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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 Transportation cost is reasonable, we hear (4)
3 Irreverent person mixed maple and herbs (10)
10 Brown wood with the top cut off (5)
11 Utter the following last words: “Three stars!” (said with an accent, maybe) (9)
12 Move the camera about king beginning to eat something for breakfast (7)
13 Two converts, breaking lease, make a possibly illegal start (3-4)
14 Superhero’s turn to have bad dream (6-3)
17 Grant involves no sword swallower, for example (5)
18 Crumpled sheet for the ones nearby (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 ”There’s plenty between cold and its opposite”—that’s a low blow (5,4)
23 Made arrangements for surgery and quietly returned Johnny to the emergency room (7)
24 Any rude punk is caught napping (7)
26 Smell of newspaper in European nation (9)
27 Unusual object made of copper, west of Brazilian city (5)
28 Drunken Australian revelry (10)
29 Poet is dull in retrospect (4)
DOWN
1 Outspoken enemy (Dad) makes a slip (4,3)
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2 ”Hurricane” Carter to add insult to injury (5)
4 Boy with extremely little utensil (5)
5 Performed an aria on ecstasy, including every major transformation (3,6)
6 At this point, a jerk is someone with unorthodox views (7)
7 Head of family to protest about endless court case (9)
8 Loud, like John McEnroe perhaps? (7)
9 Musical sound of Mediterranean country (6)
15 Unrefined and inept alien gent (9)
16 European region’s weapon with respect to interrupting aid hike (9)
18 They let you know when reflux of saliva contains ice (3-4)
19 Agent implicated in ancient superpower’s rise! (7)
21 Crime is irrational—and sexy (6)
22 Your Christian upbringing is one source of hormones (7)
24 Computerization provides protection for wombs (5)
25 Blood carrier upended near highway, for the most part (5)
SOLUTION TO PUZZLE NO. 3515
ACROSS 1 S(WASH BUCKLE)R 9 [p]LUME + N 10 PAR(AG)RAP + H (rap rev.) 11 M + [h]ARRIED 12 anag. 13 DIS (rev.) + D(A)INED 15 PAT + T + I 16 2 defs. 18 W(EL(C)OM)ING (mole rev.) 20 AR(RE + S)TS 22 PR + EVEN + T 24 C(ONFID)ANT (din of anag.) 25 UNH + I + P 26 pun
DOWN 1 SALE + M 2 anag. 3 H AND I CAPS 4 [s]UPPED 5 “curt girdle” 6 anag. (2x) 7 S(AD + IS)T 8 TH(INK)ING 13 DI(SPA)TCH 14 NEWSSTAN (anag.) + D 15 PROC(ED)URE 17 CA(R)IN + G 19 hidden 21 “sees” 22 anag. 23 pun
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).