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Puzzle No. 3406

Joshua Kosman and Henri Picciotto

August 25, 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 Inmates report this magazine lacks leadership—it is reminiscent of the completed grid (13)

 9 Right around nine, beat up mere DJ, perhaps (7)

10 Quiet baby toy and baby talk (7)

11 Retro hipsters capturing Communist front of extreme jihadist group— that’s why we stick with established judicial principles (5,7)

13 Jerusalem Bedouin keeps lodge (5)

14 Famous warrior rejected a program for aspiring commanders, huh? (6)

15 Surprise violation of Lent matters (11)

18 Looks of incomprehension as financial institution’s receiving large counterweights (5,6)

20 Value a song holding #1 spot in chart (country) (5,4)

24 Debussy piece is comparatively weak (2,3)

26 Some people read them—they might be next to Green Gables (3,6)

27 Feeling of dread suffuses Georgia (hit in a kind of hip-hop) (7,3)

28 Contrarian came first and wrongly sued fools (7)

30 Cooked a seamy crawdad in annual ceremony reminiscent of the completed grid (7,6)

DOWN

 1 Corrupt narcs torch thickening agent (10)

 2 Lunatic invested in counterfeit coin circulating from place to place (7)

 3 and 29 Disney rose to accept cut in IRS rules (3,3)

 4 Ancient musician’s year entered in catalog (6)

 5 Suggest interrupting primate is pertinent (8)

 6 Instant messaging to get old icon (5)

 7 Incompetent celebrity (7)

 8 Tragic deaths overshadowing creative work’s early beginning (4,5)

12 Time to bolt after start of chase (5)

16 Insect leaving mammal to run away (5)

17 Strange letups involving ex-wives of Henry VIII, e.g. (8)

18 Arthur is about to haul a whale (6)

19 Household chemical cartridges I packed in sodium (7)

21 Conqueror is popular villain (7)

22 Passes from people with a butt fetish? (7)

23 Treacherous prosecutor’s overdue to receive letter from legislator (9)

25 In Bucharest, a reasonable place to pull the car over (4,4)

29 See 3

SOLUTION TO PUZZLE NO. 3405

ACROSS 1 GROW THIN + DUSTRY (anag.) 10 NIF (rev.) + TIER 11 anag. 12 anag. 13 hidden 15 RADI (anag.) + I 16 CRO(T)CHETS 19 anag. 21 REB + US 3 2 defs. (& lit.) 25 “an ounce” 27 AN(ARCH)Y 28 AL + LCAPS (anag.) 29 letter bank

DOWN 2 RE-FINED 3 WHIST-LING 4 HER + MIT + C(R)AB 5 NI (rev.) + BS 6 [flo]UNDER 7 TR(O)UBLE (butler anag.) 8 YE(ME)N 9 anag. 14 G + OLDEN + G + ATE 17 CARP + OOL :ER (rev.) 18 SUS(PEN)SE (Seuss anag.) 20 FAN FARE 22 B AND AN A 23 S + HARD 25 rev. hidden 26 “kite” rev.

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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