Anticipation (Solution no. 3,332)

Solution and annotation to The Nation puzzle No. 3,332 below the fold.

Who’s thinking about 3,333?  It’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create a specially themed puzzle.  Will Hot and Trazom go for it?

Solution to The Nation puzzle no. 3,332

Link to puzzle: http://www.thenation.com/article/180810/puzzle-no-3332

Difficulty (by standards of this weekly puzzle):  Hard.  A lot harder than the previous puzzle, but that one drew the gripes. 

Musical content: 12a

Political content: 19a, 29a

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	PO(LITE)SSE	LITE (“low-cal”) contained in (“filling for”) POSSE (“entourage”)
6a	PAY UP	PA (“Pennsylvania”) + YUP (“you betcha”)
9a	ANGLE	Double definition
10a	*ORIGINALS	*RAGS IN OIL (anagram indicated by “tattered”)
11a	B(LAST OF)F	BF (“Skinner”: psychologist) containing (“to take in”) LAST OF (†) Uncommon digram here.
12a	*ARETHA	*EARTHA Do any constructors actually have Eartha Kitt records?
14a	_YODA_	tok_YO DA_mage (hidden word indicated by “contributes to”)
15a	WA TERS(LID)E	TERSE (“curt”) containing (“holds on to”) LID (“hat”) following (†) WA (“Washington”)
18a	GI A COMET <TI<	GI (“soldier”) followed by (“leading”) A (†) + COMET (“reindeer”) + <IT< (reversal indicated by “is heading west”) One of those answers where you just have to trust the wordplay.
19a	CHE F	CHE (“revolutionary”) + F (“female”)
22a	REFUSE	Double definition, cross-ref to 18d (“garbage”)
24a	REST ARE A	RE-STARE (“take another look at”) + A (†)
26a	AD(VAN T)AGE	ADAGE (“proverb”) containing (“involving”) VAN (“wagon”) + T (“Ford model”)
27a	C(R)OAT	COAT (“jacket”) containing (“covering”) ^R^ooster (first letter indicated by “head of”)
28a	ELS(I)E	ELSE (“otherwise”) containing (“covers”) I (“one”)
29a	POT HOLDER	HOLDER (“attorney general”) following (“goes after”) POT (“marijuana”)

Down

1d	PLAYBOY	Pun
2d	LAG <_UAR_ DIA<	LAG (“delay”) + <AID (“help”) + f_RAU_d (omission of first and last letters indicated by “limitless”)< reversal indicated by “is on the rise” Pretty complex.
3d	_T WENT Y_	rowboa_T WENT Y_onder (hidden word indicated by “found in”) I was treating it as a container and looking for “dory” at first.
4d	S(NOW)F LAKES	NOW (“present”) contained in (“wrapped in”) SF (“San Francisco”) + LAKES (“Geneva and Winnipeg”) Didn’t know there was a Lake Winnipeg/
5d	E MIT	E (prefix for “online”) + MIT (“university in Cambridge”)
6d	P(RIM)ROSE	PROSE (“writing”) containing RIM (“border”)
7d	YEAS T	YEAS (“votes”) + ^T^orte (first letter indicated by “a bit of”)
8d	PAS SAGE	Pun
13d	*GENTE(EL)EST	*TEEN GETS (anagram indicated by “unhinged”) containing (“when taking”) EL (“train”)
16d	IS HER(WOO)D	IS (“lives”) + HERD (“mob”) containing (“around”) WOO (“court”) Trust the wordplay.
17d	NONSENSE	¶NOSE (letter bank indicated by “picking from”) That’s a groaner, but brilliant.
18d	GAR(B)AGE	^B^oat (first letter indicated by “nose”) contained in (“in”) GARAGE (“repair shop”)
20d	FLATTER	Double definition
21d	<STUC<CO	<CUTS< (“carves,” reversal indicated by “up”) preceding (“before”) CO (“company”)
23d	F AVES	^F^eed (first letter indicated by “beginning”) + AVES (“a group of birds”)
25d	G ASP	G (“gee”) + ASP (“a snake”)