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ACROSS
1 Carol and Lily mended in confusion, which is how we clued the other Across clues (6-8)
9 Circle around in the morning, crashing into… (7)
10 …line in colorless trim (7)
11 Down with networks and nerds (6)
12 Sib replacing bacterium’s energy in vegetable (8)
14 Retro poet’s contraction, made better, arose again (10)
15 Dog returning what I threw? (4)
18 Nourish government agent (4)
19 Spy on (stare at) wasteful endeavor (10)
22 Steals cattle with no evidence of neglect (8)
24 Reach those with expertise (6)
26 Storm engulfs Long Island, where Jesus once walked (7)
27 Rambo getting drunk in a saloon (7)
28 Farm animal swallowing bug—a sign for some female politicians (14)
DOWN
1 One taking major steps gutted significant additional clause (7)
2 The greatest group of nine almost adopting earth tone (6,3)
3 Relaxed call? (4-4)
4 Mounting a precious stone that’s huge (4)
5 City in the South: Salerno? (3,7)
6 Lombardi, after end of game show (6)
7 Free time put into building toy (3,2)
8 Kind of angel I mistreated (6)
13 A collection of stars or athletes from Detroit, shifting 50 into a wager (6,4)
16 Fishing bait is lame, wrong, messed-up (9)
17 Baseball Hall of Famer traveled west, taking an automobile (3,5)
18 Search for maturity (6)
20 Photography pioneer adjusted a steam nozzle’s opening (7)
21 Zigzag look in pan (6)
23 Colossal volley contents! (5)
25 We hear second son is competent (4)
SOLUTION TO PUZZLE NO. 3503
ACROSS 1 BETA (anag.) + CA(ROTE)NE 9 RI(POF + F)S (rev.) 10 AN(XI + ET)Y 11 FLE(E)T (left anag.) 12 SEMI(S + WEE)T (times rev.) 13 [j]OB + SERVANT 15 palindrome 17 DA + DA (rev.) 19 OSCIL (anag.) + LATE 21 DI S’REGAR + D (rev.) 24 DA + RED 26 IT A + LIAN (rev.) 27 STO(NEMA + SON)RY (amen rev.)
DOWN 1 B(A REF)OOT 2 TOP(LES)S (spot rev.) 3 CA + FETE + RIA (rev.) 4 [c]RISES 5 anag. 6 NI XES (rev.) 7 DE(LET)E 8 initial letters 14 ADO + RATION 15 letter bank 16 TEN + DEN + CY 18 ABS(U)RD (bards anag.) 20 “a rein” 21 2 defs. 22 [pa I]nters anag. 23 alternate letters
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.