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Word Salad.
ACROSS
1 I deal with last vestige of power blackout externally in theatrical offering (5,5)
6 Support a wager (4)
9 Work around broken fin’s metal sheeting (7)
10 Bizarrely, I coat Pa with pudding (7)
12 Difficult phase for many (5)
13 Dance in good-time church? Supposedly, there’s no such thing (4,5)
14 Fighter plane assessed and moved to another country (8)
16 In retrospect, clean up the beginning of swift currents (5)
19 A shortstop buried near a hole (5)
20 What some chairs have: collars restricting movement at first (8)
22 Quality of twilight: sun-kissed, phantasmagorical (9)
25 Essential aspect of narcolepsy challenges the science of behavior, briefly (5)
26 Former Soviet republic that would be sweet with 7? (7)
27 Deceptive hint: song, or where it might disappear (4,3)
28 Lunatics stagger back (4)
29 Hide Ecstasy in Bronx bughouse—it’s useful for distributing rewards and punishments (7,3)
DOWN
1 Memorable cold front wrecked yacht (6)
2 Lying to improve a metropolis (9)
3 Drag irritated Italian or Russian (5-8)
4 Chanteuse embraces Brel’s final entrée (5)
5 No-goodnik mother in Dutch port (9)
7 Forehead on Northern California politician (5)
8 Caddy instructs leader of trainees (3,5)
11 Talking chicken gets unexpected recognition (8,5)
15 Bring up illustration that dominates European nation lacking new brand (9)
17 Unusual birthday featuring musical opening and short poem (9)
18 Horse I’d almost race backwards in a sweater (8)
21 Trunk with weapon that could be a companion to a mighty hammer? (6)
23 Yell, “Be quiet! Scram!” (5)
24 It is suppressed by trespass and direct action (3-2)
ACROSS 1 SL(EDGE + H)AMMER 10 PUC(K)E + RING UP 11 & 27 GOA + LIE 12 NOR + MAL 13 REP + ROACH 15 [t]HEFT 16 BUT + TIN + SKIS (KISS anag.) 19 POLE + SAP + ART 21 P-LEA[p] 23 “base, vile” 25 NITW + IT (twin anag.) 28 C(HEAPS)KATES (casket anag.) 29 W + INTERS + PORTS
DOWN 2 LEE + WAY 3 DA + IS 4 anag. 5 anag. (&lit.) 6 MA(G)MA 7 [p]REACH 8 OPENS + HOP 9 S + CORNFUL 14 anag. (&lit.) 17 anag. 18 S(MAR + T)ASS 20 hidden 22 PICK + E.T. 23 B(Y)LAW (bawl anag.) 24 2 defs. 26 alternate letters
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.