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ACROSS
1 Jokester in Alabama is a religious figure (8)
5 One visited a writer, mid-morning, after all-night party (5)
9 Horse opera mostly captivating above-average word maven (7)
10 Digital crime running rampant after UN’s about-face (7)
11 Less central skeptic is overheard skipping the introduction (5)
12 Pride participant starts to look into optional nudity (4)
13 Clinton’s legislative proposal (4)
14 Burn leads to rule reversal for phone accessory (7)
16 Source of sweat at Northern university (5)
18 Snoopy, perhaps a little late, is a national symbol (5)
20 Hold pin erratically for ocean dweller (7)
24 Revolver returned in watertight lockbox (4)
25 Stand in front of barn with a piece of corn (4)
26 Regret taking gym class in Indian capital (5)
27 Cajolery from a ski instructor, maybe? (4,3)
29 Taking a break from making a woolly surface? (7)
30 Leader of service is not a holy person (5)
31 Unusual boot involved in autumn sport played by 15 inhabitants of the completed grid (8)
DOWN
1 Ranch hand is shy, taking bow awkwardly (6)
2 Steal ring, and twitch like a machine (7)
3 Entangle ex-president and father, having left the czar’s seasonal residence (9)
4 Televise advertisement for ventilation seal (3,4)
5 and 28 Bump into black aircraft engine (6)
6 Backlog: It reveals, in part, a Hitchcock classic (7)
7 What you might find on a shirt or sweater: “Wanna make out?” (8)
8 Like some plumbing Rodin sculpted while eating a donut (6)
15 I run after ecstasy (3)
16 Struggle with ghastly death burp (2,4,3)
17 Internet presentations raised worry about nasty scab (8)
19 Hawn almost taking on Italian playwright (7)
20 Poorly socialized boy, deprived of oxygen after weed bust (6)
21 Sophia hiked fantastical land with one of the Medicis (7)
22 Spider family found in bygone Philadelphia (7)
23 Follower of a fallen angel in subcontinental region (6)
28 See 5
SOLUTION TO PUZZLE NO. 3432
ACROSS 1 pun 9 [l]AWFUL 10 RE(SOUR)CES[s] 11 AIR + TRAFFIC (anag.) 12 WAD + I 14 “lieder” 15 A THEN I + AN 18 AP + ERI + TIF (rev.) 19 J(OSEP)H (peso rev.) 22 VI(B)E 24 anag. 26 SOUTH (anag.) + POLE 27 NI(E)CE 28 DISCO(M) + BOB(U) + LATE(D)
DOWN 1 TRA(VA)IL 2 B + IFURCATE (anag.) 3 [c]-ALLER(GENI[e])-C 4 TH[e] + RIFT 5 anag. 6 “rue” 7 WI + C + CA 8 SE(S)SION (noises rev.) 13 DEVO + TION (anag.) + AL 16 I NEAR NEST 17 T(I’M E.B.)OMB 18 AD(VISE)D 20 “say, heed” Spoonerism 21 SU(PER)B (rev.) 23 phonetic hidden (&lit.) 25 SHOO[t]
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.