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ACROSS
1 Viciously beat staff, incorporating a way to learn: It’s good for you, supposedly (4-8)
9 Failing dandy invested in knight’s regressive scams (3-4)
10 Even one enclosure for eleven alien butterflies (7)
11 Radical left embracing empty warships (5)
12 Reversing durations (including second and minute) can be somewhat bitter (9)
13 Perceptive butler, say, pursues uninitiated task (9)
15 Understands, forward and backward (4)
17 Retracted commercials for 22’s movement (4)
19 Vibrate broken coils at the 11th hour (9)
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21 Pay no attention to turning down angry person’s primal urge (9)
24 Yes, Russian favoring Republicans was brazen (5)
25 I can be found after friend, taking jog in African country (7)
26 Brad, with a note written backward in foreign language (7)
27 Building trade’s last word taken back by boy featured in tale (12)
DOWN
1 “No shoes!”—an official interrupts kick (8)
2 No shirt, looking up notice about the French (7)
3 No service here (California party with uplifting atmosphere) (9)
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4 Soars in emergencies, almost from the beginning (5)
5 I cut a tram in pieces—disturbing! (9)
6 Forbids fornication in flip-flops (5)
7 Actress Ruby has permit to strike (6)
8 Initially, New York election trickster is no Russian (4)
14 Love kerfuffle over allowance (9)
15 Recombine elements of lady’s youth (5,4)
16 Cyrus follows the best study habit (8)
18 Eccentric bards captivating university, like much of 17 (6)
20 Announce a check charge (7)
21 Socialist socialites (4)
22 17 and I abandon painters in disarray, leaving a participant in 17 (5)
23 Alternately drew in some belief system (5)
SOLUTION TO PUZZLE NO. 3502
ACROSS 1 GARCIA + LORCA (anag.) 7 & 27 BAR + YON 9 hidden 10 MA(LLOR)CAN (roll rev.) 11 anag. 13 IN + DIAN[a] 15 MENS(WE)A + R 17 HOMER + [y]ULE 19 AM(T)RAK (rev.) 22 anag. (&lit.) 25 anag. 26 rev. 28 K + ILLER + W + HALE
DOWN 1 GO + LF 2 REAR + M 3 I CED(T)E + A 4 LE(M)URS (lures anag.) 5 REL + EASES 6 AVO + WALS (rev.) 7 BUC(CANE)ER (Bruce anag.) 8 RENTS + TRIKE 12 WISH + Y[ello]W + ASHY 14 anag. 16 CLERIC (anag.) + A + L 18 REST + O(C)K 20 hidden 21 S + AMPLE 23 EBOL + A (rev.) 24 anag.
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).