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Puzzle No. 3384

Joshua Kosman and Henri Picciotto

December 17, 2015

Puzzled? No more cross words! Read Kosman and Picciotto on “Solving The Nation’s Cryptic Puzzles.”

Click HERE to download a printable PDF of this puzzle.

ACROSS

 1 Weed: the first logical step preceding mild agricultural disaster (6,6)

 9 Panetta eats medium-size fruit (5)

10 Language heard in section of the theater with fur (3,6)

11 Obstacle concealed competition around noon both times (9)

12 Italian man: American soldier follows him in France (5)

13 Summary dismissal to express disapproval before start of trimester (4)

14 Embargo clearing quiet nation (10)

17 Foul grit inside is supposed to provide a lift? (6,4)

19 Behold commercial cargo (4)

22 Someone close to mine is a dear (or sounds like a deer) (5)

23 Surrealism: two auxiliaries act up (9)

26 Put out the cigars where some legislators are in session (9)

27 Knievel leaving Franklin to settle down (5)

28 Savage eating cereal, with extravagant praise for a composer (7,5)

DOWN

 1 Irrational fellows to make pepper (7)

 2 Doctor slices fish in treeless plain (6)

 3 “Git Along” covers, one of many for the Eagles (5)

 4 Like a cowboy, perhaps, entreated to swallow a bird (9)

 5 I can cope with a fart, as long as it exists in theory (5,3)

 6 “The Bottom of the Dress” and “Pooh and Eeyore’s Tails,” by Alan Alexander (however, one is late) (7)

 7 The Puebla-Hidalgo border is nothing special (4)

 8 That guy had supported nicer bananas, with vitamins added (8)

13Simpsons character takes a bow with a diagram for a statistics class (3,5)

15 A university cat and a jerk with a gun (9)

16 The narcs busted purse thief (8)

18 Saint overseeing the rise of inner spirit’s endurance (7)

20 How the lucky gambler might order his sandwich? (2,1,4)

21 Hothead accompanies insanely nervy monarch (5,1)

24 We might have it with our coffee and newspaper, you and me, after getting up (5)

25 Princely family playing the odds in easy trek (4)

SOLUTION TO PUZZLE NO. 3383

ACROSS 1 lead anag. 5 TIG(HT)ER 9 letter bank 10 [bin] LADEN 11 S(LAVISH)LY 12 DEC. ORATION 15 ME + ME 17 hidden 18 CHIL(D)ACTO + R (Catholic anag.) 21 RES(P)ECTED 23 AV(O)ID 25 anag. 26 anag. 27 anag.

DOWN 1 NIB + BLED 2 2 defs. 3 hidden 4 LO + L + L + S 5 anag. 6 [o]ligarc[h] anag. 7 T(OUCH)IES + T 8 anag. 13 anag. 14 TA(HITIA)NS (Haiti anag.) 16 anag. 17 anag. 19 “read, sell” 20 WEA(PO)N 22 D + RIFT 24 rev. hidden

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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