PUNS AND ANAGRAMS — It’s nice to see Mel Taub in this space again, for the first time in over a year! We’ve had some fun “Pandas” from the kiddos, but Mr. Taub brings an unmistakably masterful touch to this interesting genre. Today’s puzzle has a lot of flair, a nice range of pun types and word “schtick,” to quote this constructor (from an interview I read very recently). Solvers should still find it approachable.

I always give out the anagrams first, because they can be solved without explanation for the most part, and because they often provide letter hints to the puns that complete the grid — they’re fill, in other words. A skillful constructor can make fill pleasing, and I like Mr. Taub’s anagrams. They’re clean. Look at 14A, “A lot seem to be eaten at brunch,” or OMELETS; consider 2D, “Cowboys throw them at liars,” or LARIATS. They just work nicely, in my opinion, and make the solve fun. Some other examples include LAMENTED, NOMADIC, STINGER and YES AND NO; there was one, STATORS, that was a new term to me that I needed crosses to confirm (it was common crossword fill in the 20th century as “parts of motors,” and I should have known it). TENACES was only known to me via crosswords, too, in all honesty. If you’re stumped by an entry and it’s not explicated here, it’s safe to assume that it’s an anagram.

As far as the puns and “schtick,” let’s look at the varieties, starting with some of the simpler ones and working to the complex.

One auditory pun struck me at 18A, “The heavenly Hunter O’Ryan, say,” which was quite simple if you know your basic constellations and recognize that “say” is one of several cues for a solver to consider the sound of a word. “O’Ryan,” you say? Oh, I see — ORION. HALE was another example of this type of entry. PUT was clever, as long as you know to make “tepee” equal T and P, and “you” become U, all common tricks in these puzzles. DAMASK was a listener entry, as were ABUT and LENA. As long as you knew LAIT is French milk, this entry also fit in this category.