Click
HERE to download a printable PDF of this puzzle.
And don’t miss Kosman and Picciotto’s crossword blog,
Word Salad.
ACROSS
1 Squash lemons with gravity (6)
4 Between south and north, fly a little bit (7)
8 Notice someone from Seinfeld coming back (6)
9 BA for soccer player (8)
10 God: new or ancient character? (5)
11 They break the rules relating to electric guitars (9)
12 Loudly ride fast, either north or south—that’s one way to find out what people are thinking (6,4)
14 Mineral found in most alcohol (4)
17 Manufacture inside West Bank, finally (4)
18 Drawings I curate after changing sides, put into words (10)
20 Fifty in rear, fifty in front of retreating antelope with disease (5,4)
21 First of tailors interrupts Lord Wimsey, e.g. (5)
23 Sandwich covered with salsa and guacamole, flipped in a ball (8)
24 Paint error—to wit, leaving a piece off the end (6)
25 Hidden quality of inverted mesh in frilly surrounding (7)
26 Old Testament in Russian? No! Later, perhaps (3,3)
DOWN
1 Plan to turn up huge pastries? (9)
2 Dance in place, for some souls (5)
3 Dessert regimen is disrupted, eating that last bite of gateau (8)
4 Supreme Council of the Armed Forces conceding defeat—or support (11)
5 Stylish nanny at first engrossed by chubby baby (6)
6 The Nation’s note covering a feeble letter from Greece’s uprising (9)
7 No stringed instruments make powerful weapons (5)
11 Work briefly with the left on solidarity and chance for progress (11)
13 Favor playing sexy and fast (4,1,4)
15 Tech lover disassembled vehicle (9)
16 Ram a lousy Ford model that’s apt to catch fire (4,4)
19 Texting: “Are you wearing leather in a winter sport setting?” (3,3)
20 Herb is a man’s name (5)
22 Tatum mysteriously clutching belly (5)
SOLUTION TO PUZZLE NO. 3255
ACROSS 1 pun (mice without “I’s”)
9 2 defs. 10 hidden 11 RO(BLOW)E 12 A(EROS)OL 13 DIP + H + THONGS 16 2 defs. 18 anag. 19 anag. 22 V(I)SCERA (carves anag.) 23 DEAL (anag.) + TIN 25 A(X + IO)M 26 K + ORE + ANWAR 27 V(ENTU + RECAP)ITAL (tune anag.)
DOWN 1 TO(WERE)D[o] 2 [b]RAND-B 3 EX-PLOITS (pilots anag.)
4 LI(E.G.)E 5 anag. 6 M(OZ)ART
7 CARDS + HARK 8 2 defs. 14 PIN + KS + LIME 15 OI(LT + A)NKER
16 LA + VA(LA)MP 18 CAVE + AT
20 TEND + RIL[e] 21 PER + MIT
23 hidden 24 TOW IT
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.