Good luck, Ian! (Solution No. 3,312)

The solution to puzzle no. 3,312 is below the fold.

The NHL takes its Olympic break this week, and play in Sochi starts next Wednesday.  Philly’s own Ian Walsh has been picked by the IIHF to be one of the referees who will work the Olympics; there is no greater honor for us officials.  Ian’s a good and conscientious ref (see my October 2012 post) and a great representative of our district and officiating program.

I worked some bantam games with Ian a decade ago as he was on his way up: I doubt he remembers any of them—nor do I.  But seeing how far Ian has made it keeps me motivated, even though the peak of my on-ice career is long past.  I work with a lot of young officials over the course of a season, and with hard work and a little luck, one or two of them could end up where Ian is.  So I try and set a positive example for them, and help them improve their work every game.  Good luck, Ian, and take pride in what you’ve accomplished!

Solution to The Nation Puzzle No. 3,312

Link to puzzle: http://www.thenation.com/article/178128/puzzle-no-3312

Degree of difficulty (by standards of this weekly puzzle): mostly easy.  I got 1d right away, and that gave me the first letters of the entire left side of the puzzle.  I didn’t know 8d, the other 15, so I had to guess it from the wordplay and intersecting letters and then check with Google that there was such an author. 

Political content:  1d, 27a (perhaps, if you have puzzle 3,310 still in mind)

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	B_ACK OUT	B_l_ACKOUT (“loss of power”), omission of L (“liberal”) indicated by (“loss of”)
5a	BU COLIC	BU (“New England school”) + COLIC (“ailment affecting infants”)
9a	TEN S E	TEN (“10”) + ^S^even ^E^leven (first letters indicated by “heads of”)
10a	D(OWN)RIVER	DRIVER (“motorist”) containing (“has”) OWN (“to keep”)
11a	E A *SY TARGET	^E^xpect (first letter indicated by “start”) + A (†) + *STRATEGY (anagram indicated by “devious”)
12a	_UNDO_	so_UND O_pinion (hidden word indicated by “involving”)
14a	*FAINTS	*IN FAST (anagram indicated by “surprisingly”)
16a	AL TRUISM	AL (“for Arabs, the”) + TRUISM (“axiom”) Rare to see Arabic in a charade clue
18a	YO SEMITE	YO (“hey”) + SEMITE (“a Jew”)
19a	<HO<ME >EC>	>EC>HO <ME< (“repeat what I say,” exchange of first and last two letters indicated by “moving in pairs, shift from front to back”)
21a	_ALLY	_leg_ALLY (“within the law,” omission of LEG (“limb”) indicated by “sacrifice”)
22a	_REMORS *EFUL	_t_REMORS (“quakes,” omission of first letter indicated by “first off”) + *FUEL (anagram indicated by “spilled”)
25a	L *UNCHTIME	L (“large”) + *HUNT MICE (anagram indicated by “bats”)
26a	IRATE	I RATE (pun)
27a	*TREASON	*SENATOR (anagram indicated by “despicable”)
28a	_ANK LETS	_b_ANK (“financial institution,” omission of first letter indicated by “starting late”) + LETS (“rents”)

Down

1d	BUTTER (FLY BALL)OT	BUTTER (“shortening”) + OT (“overtime”) containing (“to catch”) FLY BALL (“pop-up”)
2d	~CENTS	~SENSE (“touch or taste,” homophone indicated by “hear”)
3d	*ONE AT A TIME	*I MEAN TO EAT (anagram indicated by “bananas”)
4d	*TUDORS	*STROUD (anagram indicated by “horsing around”)
5d	~BIWEEKLY	~BYE WEAKLY (“farewell in a half-hearted manner,” homophone indicated by “said”)
6d	CORD	Rebus: fill in the blank in the clue with “C OR D”
7d	<LEVAN<TINE	<NAVEL< (“variety of orange,” reversal indicated by “held up”) followed by (“over”) + TINE (“then end of a fork”)
8d	CARS ON MC CULLERS	CARS (“Ford and others”) + ON (“covering”) + MC (“host”) + CULLERS (“those making a selection”)
13d	B ROOMS TICK	TICK (“check”) following (“to underwrite”) B (“second rate”) + ROOMS (“accommodations”)
15d	*INSOLENCE	*SILENCE NO (anagram indicated by “misbehaving”) Exclamation point because “misbehaving” is both definition and indicator
17d	*ATHENIAN	*INANE HAT (anagram indicated by “sporting”)
20d	*TOPEKA	*POKE AT (anagram indicated by “cruelly”)
23d	FLAK E	FLAK (“criticism”) + ^E^valuation (first letter indicated by “outset”)
24d	O HMS	^O^n (first letter indicated by “initially”) + H M S (“Her Majesty’s service”)