Joshua Kosman and Henri Picciotto

The Nation Puzzlers

Joshua 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.

Puzzle No. 3199 Puzzle No. 3199

Stumped? The authors explain “How to Work The Nation’s Cryptic Puzzles” at thenation.com/puzzle-rules.

Jun 15, 2011 / Crossword / Joshua Kosman and Henri Picciotto

Puzzle No. 3198 Puzzle No. 3198

ACROSS  1 Naan , say, acquired with rent money? (9)  6 Two companies meet with a hot drink (5)  9 Tea is liquor’s twin (7) 10 Gloomier pass in boggy terrain (7) 11 Transported unwrapped sketch (5) 12 Mellowed product from an athletic duck? (5,4) 13 Deviate from answer vehemently (6) 14 Ray, at night, tossing a bone when Mother is around (8) 16 Celebrity: “My urinal is disgusting!” (8) 18 Hunky guy meets nymph in workshop (6) 20 Retires unexpectedly, gets booed (4,2,3) 23 Quality of being observant, like Mondrian? (5) 24 Mutant locust devours one eye doctor (7) 25 Engineer antes up payment “in the high two figures” (7) 26 Vehicle was low (5) 27 What a builder might know: where to find “complain” and “fish” in the dictionary (9) DOWN  1 Reckons fruit with deceptive ruse (7)  2 Gold stitching covers double strand to an excessive degree (2,7)  3 E is for “Eroica” (10,5)  4 Seven, plus one soldier in the ascendant (5)  5 Tenor’s mask concealing hint of grin (7)  6 Mathematical construct to do an air traffic controller’s job (10,5)  7 Two Greek characters discussed Middle Eastern city (5)  8 In the morning hours, friend is AWOL, for instance (7) 15 Nest lured cuckoo, and this is what emerged (3,6) 16 Space for French newlywed? (7) 17 Mechanical rifle with bit of occasional twitch (7) 19 Strange—a bishop’s domain is mentioned in ancient poem (7) 21 Furnish a witty quote online (5) 22 Perform for each druggie (5) ACROSS 1 & 29 FRANK (candid) + L (styLish) + EWIS (wise anag.) 4 EXP + LOITER 9 anag. 10 & 12 T(HEN)EXT + GENE + RATION 11 [s]TORE 13 & 18 2 defs. 15 “my asthma” 17 SPHI + N + X (ship anag.) 22 END O(F AN) ERA (read one anag.) 24 init. letters 26 “nude eel” 27 anag. 28 MISS TATER DOWN 1 F + RANT + IC 2 AFTER(MAT)H (father anag.) 3 hidden 4 EL (G)RECO (Creole anag.) 5 2 defs. 6 anag. 7 anag. 8 hidden 14 anag. 16 S(CAR)ECROW (cowers anag.) 17 anag. 19 HA + RDIER (Rider anag.) 20 DON + A + TES (rev.) 21 ANKL + ET (lank anag.) 23 D + OWNS 25 hidden

Jun 7, 2011 / Crossword / Joshua Kosman and Henri Picciotto

Our New Puzzlers’ Debut: Puzzle No. 3197

Our New Puzzlers’ Debut: Puzzle No. 3197 Our New Puzzlers’ Debut: Puzzle No. 3197

Try your hand at the first cryptic crossword by our brilliant new setters!

Jun 1, 2011 / Crossword / Joshua Kosman and Henri Picciotto

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