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ACROSS
1 Momentous heart? (5-10)
9 Essential energy reflected the sound of a cat and the sound of a bird (7)
10 Backslide and return psychic’s gift with warning, mostly (7)
11 No! A thousand times no! Teasing is unacceptable! (9)
12 Mona Lisa’s home is beyond standard (5)
13 Between drinks, sorcerer’s way to make money (7,4)
16 and 18 Refuse destination, even after rejecting Teddy Roosevelt (3,3)
19 Elevated less serious reader’s implement (11)
21 Termination of ailment by licking a fish (5)
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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22 Plenty from Chaplin’s tabletop performance in The Gold Rush (9)
25 Chant about Baltic capital with one type of Asian art (7)
26 Mesa, Arizona’s leader follows behind schedule, turning up outside (7)
27 Common bird, once carrying only letters from Singapore (9,6)
DOWN
1 Odd enchantress, rising to ensnare copper (9)
2 Feeling sorry for everyone (including children) after destruction (5)
3 Infusion distressed the bear (4,3)
4 Greeting very quiet orange beast (5)
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5 Gets ready to run away, reciting something Chaucer might have written about a seabird? (5,4)
6 Mathematical figure otherwise circumscribing edge (7)
7 Orgiastic romp with titan of great consequence (9)
8 Participant in rogue’s shindig: One can be educated or wild (5)
14 Salmon I’d cooked holding unknown instruments (9)
15 Engineer overlooking crazy impression (9)
17 Cheer up large bobtail horse with a clown (9)
19 Something you could eat for breakfast: fish sandwiches, without a doctor’s orders (7)
20 Former African strongman raised stipulation to put in silver (7)
21 Bad time coming up for soldiers (5)
23 Start dinner late—it is stimulating (5)
24 Family member in French city taking a bite of éclair (5)
SOLUTION TO PUZZLE NO. 3463
ACROSS 1 ME + NAG + ERIE 6 D{EMU}R 9 {RAT}IONS 10 {COW}[b]ARDS 11 COM{BAT}MISSION (&lit.) 13 {ASS}EMBLE[m] 14 S{CAT}HE 18 AT{HEN}S 20 F{ANT} + ASIA 23 B(ROTH{ELK})EEPER 26 S{PIG}OTS 27 TR{APE}ZE (final letters) 28 {DOG}MA 29 SC + {RAM}BLED
DOWN 1 2 defs. 2 anag. 3 G(ROOM + S + M)EN 4 RASC (anag.) + ALLY 5 ENCA + MP (rev.) 6 DAW (rev.) + NS 7 MAR(XIS)T (rev.) 8 anag. 12 DAT A (rev.) 15 anag. 16 rev. 17 LAM + ENTER 19 [s]HOOTING 21 anag. 22 CLAS(P)S (&lit.) 23 B(AS)ED 24 HO + OH + A 25 V + END
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).