a and 27a aren’t quite cricket by American rules.

Difficulty (by standards of this weekly puzzle):  Very hard.  This ought to satisfy the 

Political content: Pete Seeger may have been a subscriber to The Nation

solution and comments below the fold

Legend: "*" anagram; "~" sounds like; "<" letters reversed; "( )" letters inserted; "_" or lower case: letters deleted; "†" explicit in the clue, “^” first letter or letters, “{“ relocated letter or letters

Across

1a	CELL BIOLOGIST	Pun on “sell by”-ologist
9a	*NEPALIS	*SPANIEL (anagram indicated by “trained”)
10a	<LAG | GARD<	Reversal (“back”) of DRAG (“to pull”) + GAL (“young woman”)
11a	*UNDONE	*NO NUDE (anagram indicated by “offensive”)
12a	S (*TEER) AGE	SAGE (“herb”) containing (“stows”) *TREE (anagram indicated by “mangled”)
14a	sAMPLE	_s_AMPLE (“try”, omission indicated by “starting late”)
16a	{E{TRU | SCAN	TRU{E{ (“genuine”, relocation indicated by “back to front”) + SCAN (“exam”)
18a	BAN | JOIST	BAN (“prohibit”) + JOIST (“support”)
20a	MA (T) TE	T (“time”) contained in (“to interrupt”) MATE (“spouse”)
21a	BOO (*K CLU) B	*LUCK (anagram indicated by “bad”) contained in (“being held hostage by”) BOOB (“an idiot”)
22a	~EXETER	~EXITER (“someone leaving”)
25a	<SNIP< | PET	<PINS< (“attaches”, reversal indicated by “upon reflection” + PET (“favorite”)
26a	*ARTISTS	*STRAITS (anagram indicated by “dire”) Almost earns the exclamation point.
27a	MOTHER OF PEARL	Double definition Definitely fits the “Loosening Up” theme

Down

1d	CO (*NJUG) AL	*JUNG (anagram indicated by “reinterpret”) contained in (“probing”) COAL (“one source of energy”)
2d	LIP | I | D	†LIP + I (“one”) + D_elivered_
3d	BA | *LANCE	BA (“college degree”) + *CLEAN (anagram indicated by “representation”) Not an obvious indicator, but a fair one
4d	O (US) T	US (“American”) contained in “in” OT (“overtime”)
5d	OBLITERATE	Pun on “OB-literate” Puns are also uncommon in American construction but common in British
6d	INGRES | S	INGRES (“French painter”) Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780-1867) was a neoclassical painter
7d	TEA | R AP | ART	TEA (“drink”) + RAP (“criticism”) + ART (“creative activity”) Are crossworders now the last to use this definition of “rap”?
8d	EDGE	reunitED GErmany (container indicated by “inside”)
13d	NETIQUETTE	~_con_NECTICUT (“Nutmeg State”, homonym indicated by “when mentioning”)
15d	*PLATONIST	*LIMPA TO AN (anagram indicated by “unusually”)
17d	RE (<P | RIS<) AL	Reversal (indicated by “mounting”) of SIR (“knight”) + P (piano: “quiet”) contained in (“to get involved in”) REAL (“concrete”)
19d	JACK | POT	JACK (monterey jack “cheese”) + POT (“casserole”)
20d	MIX IT UP	<PUT (a type of financial option: “Wall Street Option”) + IX (“nine”) + †IM< (reversal indicated by “rising”) A put option gives the investor the right to sell a block of stock at a given price.  It is a form of insurance against the price of the asset going down.  If the price goes down, your losses are limited.  If the price goes up, you keep the profits but lose the cost of the option.
21d	*BASH	*HASB_eens_ (half of the eight letter phrase, anagram indicated by “crazy”)
23d	*TESLA	*STEAL (anagram indicated by “surreptitiously”)
24d	I | AGO	†I + AGO (“back”)