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Puzzle No. 3228

Joshua Kosman and Henri Picciotto

February 15, 2012

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ACROSS
 1 Change offensive position (11)
 8 God’s period of mourning (5)
 9 Writer of doggerel who samples “The Raven”? (9)
10 Hint at nut by sides of obscure river (10)
11 Flimsy article left unfinished (4)
12 Tell all about seat of primal drives and external facade (6)
13 Bean stuffed with last bit of capsicum (that is, pepper) (8)
16 Touched base with mixed-up teen, one who’s playing hooky (8)
18 Where a giraffe might be seen if a car broke down (6)
21 Small as a prong? (4)
22 Delaying tactic resulting from strain, assuming I clear the table (10)
24 Interpret my retro commercial presaging the end of the mass-produced (5-4)
25 In tic-tac-toe, X’s are forbidden things (2-3)
26 Multiply what some Republicans might charge each other? (11)  
DOWN
 1 Made a joke, and supplied everything but the opening (7)
 2 Mythical king is willing, with Minoan leader coming in soon… (9)
 3 …to cool stovepipe (3,3)
 4 Fancy speeches primarily rescued the man, like a life preserver (8)
 5 A hydroelectric structure is ur-
      gent? (4)
 6 Knowledge stifles desire where food is prepared (7)
 7 Strangely, sonar rubs out long-dead beast (12)
 8 Acceptable test exists on plant (12)
14 In New Zealand, a carrier for “pipe disease” (9)
15 With Garr or Hatcher around, I chatter and dish (8)
17 Deceitful spam involves a French source of light for tanning studio equipment (7)
19 The way we count on energy is extreme (7)
20 I live surrounded by liquor and steak (6)
23 Shifty politician concealing corrpution, for example (4)
ACROSS 1 2 defs. 10 2 defs.
11 [t]HAI/T + IAN 12 anag. 13 LA + UNDRESS 14 GORGON + ZOLA
17 P + AIR 20 hidden 21 2 defs. 
23 S + TATUS QUO (outsquat anag.) 25 anag. 27 DOOR + DIE 28 NAIR + OBI (rani anag.) 29 2 defs.   DOWN 2 AL + ARM 3 R + AINDROP (I pardon anag.) 4 LEG + ALI + ZED
5 NEH-RU (rev.) 6 HA(I)RD + O
7 2 defs. (ref. 3226, 18D) 8 2 defs.
9 anag. (altering or integral) 15 RIG + MA ROLE 16 pun 18 RE-STRAIN
19 S(MASH)ING 22 rev. hidden
23 S + AD-AT (rev.) 24 hidden
26 [s]TROVE

 

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.


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