Halfway (Solution No. 3,326)

The solution to puzzle no. 3,326 is below the fold.

I’ve continued to mull on the “meet the constructor halfway” point I made last week, not just on the world at large, but on crosswords too (much more important subject, don’t you think).

We have to particularly apply that principle to the words and definitions a constructor chooses. American constructors have an incredibly broad and deep culture to work from: so much so it’s multidimensional. High culture or popular?  Old or new?  Common or obscure?  And then there are so many subcultures one can dip into.  Macpherson struts, Liszt, platelets, so many words and phrases lending themselves to wordplay.

The Andrew Ries subscription Rows Garden I did last week started off with two answers that I figure might inspire some solvers to demand those inane “trigger warnings.”

1  Ursine fad of the 1980s   CARE BEARS
2  Site whose members list hobbies and favorite Bible verses   CHRISTIAN MINGLE

Now I have been happily married nearly 25 years, and I cringe at treacly sentimentality, but I still smiled at both of those answers.  They reached into deep and dust-covered recesses of my brain.  CARE BEARS came to mind instantly, while CHRISTIAN MINGLE was one of those answers that made me wonder “how did I ever remember that?”

What I can’t abide is solvers who complain about the source of an answer: that we’re too good to be glorifying a silly pop fad or acknowledging that Christians are a significant part of our population. Respecting diversity has to include things that might not be our particular cup of tea, but might be someone else’s.

It’s fitting that a The Nation puzzle name-checks liberals and teases conservatives.  But in the end, the main point of a good cryptic should be to celebrate the language that unites us.  As with commencement addresses, if you’re demanding that every message validate your worldview, you’re losing out on a lot of what makes us grow.

Solution to The Nation Puzzle No. 3,326

Musical content: 15a.  A canon is the more formal term for a round like “Frere Jacques.”

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	REF RIG ERA TORS	REF (“official”) + RIG (“to arrange”) + ERA (“time”) + TORS (“hills”)
9a	*PERSISTED	*DIRE STEPS (anagram indicated by “rethinking”) Had to be persistent to get this one: the indicator was obvious but for some reason, I couldn’t put the letters together right.
10a	GEN(I)E	I (†) contained in (“injected into”) GENE (“part of DNA”)
11a	D(R)AFT	DAFT (“silly”) containing (“to swallow”) R (“red”)
12a	*PHONEI CIA	CIA (“US agents”) following (“tracking”) *IPHONE (anagram indicated by “hacked”)
13a	*SUEZ CANAL	*CASUAL ZEN (anagram indicated by “novel”) Could have been harder, but this way of cluing reads more nicely.
15a	CAN O_N	CAN (“container”) + ^O^pe^N^ (first and last letters indicated by “extremely”)
17a	*AL(T)ER	T (“time”) contained in (“in”) *REAL (anagram indicated by “change”) Exclamation point for the &lit.
19a	WE STERNER	WE (“you and I”) followed by (“facing”) STERNER (“more severe”)
21a	~FOREARMED	~FOUR-ARMED (“like half an octopus,” homophone indicated by “in the sound”) Many people know about the Detroit tradition of tossing an octopus on the ice before a Stanley Cup game.  But did you know that in the pre-expansion years, the octopus would have one less arm for each game the Red Wings won?  That was because in those days, there were only four playoff teams so eight games were needed to win the Cup.
24a	*GIRTH	*RIGHT (anagram indicated by “wrong”) Another example of elegance over difficulty.
26a	C RAZE	^C^onfidence (first letter indicated by “source of”) + RAZE (“level”) “Source of” is a common indicator novice solvers should take note of.
27a	DRAG ON(F)LY	DRAG (“bore”) + ONLY (“unique”) containing (“biting”) F (“female”)
28a	¶MASSACHUSETTS	¶MUSTACHE (letter bank indicated by “grow and rearrange”) Easy word to fill in the grid.  Hard clue to figure out.

Down

1d	RA(P)ID	RAIL (“attack”) containing (“capturing”) P (“pawn”)
2d	FIRM AMEN T	FIRM (“unyielding”) + AMEN (“last word”) + ^T^error (first letter indicated by “start of”) Another easy charade to start the puzzle off.
3d	IDIOTIC
4d	*EAT UP	*TAUPE (anagram indicated by “blend”)
5d	AND(ROC L)ES	ROC (“mythical bird”) + ^L^iving (first letter indicated by “originally”) contained in (“in”) ANDES (“a mountain range”) The definition is a reference to the story Androcles and the Lion
6d	*ORGANIC	*NO CIGAR (anagram indicated by “curiously”)
7d	SONIC_	SO NIC_e_ (“very pleasant,” omission of last letter indicated by “almost”) Definition refers to the video game character Sonic the Hedgehog
8d	*RETAINER	*ERITREAN (anagram indicated by “converted”)
13d	SCARF ACE	SCARF (“neckwear”) + ACE (“first-rate”)
14d	*NEWS MEDIA	*MADE WINES (anagram indicated by “free”)
16d	*NONPROFIT	*IF NOT PORN (anagram indicated by “trash”) Easy anagrams are welcome if they result in a bon mot like this.
18d	}R{EADERS	{L}EADERS (“rulers,” exchange of L for R indicated by “switching sides at first”)
20d	EG G TO SS	EG (“for example”) + GTO (“muscle car”) + SS (“Saturday and Sunday”) I’ve been to many egg hunts and other kids’ events for Easter, and an egg toss has never been part of it.  Some parents might have a fit if their kids sre dressed up in fancy clothes for the day.  Egg toss at a school fair though? (I’ve been to lots of those too).  Absolutely.
22d	R *EALM	R (“republican”) + *MALE (anagram indicated by “destroyed”)
23d	DEA TH_	DEA (“narcs”) + TH_c_ (“marijuana’s active ingredient,” omission of last letter indicated by “reduce … in the end”)
25d	<HAYES<	<oddes_SEY A H_omeric< (hidden word indicated by “captivates,” reversal indicated by “retrospective”)