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ACROSS
1 Mixture made from tonic ingredients, in various proportions (10)
6 Eisenhower almost backed up religious leader (4)
10 Without force, battled an obligation (5)
11 Evaluates program increases (9)
12 Contrived bird design (7)
13 Drink in mountain paradise without the leads in Lost Horizon (7)
14 Best of three units (6,2,4)
19 Bits of tacos are all you need to get all over the country (5,2,5)
22 In secrecy, clerics use a composting bin, perhaps (7)
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24 Lose hope when changing diapers (7)
25 Meddle and creatively reinvent wheel’s hub (9)
26 Force British politician to wear garland backward (5)
27 The ultimate in typography: one pica, flush right (4)
28 Crazy May’s gotten together with Perry—for the most part, that’s irregular (10)
DOWN
1 Rough and cold, like some beers (6)
2 Deny the existence of an entrance opposite the southwest corner (6)
3 June, for instance, doesn’t start to feel seasick before beginning to tack to port (2,3,4)
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4 Former carrier favored writer (5)
5 New pope stood against… (7,2)
7 …spread of schmaltz capacity (8)
8 Wrong answer to a down clue (DREA), if ________ (8)
9 Ache for French bread (4)
15 Head into messy store for car parts (9)
16 Horrible Bosses 4 finally became fanatical (9)
17 Shortage in Traumaville? (8)
18 Western university laid off teaching assistant in Indian center, once (8)
20 Vocalist’s cover on the radio (6)
21 Amphibian and insects both curtailed fun (6)
23 Fish make a stink (4)
24 Northwest road reverie (5)
SOLUTION TO PUZZLE NO. 3457
ACROSS 1 BUS + STOPS (rev.) 5 S(PIG)OT 10 anag. (&lit.) 11 anag. 12 BA(RBA(RASTA)NWY)CK (brawny anag.) 14 B(ED)ROOMS + ET 19 & 17 ROM + PER 21 B(U + RIALS)ITE 25 B + UTTER + NUTS + QUASH 28 BA(TH[e])SALTS 30 AD(I)OS (soda rev.) 31 hidden 32 I + NIT + I + ALS[o]
DOWN 1 BLU(R)B (rev.) 2 SCOUR + GE 3 TET + RA 4 PO + BLAN[d] + O 6 & 29 POI + SON 7 GUS[t]S + YUP 8 anag. 9 F + LOTUS 13 anag. 15 R + EB (rev.) + BE 16 initial letters (&lit.) 18 PRO(BAB[y])LE 20 MUTA(TE)D (rev.) 22 anag. 23 anag. 24 anag. 26 QUART[z] 27 H + ASPS
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).