Ask a stupid question... (Solution No. 3,342)

The solution to puzzle no. 3,342 is below the fold.

Scene: Sunday morning on an ice rink somewhere in the Philadelphia area: the third period.  A pee wee player gains control of the puck and skates into the neutral zone, followed by another pee wee player, with a referee trailing them.  The second player wraps his stick around the first player.  The referee raises his arm.  The three continue into the neutral zone where another player knocks the puck away from the first player.  The referee blows his whistle and directs the second player to the penalty bench. 

Referee (to scorer):  44 white holding!  Minor penalty.  Four four.

Coach (to referee):  You’re killing us! How did he hold him?

Referee (to coach):  With his arms and his stick.

Referee skates away.

Solution to The Nation crossword no. 3,342

Seeing 1a and 26a, I was hoping for a couple more geek-related entries to complete a theme, but no such luck aside from 27a.

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, “‡” Spoonerism

Across

1a	DIG ERA TI_	DIG (“appreciate”) + ERA (“time”) + TI_me (first two letters indicated by “half”) The “at” sits a little clumsily in that clue.
5a	WAR SAW	Inverted: a SAW about WAR
10a	WA}N{ED	WA{X}ED (replacement of X with N indicated by “replacing one variable with another”)
11a	CAR E L ABEL	ABEL (“first murder victim”) following (“behind”) CAR + EL (“two vehicles”)
12a	F(*ORGE)RY	FRY (“cook”) containing (“catches”) *OGRE (anagram indicated by “monstrous”)
13a	PAR ODIC	PAR (“standard”) + ODIC (“of lyrical poetry”)
14a	ROCK	Double definition
16a	_ORCHESTRA_	t_ORCHES TRA_ditional (hidden word indicated by “shelter”)
18a	H(*OLY GR)AIL	HAIL (“acclaim”) containing (“that involves”) *GLORY (anagram indicated by “questionable”)
19a	<ARAB<	<BAR (“prevent”) + A< (†, reversal of the whole thing indicated by “return”)
21a	CURETTE	Coinage
22a	*BOUNCER	*CURB ONE (anagram indicated by “unruly”) Nice choice of anagram fodder.
24a	UN(<DERRAT<)E	<TARRED< (“besmirched,” reversal indicated by “contrarian”) contained in (“in”) UNE (“French a”)
25a	*DEL(T)A	*DEAL (anagram indicated by “reworked”) containing (“about”) ^T^erminal (first letter indicated by “opening”)
26a	T(W)ERPS	TERPS (“Maryland athletes”) containing (“surrounding”) ^W^ashington (first letter indicated by “foremost”) “Terps” is short for “Terrapins.”  The turtle mascot is called “Testuodo”
27a	<EMOT<*ICON	*COIN (anagram indicated by “toss”) following (“after”) <TOME< (“volume,” reversal indicated by “retrospective”)

Down

1d	DOWN FOR THE COUNT	Pun: down pillows for Count Dracula
2d	_GONER_	chica_GO NER_vous (hidden word indicated by “in”)
3d	*RED SEA	*ERASED (anagram indicated by “mysteriously”)
4d	T A C K Y	^T^asteless ^A^nd ^C^onveying ^K^itsch ^Y^es (first letters indicated by “primarily”) Exclamation point for the obvious and lit.
6d	ALL*ERGEN	ALL (“totally”) + *GREEN (anagram indicated by “offensively”)
7d	SU(BED)ITOR	SUITOR (“beau”) containing (“covering”) BED (“crib”) This also would have worked if “BED” was literally in the clue; often solvers see a common word and start looking around for synonyms.
8d	WILT CHAMBERLAIN	WILT (“decline”) + LAIN (“rested”) containing (“outside”) CHAMBER (“room”)
9d	*TROPICAL	*CAR and PILOT (anagram indicated by “in smash-up”)
15d	<_COL ERID GE<	<EG (“for example”) + DIRE (“horrible”) + LOC_k (“hair,” omission of last letter indicated by “for the most part”, reversal of the whole thing indicated by “comes back”)
16d	ORAL }EX AM}	}EX (“formerly”) + AM}ORAL (“not knowing the difference between right and wrong”, reordering of the two parts indicated by “after exchanging words”) Parsing this one out was a good puzzle in itself.
17d	*A(GI)TPROP	GI (“private”) contained in (“investment in”) *POP ART (anagram indicated by “explosion”)
20d	~PUND IT	~PUNNED (“told a joke, homophone indicated by “heard”) + IT (†)
22d	B(R)EAM	BEAM (“ray”) containing (“eats”) ^R^aw (first letter indicated by “a bit of”)
23d	C(O LI)C	CC (“200”) containing (“÷” [divided by]) O (“0”) + LI (“51”)