Critters (Solution No. 3,199)

The solution to The Nation puzzle no. 3,199 is below the fold.

A couple of the rinks I work at are up in Bucks County; weekend drives there can be pretty scenic. Last month I had two trips notable from a nature standpoint.  The first one happened by accident, as I forgot to make the turn off at Route 132 and kept on going up 532.  In the lawn of an industrial park was a big whitetail buck: a big stocky fellow with at least 8 points on the antlers.  

Then a week later there was the deer who didn’t stay on the lawn and was hit by a car.  A couple of turkey vultures were having a feast on its carcass, while a half-dozen more were circling and waiting for a chance to dine.  

Solution to The Nation puzzle no. 3,199

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	STUC(COR OR)K	COW (“bully”) + OR (†) contained in (“getting inside”) STUCK (“fast”)
6a	<SLAP<	<PALS< (“friends,” reversal indicated by “on the way back”)
10a	METRONOME	Pun
11a	§LEGIT	§LEG IT It would have been easier to just toss the obvious “LIGHT” into the grid here, but Hot and Trazom chose something more interesting.
12a	CON GO	CON (“prisoner”) + GO (“to leave”) The Hex flower
13a	*UNIVERSAL	*RUINS VEAL (anagram indicated by “cooking”)
14a	BELLINI	Pun
15a	*DETAIN	*DATE IN (anagram indicated by “disasterous”)
18a	~LESSEN	~LESSON (“lecture,” homophone indicated by “on tape”)
19a	A_(STAIR)_E	STAIR (“step”) contained in ^A^ ct (first letter indicated by “start of”) + scen^E^ (last letter indicated by “end of”) I originally was trying to make ASTRIDE work here
21a	<FLOW ER POT<	<TOP (“head”) + RE (“about”) + WOLF (“Blitzer”)<, reversal of the whole thing indicated by “pivots”
23a	SAM BA	SAM (“Waterston”) + BA (“degree”)
25a	_LUNAR_	assai_L UNAR_med (hidden word indicated by “sector”)
26a	NOC(TURN)AL	TURN (“change direction”) contained in (“in”) NO CAL (“Northern California”)
27a	YORK	_new_ YORK = _new_ AMSTERDAM
28a	§ALLEN SCREW	§ALLEN’S CREW Reference to Woody Allen, director of Midnight in Paris

Down

1d	<SUMAC<	<CAMUS< (reversal indicated by “raised”)
2d	*UNT(ANGLE)S	ANGLE (“fish”) contained in (“with a coating of”) *NUTS (anagram indicated by “mixed”)
3d	CROCODILE TEARS	CROCODILE (“one that bites”) + TEARS (“rips”)
4d	*WHODUNIT	*WOUND HIT (anagram indicated by “festering”)
5d	~`REEL IN	~REAL (“authentic”) + ~INN (“lodging,” homophone indicated by “by the sound”)
7d	<LEGOS<	<SO (†) + GEL (“set”)<, reversal indicated by “up”
8d	PETULANCE	Pun Reference to Petula Clark, singer of “Downtown”
9d	KLEE NEX T ISSUES	KLEE (“painter”) + NEXT (“subsequently”) + ISSUES (“produces”)
14d	BALEFULLY	Tom Swiftie
16d	ASIA MINOR	Pun
17d	P ARTICLE	P (“soft”) + ARTICLE (“piece”)
20d	S*PINAL	^S^arah (first letter indicated by “originally”) + *PALIN (anagram indicated by “edited”)
22d	_OWNER	_d_OWNER (“a drag,” omission of first letter indicated by “after the first”)
24d	AG LOW	AG (“silver”) + LOW (“blue”)