ACROSS
1 Naan , say, acquired with rent money? (9)
6 Two companies meet with a hot drink (5)
9 Tea is liquor’s twin (7)
10 Gloomier pass in boggy terrain (7)
11 Transported unwrapped sketch (5)
12 Mellowed product from an athletic duck? (5,4)
13 Deviate from answer vehemently (6)
14 Ray, at night, tossing a bone when Mother is around (8)
16 Celebrity: “My urinal is disgusting!” (8)
18 Hunky guy meets nymph in workshop (6)
20 Retires unexpectedly, gets booed (4,2,3)
23 Quality of being observant, like Mondrian? (5)
24 Mutant locust devours one eye doctor (7)
25 Engineer antes up payment “in the high two figures” (7)
26 Vehicle was low (5)
27 What a builder might know: where to find “complain” and “fish” in the dictionary (9)
DOWN
1 Reckons fruit with deceptive ruse (7)
2 Gold stitching covers double strand to an excessive degree (2,7)
3 E is for “Eroica” (10,5)
4 Seven, plus one soldier in the ascendant (5)
5 Tenor’s mask concealing hint of grin (7)
6 Mathematical construct to do an air traffic controller’s job (10,5)
7 Two Greek characters discussed Middle Eastern city (5)
8 In the morning hours, friend is AWOL, for instance (7)
15 Nest lured cuckoo, and this is what emerged (3,6)
16 Space for French newlywed? (7)
17 Mechanical rifle with bit of occasional twitch (7)
19 Strange—a bishop’s domain is mentioned in ancient poem (7)
21 Furnish a witty quote online (5)
22 Perform for each druggie (5)
ACROSS 1 & 29 FRANK (candid) + L (styLish) + EWIS (wise anag.) 4 EXP + LOITER 9 anag. 10 & 12 T(HEN)EXT + GENE + RATION 11 [s]TORE 13 & 18 2 defs. 15 “my asthma” 17 SPHI + N + X (ship anag.) 22 END O(F AN) ERA (read one anag.) 24 init. letters 26 “nude eel” 27 anag. 28 MISS TATER
DOWN 1 F + RANT + IC 2 AFTER(MAT)H (father anag.) 3 hidden 4 EL (G)RECO (Creole anag.) 5 2 defs. 6 anag. 7 anag. 8 hidden 14 anag. 16 S(CAR)ECROW (cowers anag.) 17 anag. 19 HA + RDIER (Rider anag.) 20 DON + A + TES (rev.) 21 ANKL + ET (lank anag.) 23 D + OWNS 25 hidden
Joshua Kosman and Henri PicciottoJoshua Kosman and Henri Picciotto are The Nation’s puzzlers. To read more about Kosman, click here. To read more about Picciotto, click here. Kosman and Picciotto explain what they’re up to in “Solving The Nation’s Cryptic Crosswords” (also available as a PDF). Check out The Nation’s Current Issue page each week for the latest puzzle.