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ACROSS
1 Shoestring budgets resulting in tears (11)
9 Removing “No” from agreement is a good thing (5)
10 Style defeat for school chum (9)
11 Friendly, when nearing the end of one’s term (8)
12 Iron man or woman (6)
14 Exact replicas of scam I deviously inserted in records (10)
16 One-fourth of four, plus four, on its face, equals…! (4)
18 All there is, ultimately: an E (4)
19 In Paris, the franc involves sharp pain for Sarkozy opponent, in all likelihood (4-6)
22 Sponsor Buchanan and Reagan (6)
23 Finally stop long-winded speech about energy introduction (8)
26 Clarify cryptic clue one time (9)
27 I’d love to go inside—I’m getting a foot in the door, for instance (5)
28 A product of innovative tour science! (6,5)
DOWN
1 Composer’s catalog sung (5)
2 Church member addicted to pets? (8)
3 Think over scouting team with rocket launcher (10)
4 Take out wood (4)
5 Discharge decapitated medieval combatant (6)
6 Differential gear: fan is on a boat (9)
7 24 entailing LP trade brings job loss (6)
8 Revolutionary respect (6)
13 Indeed: attempt to take saxophone, at last, and organ, is so 2011 (10)
15 Parses opposing arguments with levels (9)
17 Dessert in America: I foul it up (8)
18 Hint of paprika in excellent meal (6)
20 Running from the nose and from the mouth, with plenty of space (6)
21 Young nun, or what she should display (6)
24 Bone covered with half-beef grease (5)
25 Hack and chop within outskirts of Tbilisi (4)
ACROSS 1 2 defs. 9 A + B(STAIN)ED 10 rev. 11 PERCUSSION + CAP (supersonic anag.) 14 anag. 17 [h]OBOE[s] 19 ‘[h]EELS 20 2 defs. 22 M(I + LIT + ARYBR)ASS (Barry anag.) 26 “Ritz” 27 CAPRI + CORN 29 G + ONE WITH THE WIND
DOWN 1 anag. 2 A + ESIR (rise rev.) 3 ABA + C + USES 4 and 28 rev. 5 RA + DIO 6 TO + PICS 7 IN + CA(PA)BLE 8 [hoa]GY + [he]RO 12 SAT IN 13 JET + TI(SON)ED 15 anag. 16 hidden 18 CUR + B-SIDE 21 2 defs. 23 anag. 24 initial letters 25 2 defs.
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.