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Puzzle No. 3386

Joshua Kosman and Henri Picciotto

January 7, 2016

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

Click HERE to download a printable PDF of this puzzle.

ACROSS

 1 What’s heard from both sides of America: Deconstruct Shaw, including the start of Candida (5)

 4 Effervescent cast surrounds play area (9)

 9 Margo’s parts seen repeatedly in recommended screening (9)

10 State tag: “That feels good, love” (5)

11 Nation is troubled, also (4)

12 Shifts awkwardly outside laid-back location for those with a kink (10)

14 Alert from nitrogen explosion (8)

15 Clever requirement for speaking English rudely (6)

18 Wrongly arrest philosopher (6)

19 Represents Emily before Derek passes (8)

22 Homeland security finally chases mysterious cult donor (3,7)

24 Oddly, Maui owns a small particle (4)

26 Be relevant, like a Mac? (5)

27 Physician said, “I brought the ship to the pier” (3,6)

28 The Cretan’s ungainly leap (9)

29 Space to take in competition, ultimately! (5)

DOWN

 1 Like someone with 6, holding junk mail (7)

 2 Householder’s catcall interrupting one who works to improve… (9)

 3 …on a tipped-over vessel (4)

 4 An officer and a soldier, perhaps, covered by fabric (8)

 5 Mischievous imp admitted to painting an undesirable place (6)

 6 Think, “Oh god—foul and rank!” (10)

 7 Hindu religious teacher overthrowing W, while looking up Muslim leaders (5)

 8 Complained when flipping Internet domain name (secondhand) (7)

13 For example, a donut-eating cop is largely forbidding peyote concoction… (10)

16 …and in France, eerie quiet before Lawrence shows you how to behave (9)

17 Superlatively, 15 sheep mounting a challenge (8)

18 Rising decay in herb cabinet, for instance (7)

20 Intoned soaring melody with punch (7)

21 Capture what limits men’s dancing (6)

23 Contrarian drank too much in 18D facility (5)

25 A 27, perhaps, returned for the ending (4)

SOLUTION TO PUZZLE NO. 3385

ACROSS 7 2 defs. 8 anag. 9 B(RAT + W)URST 10 CONDO[r] 11 DU(L + C)ET 13 F(OOSB)ALL (boos anag.) 15 anag. 17 rev. hidden 18 S-[a/T]-RONG 21 ROB + IN 23 INT(ROVER)T (tint anag.) 25 letter bank 26 C(AIR)O

DOWN 1 BR(EADL)INES (deal anag.) 2 S(H)AW (was rev.) 3 V + IRTUOSO (anag.) 4 pun 5 C(L)AN 6 ENROL + LEE (rev.) 7 M(YB)AD (by rev.) 8 2 defs. 12 anag. 14 APO(LOG)ETIC 15 “date raid” 16 OU(TSIDE)R (edits anag.) 19 init. letters 20 2 defs. 22 BUN + K 24 [v]OUCH

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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