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ACROSS
8 Reed concealing sheep left a smoky hole in the ground (8)
9 Operator with tractor trailer in the beginning (6)
10 Rip off HarperCollins’s chief (6)
11 Believing in God and the self, be loyal almost to the end (8)
12 Assuming a flute (4)
14 Roots transformed into trunk (5)
16 Loudly supplicate for the hunted (4)
17 At first, experiments yield redesigned something to keep out the light (6)
18 Marine struggling to stay put (6)
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Editor and Publisher, The Nation
21 50 start to unclog duct (4)
23 Feel bad about decapitated bird (5)
24 Designer employed by Mother Teresa (4)
25 Look for this below—it’s not too complicated (8)
27 Someone aiming for improvements rioted recklessly (6)
29 Wild, wild rice (6)
30 Unbreakable, like 14 entries whose extremities are excluded from the wordplay (8)
DOWN
1 Jethro, heading to the back: “I’m on the job all day, every day” (4-4)
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2 Encounter air conditioning (4)
3 Some things of mine: tip of tall tree, and something that might destroy it (6,4)
4 Take in aura’s core characteristic (7)
5 Front of hospital locale (4)
6 Creative clip art’s deserving of gold medal (5,5)
7 Competitive, within limits (6)
13 Like ABC or another trio of consecutive letters spoken by sailor? Yes (10)
15 Excessive, like a Hanukkah quarrel? (4-3-3)
19 No Latina is wrong in this magazine? (8)
20 Hoist one brew—you get it for nothing (7)
22 Fool that is tender on the other side of the border (6)
26 One convertible holds ten team members (4)
28 Finchley resident’s unit (4)
SOLUTION TO PUZZLE NO. 3510
ACROSS 1 & 14D JUST IN TIM(B)E + R(L)AKE 4 hidden 10 B + [q]UILT 11 PAT + RON + AGE 12 [s]EX + PIRED (anag.) 13 PI(ERR)E 15 anag. 17 B(A + M)B + I 18 C (do) + E (mi) + D (re) + E (mi) + D (re) 20 I + NSIDE (anag.) + JOB 22 CU(TU)PS 24 anag. 26 D IS PLAYED 27 hidden 28 ENTIT[y] + LED 29 RE(T[o]Y)PE (peer anag.)
DOWN 1 JA(BB + ERWO)CK (wore anag.) 2 S + NIP + PET 3 INTER(B)RED 5 ANT(IPOD + E)S 6 O + ZONE (&lit.) 7 A + NAG + RAM 8 AXE + L 9 SPU (rev.) + D 16 H(AIRS)TYLE (ethyl anag.) 17 anag. 19 DRU(MS + E)T (turd rev.) 21 anag. 23 anag. 24 rev. 25 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).