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ACROSS
1 and 14D At the 11th hour, securing bishop left in the custody of libertine singer-actor (6,10)
4 Excerpt from “Essay on a Radish”—this might be the last word (8)
10 Assembled blue blanket with front trimmed (5)
11 Political dealings in Nixon/Reagan era (9)
12 In the absence of leadership, gender pride muddled through (7)
13 Make a mistake stuffing dessert in state capital (6)
15 Divide and draw these bananas (9)
17 Classic movie (King and I) about alpha male (5)
18 Said, “Uncle, do mire mire?” (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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20 The author dines irregularly with long-suffering man—that’s a crime (6,3)
22 In Milan, you committed to one suit from the tarot cards (6)
24 Coach in chaotic terrain (7)
26 Showed the last thing to happen in a performance of Beethoven’s Ninth? (9)
27 Thorough analysis involves African country (5)
28 Named item nearly came first (8)
29 Again, enter and peer randomly to take in toy packaging (6)
DOWN
1 Knave, taking shot, wore out fearsome beast (10)
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2 Bit dog, perhaps, after small nibble (7)
3 Made a cross and buried around back of tomb (9)
5 Insects surrounding mobile device (electronic)—they’re on the other side of the world (9)
6 Oxygen covering large part of the earth! (5)
7 A couple of animals (hare or rhea, for instance) (7)
8 A jump on the ice can lurch at first (4)
9 Potato salad ultimately underlies rise of shipping company (4)
14 See 1A
16 Bob, for example, is on TV separating ethyl radical (9)
17 Soak injured badger leg (9)
19 Traps manuscript file at last, encased in retro crap (4,3)
21 Ray and Juan breaking up for a month (7)
23 Tulip mysteriously casting shadows on the ceiling (5)
24 From bottom to top, improve a text’s ebb and flow (4)
25 Something useful for cutting through strange daze (4)
SOLUTION TO PUZZLE NO. 3509
ACROSS 1 letter bank 9 [h]OLDER 10 PUR(CHASE)R 11 AR(CHE)TY + PE 12 A + [e]MONG (rev.) 13 anag. 14 A(DOLE)SCENT 17 pun 19 rev. 22 P + LEAD 23 anag. 26 IN TENT + I + ON 27 PLAN O 28 pun
DOWN 1 AB + DUCTS 2 CUR + FEW 3 IMP-LY 4 CARD + [h]EALER 5 RE + HEARSE 6 L IS SOME 7 COL[d] + A 8 B(RIGHT)EN 13 EL + LIP + SIS 15 anag. 16 CR (rev.) + EDEN + CE 18 SHE(LT)ER 20 PREP + ARE (rev.) 21 rev. 24 P + INCH 25 POT + S (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).