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ACROSS
7 Carol devours Vonnegut’s first book (5)
8 Paradise is quiet, and almost madly angelic at the outset (7-2)
9 Credit card gets you texting large illustration (6)
10 Each perimeter entry consists of two of these, and has a definition in the implausible to-do list below (6)
12 Oversized kimonos lacking front and back of netsuke (5)
13 With a small switch, put fear into (intimidate) one that cannot be criticized (6,3)
15 Land, sad as the sky (5,4)
17 Heroic Spaniard taking possession of channel (1-4)
19 Things stay cold here, west of Finnish mountain crest (6)
21 Beginning to toast hot grain a few times (6)
23 Move briskly amid a swell substitute for grass (9)
24 Woman with incredible zeal embracing the author (5)
DOWN
1 Bill’s popular sin: eating doughnut (7)
2 Fitfully struggles, missing front of wooden arch (10)
3 For the human race, a father and a mother (4)
4 Skill when assimilating board-game slang (5)
5 Foolish despot with nothing on jerk (7)
6 Writer’s apartment including car service (8)
11 Like some research in wild, scenic setting for one healthy comeback (10)
14 Dated, buggy code set involving segment of RAM (8)
16 A piece of gold to hear what a piece of gold might do (7)
18 Composer raised glass with Chianti, oddly (7)
20 Start to luxuriate in blood-soaked splendor (5)
22 Name on a tower without top or bottom (4)
TO-DO LIST
• Excavate whale legs
• Conceal agreement letters
• Fuel feeble criticism
• Dry black baton
SOLUTION TO PUZZLE NO. 3459
ACROSS 1 S(ERIE)S 4 S + CRUNCHY 10 A BUSH (ELAND) A PECK 11 GRAM + MAR 12 L(ILYP)AD (I-ply anag.) 13 TAB + ER(NACL)E 15 T + REF 18 R + ARE (rev.) 20 MONTE + VIDEO 23 D + EVE + LOP 24 A-[me/F]-RICAN 25 PHO(TOJO)URN + A-LIST 26 2 defs. 27 CY + GNUS (rev.)
DOWN 1 S + LAUGHTER 2 “rue” + BARB 3 EP + HEM + ERA (rev.) 5 CAN(DLEL)IT (Dell anag.) 6 U + SABLE 7 C(HE)APER 8 Y(OK)E + D 9 2 defs. 14 A(MORP)HOUS[e] (prom rev.) 16 FO + OTNO + TES (rev.) 17 “ovaries, E” 19 R + A(V)IOLI 21 anag. 22 ALM(O)S + T 23 anag. 24 AW + R[o]Y
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.