Toggle Menu

Puzzle No. 3404

Joshua Kosman and Henri Picciotto

July 28, 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 Fall to pieces and perish, concealing transgression to get back at informer (12)

 9 Leaders of Egypt might begin exporting refined coal (5)

10 Vicious rant about “stupid idiot”—that’s what we get from our elders (9)

11 Move laboriously westward, greeting nation’s first mammal (7)

12 Deduce number in conflagration (7)

13 Goodbye to partner, from the side (9)

15 Reflect, my boy—I’m an ancient king (5)

16 An overturned farmyard enclosure is gross (5)

18 Loud American composer gets recognized, like the Department of Defense’s headquarters (4-5)

20 Holy person travels on horseback, or walks with determination (7)

22 Aimless, wandering woman (7)

24 Very happy, OJ drove recklessly around you once (9)

25 Officer repelled crowd with zero resistance (5)

26 Put in the ground, and ready to be taken out of the ground—it’s endless (12)

DOWN

 1 Fear poisonous adder (5)

 2 Uncouth louts seizing oil company is not the main story (7)

 3 Craft, then lorry, heading toward a pole (9)

 4 John’s heartfelt online content (5)

 5 Vile, ratty, disgusting entertainment (7,2)

 6 Criminal rush to separate true from false (5)

 7 Lebanese-American writer and soldier introducing a type of muffin (6)

 8 Came out for red-nosed revelry (8)

13 Pines in a sauna? That’s not very likely (4,4)

14 Characteristic behavior: Elites fly all over the place (9)

15 Bodybuilder announced a mollusk-themed superhero? (9)

17 Show hide (6)

19 Office employment: storing dirty jokes in database (4,3)

21 Radio personality working outside one city in France (5)

22 Poem written in two meters—that’s how some people communicate (5)

23 Edge of African lake where eagles live (5)

SOLUTION TO PUZZLE NO. 3403

ACROSS 1 anag. 6 hidden 9 A DAM 10 RAN(DOM + WAL)K (law + mod rev.) 11 AP (rev.) + PARENT 13 LA(DIN)O 15 CREDIT (anag.) + CARD 17 S + EAT 18 2 defs. 19 “sooey, generous” 20 hidden 21 anag. 23 STORY + BOARD 25 2 defs. 27 GLAD + Y[e]S 28 KN(EES)OCK (see rev.)

DOWN 3 ND + MEN + T 4 TORT + E 5 P(UNCTUATION M)ARK (autumn tonic anag.) 6 K + NOW + LEDGE 8 I + A-LIST 12 talon anag. 14 sheep do anag. 16 TE(STTUB)ES (butts rev.) 22 NUD(G)E 24 & 7 RED + RAW 26 & 2 UNC + LAD

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.


Latest from the nation