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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)
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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). Check out The Nation’s Current Issue page each week for the latest puzzle.