Hotel bar (Puzzle No. 1,542)

Don’t forget the cluing challenge: hosted here the weeks The Nation isn’t published.

I’ve been on a business trip this weekend, and I used the train ride to type up the solution.  I’m in Washington at one of the quirky boutique hotels there instead of the main conference hotel.  Cheaper, nicer accommodations, and a nice martini on the house.  The other part I liked is that they have a couple of complimentary puzzles (“for the commute”) printed out.  Ordinary straight crosswords and sudoku, but their heart is in the right place.  Maybe someone should offer to be their puzzle curator, and offer some weekend novelties.

A forty-year-old cryptic would be too hard for the casual solvers, but it is definitely a novelty.  How did you do on it?  I had less difficulty with this one than with the last Frank Lewis puzzle we solved.  The wordplay is less complex than Hot and Trazom do, but some of the grid words and definitions are quite obscure.  However, Lewis knew to balance a tough word with an easier wordplay: see 13a for example.

The other thing I’m finding helpful in working these puzzles is to just let my mind loose and noodle around with phrases in the clue.  That let me get answers like 3d and 23a, which in turn helped with some of the intersecting words.  Between that and not panicking when I only parse out a single definition in the clue, I’m starting to get the hang of Lewis.  How about you?

Solution to The Nation crossword #1,542: June 15, 1974

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	EXPAT(R)IATE	R (“right”) contained in (“in”) EXPATIATE (cross-reference to 18d)
6a	see 5d	The cross-reference wasn’t noted in the puzzle as originally published.
10a	EXP_IATE	EXP_*tar_IATE (cross-reference to 1a), omission of *TAR (anagram indicated by “mixture”) indicated by “there’s no”
11a	R(AIM)ENT	AIM (“purpose”) contained in (“in”) RENT (“payment”)
12a	*DIE-HARDS	*A REDDISH (anagram indicated by “blend”)
13a	IX I ON	IX (“nine”) + I (“one”) + ON (†)
15a	NOSES	Word association (“as plain as the NOSE on your face”)
17a	*ELEPHANTS	*PLAN THESE (anagram indicated by “apparently”)
19a	ORGAN STOP	ORGAN (“heart”) + STOP (“failure”) Organ stops (sets of pipes) are named for the kinds of instruments they emulate.  A celeste (or celesta) is a keyboard instrument that containes chimes.  The Dance of the Sugar Plum Faries from The Nutcracker is a well-known piece where the celeste is prominent.
21a	DOG MA	Pun
23a	DEATH	Word association (“death where is thy sting”)
24a	CUT IT OUT	Double definition: “operator” here might refer to a surgeon
27a	INSULIN	Single definition
28a	AMATEUR	Single definition?  Peculiar cluing
29a	_ERSE	_v_ERSE (“poetic,” omission of V (“a small number”) indicated more by implication)
30a	GOVERNMENT	Single definition

Down

1d, 25d	EYESTRAIN	EYES (“looks”) + TRAIN (“what someone in the bridal party might have to bear”) I was looking for “ring” here.
2d	POP PIES	POP (“soft drink”) + PIES (“desserts”)
3d	TRASH	Word association (“whoever steals my purse steals trash”)
4d	IN EARNEST	Word association (“The Importance of Being Earnest”)
5d, 6a	TURNS TILE	TURNS (“uncovers”) + TILE (“something in mah-jongg”)
7d	IBERIAN	Single definition
8d	EAT ONES HAT	Word association (“eat crow”)
9d	F(IN)ISHED	FISHED (“angled”) containing (“around”) IN (†)
14d	ANY OLD TIME	Pun (“old time religion”)
16d	SINK HOLE	Pun (SINK a [golf] ball in the HOLE)
18d	EXPIATATE	Cross-referenced from 1a
20d	GLASSES	Double definition
22d	GRUYERE	Single definition
24d	CON GO	CON (“take advantage of” + GO (“travel”)
25d	see 1d
26d	TROT	Double definition Took me a while to figure out this one (though I had the answer pretty quickly); then I remembered “trots” as a nickname for Cliffs Notes.