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Puzzled? No more cross words! Read Kosman and Picciotto on “Solving The Nation’s Cryptic Puzzles.” Or watch this video.
ACROSS
1 Loud birds: a tweeter and a Western cuckoo at savannah’s edge (9,5)
9 Superb location to hold a bunch of parties (4)
10 One terrible concert featuring Rossini’s overture is like this: (7)
12 and 26 Ask an individual to leave (6)
13 Shoulder positions for a dancer with fundamental substances, including phosphorus and gold (11)
14 S is something found in a bathroom (10)
16 The avant-garde of music? That’s definitely not us (4)
20 After one-for-one trade-in—a TV receptor (4)
21 Buggy returned, carrying Washington beneath the Delaware, say (10)
Even before February 28, the reasons for Donald Trump’s imploding approval rating were abundantly clear: untrammeled corruption and personal enrichment to the tune of billions of dollars during an affordability crisis, a foreign policy guided only by his own derelict sense of morality, and the deployment of a murderous campaign of occupation, detention, and deportation on American streets.
Now an undeclared, unauthorized, unpopular, and unconstitutional war of aggression against Iran has spread like wildfire through the region and into Europe. A new “forever war”—with an ever-increasing likelihood of American troops on the ground—may very well be upon us.
As we’ve seen over and over, this administration uses lies, misdirection, and attempts to flood the zone to justify its abuses of power at home and abroad. Just as Trump, Marco Rubio, and Pete Hegseth offer erratic and contradictory rationales for the attacks on Iran, the administration is also spreading the lie that the upcoming midterm elections are under threat from noncitizens on voter rolls. When these lies go unchecked, they become the basis for further authoritarian encroachment and war.
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23 Proper and organized, Ray originally could live with basic medical attention (7,4)
26 See 12
27 Improve the looks of Dorothy’s aunt, a little like Kristen? (9)
28 and 29 Engineer caught defaming prof with a song popularized by artists hiding in three Across entries (4,3,5,6)
DOWN
2 Devout soldier breaks into lousier bughouse (9)
3 It might be Holy Creator, protecting leader of Catalans before the Spanish (8)
4 Musical component of Humanae vitae (5)
5 One living abroad close to France adopts 2 group, largely free of guilt (9)
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6 Windows hardware put up around space station to economize (6)
7 Oddly, art designs boosted domestic consumption? (3,2)
8 Places quotes in speech (5)
11 Ill-treated vehicle impounded in narcs’ escalation (6)
15 Poultry and climbing vine in Rhode Island beginning to interest ruler (5,4)
17 All hail strange oath involving gentle, captivating female (4,3,2)
18 A bite of fungus containing salt (6)
19 Fermented paste conceals tiny flower (5,3)
22 Jump up and start to layer a rice dish (6)
23 Fold petition on time (5)
24 Saturate caps of inky mushrooms before using enoki (5)
25 Insect in a park disappeared (5)
SOLUTION TO PUZZLE NO. 3444
ACROSS 1 BA(CK)REST 5 T(HANK)S 9 hidden 10 JUG + G(L)ER (reg rev.) 11 letter bank 12 TENT + H 13 2 defs. 14 ST + RIPP(OK)ER 17 anag. 18 FAT E 20 SIN + EW 22 A DUMB RATE 24 anag. 25 “I-less” 26 S(L + E)IGH 27 GUT + T + URAL
DOWN 1 B + RIDE 2 C ON F + ERRED 3 alternate letters 4 SHO[w] + TINT(H)ED ARK 6 HI(GHTO)P + S (Goth anag.) 7 NY + LON[don] 8 SUR(CHAR)GE 10 JUST INTRUDE + AU 13 THUR (anag.) + S(D)AYS 15 K.O. + A LAB + EAR 16 T + RAW LING 19 2 defs. 21 NO(R)SE 23 [w]EASEL
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).