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Puzzled? No more cross words! Read Kosman and Picciotto on “Solving The Nation’s Cryptic Puzzles.” Or watch this video.
ACROSS
1 Republican put off? That’s too bad (11)
7 and 28 Toy weapon suitable for older kids: uranium engulfed in fire (3,3)
9 Renewable power to fly around lake (5)
10 Like a brother reflecting a canine expression almost entirely (9)
11 Actor is a gas (5,5)
12 Declare Northern capital for a goddess (4)
13 The Spanish continue into a body of water (6)
15 Snake found outside capital of Tanzania (country in Africa) (8)
18 Flower of a certain kind overturned (8)
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19 Leave an arid region (6)
21 Famous dog, child, and hoop (4)
22 Deny C-note is counterfeit (10)
26 Lusts after missing leader and gets too warm (9)
27 Distributed guiltily in the center, behind a bunch of narcs (5)
28 See 7A
29 Corruptly elect fop who quickly vanished, like part of the wordplay in seven Across entries (4,3,4)
DOWN
1 Alternatively, set up terrific place to land a UFO? (7)
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2 Foe of 21 starts to groan under large crashed house (5)
3 Flynn mostly no use when inebriated? Wrong! (9)
4 Rum inside? What a fiasco (5)
5 Boat’s figurehead to go without spar that might be recovered after a crash (5,3)
6 I had spoken and observed (4)
7 Join 100 and 12, frolicking in front of entryway (9)
8 Look after the old man with a stumblebum (7)
14 Upset, we get on without live mediator (2-7)
16 Bolt hooked second half in seat (9)
17 Make self-driving, say, for car pool partner? (8)
18 Chart-topper (“Thong”) is playing (3,4)
20 Peg, in harbor, brought up cradle location (7)
23 Receiver is against breaking up holiday (2,3)
24 In Homer, a towering inspiration to poets (5)
25 Compare capturing that man and a cook (4)
SOLUTION TO PUZZLE NO. 3507
ACROSS 1 “site” 4 S + AIL + B(O)ATS (rev.) 9 anag. 10 AB(OD)E 11 [p]ROOF 12 OC + CASIO + NAL (rev.) 14 S + KIN + RASH 15, 18, 5D & 21D anag. 19 anag. 22 IM + PORT + ANCE (anag.) 24 hidden 26 “carrot” 27 anag. 28 T(REEL)I + NED (rev.) 29 TIM + I’D
DOWN 1 letter bank 2 G(REGOR)IAN[t] (roger rev.) 3 anag. 4 S’YRAC (rev.) + USE 6 B + [d]RAZIL + NUTS (rev.) 7 A + CO + RN 8 S(HELL)AC 13 P + REMA(RITA)L (La Mer rev.) 16 MAE + L + S’TROM (rev.) 17 GOD(C)HILD (hid gold anag.) 18 2 defs. 20 S(MA’S)HED 23 PUR(S)E 25 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.