Props to the laundryman (Solution No. 3,364)

The solution and annotation to The Nation puzzle #3,364 is below the fold.

If I counted right, I did 20 loads of laundry from Friday night to Monday night, about half of which were the choir robes from our church.  It was ideal drying weather: sunny with a light breeze in the evening that kept the dry cycle running after sunset, and with three clotheslines in the back yard and a big washer, I’m in a good position to do all the laundry.  Not to mention that my meager talent is put to better use behind the scenes than in the choir.

The prop also keeps afghans from dragging on the ground.
The house in back was Victoria’s.

The robes are long, so when they go out on the line, I need a couple of prized possessions: my laundry props.  They’re eight-foot aluminum poles with a wire loop at the end.  They hold the middle of the clothesline up nice and high so you can put long things on it without their dragging on the ground.  You can’t find them any more; even in my fairly traditional neighborhood, not many people dry their wash on the line.

Not long after we moved into our house, I found the hooks on the corners of the shed and on the back of the house, strung up clothes-lines, and put our wash on them.  The lady across the back fence (her name was Victoria, and she had literally had been born in that house and lived there her entire life) called me over to say how pleased she was to see a husband out sharing in the housework.  Some months later, when it became apparent that it wasn’t just that one time I was helping do the laundry, she called me over again, and seeing as how she wasn’t hanging out her wash much any more, gave me the props.  That was about twenty years ago.  Victoria died maybe ten years ago, but I’m sure she’d be pleased to know her props are still at work.


Link to puzzle: http://www.thenation.com/article/207633/puzzle-no-3364

Degree of difficulty (by standards of this weekly puzzle): average

Agility factor: high.

Themework: How fast did you get “AFTER REFLECTION”?  And then how many answers did you try to fit in backwards?  I went down that blind alley for a while before realizing the alteration in the theme answers was to change the Rs to Ls and vice versa.  Clever.

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	*AFTER (R)EF(L)ECTION	R (“right”) and L (“left”) contained in (“found in”) *OFFICE TENT ARE (anagram indicated by “scrambled”) I didn’t notice this until I finished the puzzle, but the clue puts the alteration out there in plain sight!
9a	BURN I SHED	BURN (“blaze”) + I (†) + SHED (“give off”)
10a	MO}L{A}R{	MO{R}A{L} (“good,” theme alteration)
11a	CO}R{ONE}R{	CO{L}ONE{L} (“officer,” theme alteration)
12a	C}R{EATED	C{L}EATED (“like an athlete’s shoe,” theme alteration)
13a	}R{EE}L{S	{L}EE{R}S (“lascivious glances,” theme alteration)
15a	LAT_VIA	LAT_e_ (omission of last letter indicated by “almost”) + VIA (“by way of”)
19a	<V(IT)ALS<	<SLAV< (“Pole, for instance,” reversal indicated by “spun”) containing (“around”) IT (“that thing”)
20a	G}L{OVE	G{R}OVE (“wood,” theme alteration)
23a	}R{EG}R{ESS	{L}EG{L}ESS (“missing limbs,” theme alteration)
25a	APPEA}R{S	APPEA{L}S (“legal proceedings,” theme alteration)
27a	F}L{OWN	F{R}OWN (“expression of displeasure,” theme alteration)
28a	*EPITOMIZE	*ZIP I EMOTE (anagram indicated by “foolishly”)
29a	*THE LOOKING GLASS	*THANKLESS GIGOLO (anagram indicated by “shattered”)

Down

1d	AL(*BACOR)E	*COBRA (anagram indicated by “stewed”) contained in (“in”) ALE (“beer”)
2d	T(HR)ILLER	TILLER (“plowman”) containing (“catching”) HR (“home run”)
3d	~REIGN	~RAIN (“downfall,” homophone indicated by “announced”)
4d	*EC(HOLA)LIA	*ALICE (anagram indicated by “confused”) containing (“when adopting”) HOLA (“Spanish greeting”)
5d	_LUDIC_	honolu_LU DIC_kering (hidden word indicated by “in”)
6d	COM(PET)ING	COMING (“on the way”) containing (“to accommodate”) PET (“favorite”)
7d	*INLETS	*LISTEN *ENLIST *SILENT *TINSEL (anagram indicated by “four ways to supply”)
8d	*NERUDA	*UNDER A (anagram indicated by “maneuver”)
14d	~SLIDE INTO	~SLY DIN TOO (“cunning racket also”, homophone indicated by “on the phone”)
16d	*TASMANIAN	*SATAN I AM (anagram indicated by “eccentric”)
17d	*MONA LISA	*SOMALIAN (anagram indicated by “touched up”)
18d	¶REASSESSES	¶EARS (letter bank indicated by “bits of… some used more than once”) Like the letter bank last week, I think this one would have been OK with less indication too.
21d	§PROFIT	§PRO FIT
22d	_IGNORE_	s_IGN OR E_vidence (hidden word indicated by “contents of”)
24d	{S{PEAK	PEAK{S{ (“mountains,” relocation of first letter indicated by “bottom to the top”)
26d	<PRO(N)G<	<GORP< (“trail mix,” reversal indicated by “carry up”) containing (“taking”) N (“north”) “Gorp” stands for “good old raisins and peanuts,” a home-made snack that preceded all those commercial trail mix products.