Hockey games should be two periods (Solution No. 3,361)

The solution and annotation to The Nation puzzle No. 3,361 is below the fold.

For every game where the the finish is exciting as the trailing team tries desperately to get the tying goal while the team that’s leading tries to hold on, there are three or four where the contest is over well before the third period even starts.  I had one of those Saturday afternoon.  It was a middle school game, the yellow team vs. the lawn chairs (they fold up when you push them).

The lawn chairs had one decent line, while the yellow team had much more depth and skill overall. Interestingly, the lawn chairs dominated the face-offs, but it was the opposite way in shots on goal and on the scoreboard, even though the yellow team coach had instructed his players to ease up midway through the second and not run up the score.  It was 5 to 1 after two periods.

I would have preferred not to have a third period in that game.  The yellow team got two more goals, the lawn chairs had two more injuries and two more miraculous recoveries (I was sure the kid with the bright green sweater was going to the hospital when he was helped off the ice unable to put any weight on his right leg—he was back skating five minutes later).  My partner got mouthed-off at by a 12-year-old from the yellow team, another one leveled an opponent with a two-hander in the back at the end of the game (I banged that penalty out right then and there, not waiting for a change of possession to blow the whistle—the coach might still be chewing out the kid for that one).  And about halfway through the third, I reinjured the hamstring I hurt fencing last weekend.

In the third, the players get tired, the ice gets slow, the coaches get frustrated, and the fans get bored. Refs get tired and bored too, but we don’t show it.  You might notice me stopping for a second when I hand off the puck or my partner.  I’ll say a few words to help us stay motivated or be alert for a situation that could result in a penalty, or to commend my partner’s hustle or a call he just made.

And no, I don’t really think hockey games should be just two periods.

Solution to The Nation cryptic crossword 3,361

Link to puzzle: http://www.thenation.com/article/205577/puzzle-no-3161

Themework: Every one of the clues incorporated the title of an Academy Award-winning movie. Usually constructors work their themes into the grid, theming some but not all of the answers.  But themed clues are not unheard of, and make it possible to apply the theme to every clue.

Degree of difficulty (by standards of this weekly puzzle): easy.  The theme took away some of the

Agility factor: low to moderate. Clues were driven by the theme, so there weren’t the usual opportunities to be playful.

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	CUT IE	CUT (“barb” [as in shave and a haircut]) + IE (“that is”)
4a	*BY MEANS OF	*BAN MY FOES (anagram indicated by “crash”)
9a	R(*ENT)ING	*NET (anagram indicated by “malfunctioning”) contained in (“breaks up”) RING (“a call”)
10a	V ILL AGE	V (“opposing”) + ILL (“sick”) + AGE (“era”)
11a	AD AM	AM (“morning”) following (“after”) AD (“commercial”)
12a	I N VESTMENT	ghand^I^ (last letter indicated by “last”) + N (“neutral”) + VESTMENT (“robe”)
14a	*TIGHTENS	*THE STING (anagram indicated by “strangely”)
16a	R OMAN	R (“restricted”) + OMAN (“mideastern country”)
19a	MANE T	MANE (“long, thick hair”) + upse^T^ (last letter indicated by “finally”)
20a	*SANCTI TY	*ANTICS (anagram indicated by “crazy”) + mar^TY^ (last two letters indicated by “last two”)
22a	*LUNCH BREAK	*LACK BEN-HUR (anagram indicated by “appalling”)
25a	_OBOE_	h_OBOE_s (“vagabonds,” omission of H and S indicated by “after high school gone”) Good work splitting the movie title between indicator and definition
27a	<DON (JU)A N<	<unforgive^N^ (last letter indicated by “ultimately”) + A (†) + NOD (“casual acknowledgement”) containing (“around”) ^J^unea^U^ (first and last letters indicated by “outskirts”)<, reversal of the whole thing indicated by “returns”
28a	O T HELLO	O (“love”) + ^T^ense (first letter indicated by “facing”) + HELLO (“greeting”)
29a	SCH_LE SWIG	SCH_ind_LE_R (†, omission of IND (“independent”) and R (“republican”) indicated by “lost”) + SWIG (“drink in”)
30a	_OSCAR_	arg_OS CAR_go (hidden word indicated by “found in”)

Down

1d	~CORRAL	~CHORALE (“music from Bach,” homophone indicated by “the sound of”)
2d	TAN }Z{AN }I{AN	TAN + {T}AN + {T}AN (“make leather,” repetition indicated by “do it again twice”, replacement of first letters [fodder not provided] indicated by “with different covers”) Clever
3d	*E(P)IC	*ICE (anagram indicated by “hit”) containing (“maintaining”) P (“power”)
4d	BE(G INN)ERS	BEERS (“porters”) containing (“outside”) G (“grand”) + INN (“hotel”)
5d	MO VIE	MO (“standard procedure”) + VIE (“life,” translation from French indicated by “of Emile Zola”)
6d	ALL ITERATE	ALL (“everyone”) + ITERATE (“repeat”)
7d	S TALE	^S^eattle (first letter indicated by “west side”) + TALE (“story”)
8d	*FLEETING	*IF GENTLE (anagram indicated by “disturbed”)
13d	WHITE HOUSE	Double definition
15d	*SING ALONG	*ANGLING SO (anagram indicated by “craftily”)
17d	*METABOLI C	*IM ABLE TO (anagram indicated by “misread”) + ^C^hicago (first letter indicated by “originally”)
18d	*IMPLODES	*DIM SLOPE (anagram indicated by “rocky”)
21d	_DETOUR_	stampe_DE TO UR_uguay (hidden word indicated by “during”)
23d	_NINTH_	patto_N IN TH_irty-five (hidden word indicated by “capturing”)
24d	RENE W	RENE (“actress Russo”) followed by (“on”) ^W^ater (first letter indicated by “front”)
26d	THE O	THE (†) + g^O^dfather (second letter indicated by “part II”)