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ACROSS

 1 Reverse damage involving single candelabra (7)

 5 Wine and mead curdled nest egg (7)

 9 Like Johnson, engage in beach activity while embracing former partner (5)

10 Steampunk walk in real life (9)

11 We hear Costello dispatch a piece of unfinished business (5,3)

12 Announce German vehicle for Venetian heiress (6)

14 Nobleman from European country seen in small American state (4)

15 Conceived anew, study beginning to investigate more smelly boomerangs (10)

18 Damned similar to Australia? (10)

19 Help to swallow cold drug (4)

22 Crescent-shaped instrument captivates North America (6)

24 Unholy crusades for lemons, perhaps (4,4)

26 Play with tailless miniature (a feline) (9)

27 Ominous-sounding name for a storied pair? (5)

28 Shameful cop-outs for army animal? (7)

29 In front of university park, part of wheel got louder (5,2)

DOWN

 1 Calico cat climbing on top of the semiconductor (7)

 2 Family member’s number (including extension) printed by rotten fink (4,2,3)

 3 Come back in without the second letter (6)

 4 Person suspended, having taken Ambien erratically (5,5)

 5 Nothing in what’s before the door provides a defense against invaders (4)

 6 Say, “The Grand Canyon makes me want to retch and vomit” (8)

 7 Spilled paint is not suitable (5)

 8 Lincoln overlooks a fat epistolary lover (7)

13 Certain characters with unopened basket on dunes (10)

16 Unhealthy trace found in a square fruit (9)

17 Dismiss exaggeratedly theatrical style in training program (4,4)

18 Company adopts absurdist plays and West Indian music (7)

20 Cleaning implement must upset fool outside, with no end in sight (4,3)

21 Slow promotion to Attorney General by idiots in the center (6)

23 Disturbing thing, when Dracula stalks the land (5)

25 51 extra words—they might be red or read (4)

 

Dear Readers: This is the penultimate Nation puzzle. After next week, you can continue to get Kosman and Picciotto’s cryptic crosswords by going to leftfieldcryptics.com. See their goodbye message in this issue.

 

SOLUTION TO PUZZLE NO. 3527