ACROSS
1 Cheesy position? (5)
4 Baroque era’s eight legacies (9)
9 Dukakis encountered in Washington (7)
10 Republican politician to cut welfare (3,4)
11 and 12 Someone who can do everything, like 3 (11,3)
13 Margot Chapman embraces one kind of journalism (6)
15, 20 and 28 ’70s TV show is celebrity heaven and a home for animals (7,3,5)
17 Turned right, disturbing Odetta (7)
18 Top story: altercation beginning in New York prison (6)
20 See 15
22 Charlie may come before October’s opening celebration (5,2,4)
25 Adelphi reconstructed landing spot…(7)
26 …inside test tube—that’s insignificant (7)
27 Ribald performance of wild party’s song (5,4)
28 See 15
DOWN
1 Look in coats for meals (6)
2 Auditioning is difficult in public (6,3)
3 Sass an irrational painter (5)
4 Main Street with tough balancing act (9)
5 Take popular English thief (5)
6 Mutant battles L.A. in The Gastropod Killer (5,4)
7 General Weaver’s dark mood (5)
8 With a serious demeanor—like a famed violinist? (7)
14 What a playful, thrifty chef might do to a puttanesca recipe? (3,1,5)
15 By the sound of it, good enough to pass the class and stay afloat (9)
16 Engineer solicits a collectivist (9)
17 Fish for bugs (7)
19 Rising religious figure’s symbol and mantra: “Do-Re-Mi” (6)
21 Bit of lacquer found in skillful pottery (5)
23 Tennis champ has zero (love) at first (5)
24 Woman’s correct hits (5)
ACROSS 1 DADDY + WAR (rev.) + BUCKS 9 BE + LUSH + I
10 COT(TAG)E 11 2 defs.
12 PI(NBA)LL 14 EX + HALE + D 16 LEE + CHE + S 18 hidden 20 S + HEER (here anag.) + STOCKING + S 24 E(PSIL)ON (lisp rev.) 25 P + LASTER (alters anag.) 26 anag.
DOWN 1 DEB + T 2 D + ALLIANCE 3 YES(HI)VA 4 A + GIN + G 5 anag. 6 CA(TFI)SH (fit anag.
7 hidden 8 MESS + I DO + R
12 POLISH ED 13 L(U)SITANIA (Italians anag.) 15 LIT + I + GATOR 17 HUR(D)LER 19 EPI(C)ARP (papier anag.) 21 hidden 22 CUP + ID 23 hidden NBA TEAMS: Bucks, Nets, Kings, Spurs, Heat
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.