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ACROSS
8 Corporate practice I’d reflected about has an exciting quality (10)
9 A biblical brother nearly produces a faddish fruit (4)
10 Fur is, um, not yours (6)
11 Spice is crime-free after reversing habit (8)
12 Madly in love with contrarian view of T.S. Eliot, for instance (8)
15 Young woman conceals diamonds with a piece of expensive underwear (6)
16 Predicament of the author on Social Security (4)
18 Cow’s daughter (a female relative) (5)
19 Game played with balls and a body of water (4)
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21 Makes a confession amidst maneuvers (6)
23 Beach city in South America entrusting orange to Jamaican, perhaps (8)
25 Apostate almost torn to pieces by Jove and Neptune, ultimately (8)
27 The latest information involving Asner recalled the item that completes a set together with a 1 found elsewhere in the grid (6)
28 Guarded finishers in break before jump shot (4)
29 Pinter skipping premiere after running to look at baby (3-4-3)
DOWN
1 The Beatles, for example, singing “Don’t Give ‘Em a Choice” (8)
2 Urge is visible, audible (6)
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3 Family brought up head of Egyptian goddess (4)
4 Fuzz from Michigan city taking the lead out (4)
5 A reptile ate actor Kinnear in summer? (10)
6 Casually mention famous acquaintances planting a drug in retro erotica (4-4)
7 Ellsberg nailed criminal with incoherent denial (6)
13 Astonishingly, find savior is not popular (2,8)
14 Support hiding in Soviet Russia (5)
17 Tilts toe uncomfortably! (8)
20 Honestly moving around below the radar (2,3,3)
22 Sandra: “To write is to become more profound” (6)
24 “Woodsier range” captures it! (6)
26 Before removing both sides of artist’s hat (3)
27 Worry: start of tornadoes in three directions (4)
SOLUTION TO PUZZLE NO. 3480
ACROSS 1 AS + PI + RATIONAL 9 “I sup” 10 GA + THE RING 11 anag. 12 S(C)UM 14 W(IS)EST 15 INCOM[e] + MON[ey] 17 O + VERV(I)E + W 19 U + TOPIA (anag.) 22 [p]EACH 23 anag. 26 FOR(TUNA)TE 27 “peace” 28 PRE + POST + ERO(U)S
DOWN 1 AG(IL)E 2 P + LEASES 3 letter bank 4 anag. 5 phonetic hidden 6 A HEM 7 SIT + COM 8 EG(OMAN)IA 13 BOA + TPEOPLE (anag.) 14 W(ROTEOF)F (foetor rev.) 16 J + E(W)SHARP 18 anag. 20 PLACE + BO 21 anag. 24 EP + EES (rev.) 25 MU(I)R (rev.)
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.