ACROSS
1 and 12 Part of home stereo system for politician (7,2,3,5)
5 Militant, not unlike a street vendor? (7)
9 Intense book about a lion: Wild (9)
10 Ballerinas penetrate housing for Quaker? (5)
11 Music for two called morning moisture moist (4)
12 See 1 across
14 Preeminent and prudish: Gore (6)
16 In a chatroom, silent types attract about 1,000 heartless rogues (7)
17 and 22 Single piece of furniture’s hookup (3,5,5)
18 Greens lead around alternative (7)
19 Eviscerate study to check method (6)
22 See 17 across
23 Joke following student’s first slide (4)
26 Mimicking a knock from the engine (5)
27 Copper in ring corroded figure… (9)
28 …even inside overdue baby’s clothes (7)
29 Tech pioneer: “I know A-Z, but in a different order” (7)
DOWN
1 Accelerate return of young dogs to captivate Sandra (5,2)
2 Call forth the First Lady, securing permission (5)
3 Fabric displayed by Greek nitwit (4)
4 Second round urn? (6)
5 Greeting involves Haitian leader in Port-au-Prince, the scene of misery (8)
6 Watchfulness you and I agreed to maintain at that point (7,3)
7 Careless urchin, unrefined and not without love (9)
8 Nerdish tangle impedes… (7)
13 …engineer that grew it, allowing neither 4 nor 21 (10)
15 Amid wandering, tiny trace of ethical courage and honesty (9)
17 The Spanish cat’s smell wafts up—that’s a deterrent (8)
18 What you might do on bumping into a donkey: duck! (7)
20 Between Tuesday and Thursday, recognize Wednesday comes in like a lamb (7)
21 Revenue from news, mostly meager (6)
24 Sikh, a kinsman, sports brown cloth (5)
25 Hum with Neil’s partner (4)
ACROSS 1 RABBI + TEARS 6 2 defs. 10 2 defs. 11 anag. 12 “let’s” 13 AVO[w] + I + DANCE 14 anag. 15 B + EAGLE 18 S(ED)ANS 19 I + R(ON)ING 21 O(VERB)ITES (toes I anag.) 23 anag. 25 rev. 26 RE + VEREN(C)E (veneer anag.) 27 NAT + O 28 G(HOSTS)TORY
DOWN 1 rev. 2 anag. 3 IN + VESTMENT + BANK 4 EMU + LATE + D 5 RAT(I) ON 7 P(R)AWN 8 anag. 9 pun 14 LA(STONE)IN 16 GL IS S AND O 17 MISS + IVES 20 ST + ARCH 22 [s]EXIST 24 REED + Y (deer rev.)
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.