Puzzle No. 3201 Puzzle No. 3201
ACROSS 1 Spin out, as 192 countries take a covetous look back (6) 4 Reps hoot rudely for Jordan, once (8) 9 Fisherman’s rage when taking Lebanon’s premier hostage (6) 10 Libels leaderless residents of Comoros, say (8) 12 Djibouti’s opening lofty type of farm (5) 13 Arab chief invested in offense or protective layer (9) 15 Symbols of power upset Algeria (7) 17 Record niece shattered, blurring the sexes (7) 18 Florida city’s gold to secure Morocco, at last (7) 20 Need to assume Noah’s craft returned for rodent (7) 22 A crazy retrospective: stage located in a Middle Eastern capital—like the 2008 summit of the Arab League (all of whose members are here) (9) 23 First portion in Bahrain: cod with flashy trimmings (5) 25 Shockingly, go in for second slates, e.g. (8) 27 In Qatar, are lyricists found? Seldom (6) 28 Flexible Sudanese ballerina (8) 29 Bush’s backing up in Israel—try Mauritania (6) DOWN 1 It helps make Saudi…(2,3) 2 …chains from ring’s elements (7) 3 Yemen breaking up opponent (5) 5 The actual origins of Operation Iraqi Liberty? (3) 6 Palestine suffering punishments… (9) 7 …from violent settler frame (7) 8 Republican man concealing deception on the rise—and on the rise again (9) 11 Rig up a single Jerusalem artichoke (8) 14 Unstable Emirates getting hotter (8) 15 Called for more supplies, like Yasir’s letters in Syria (9) 16 Kuwait and Somalia, for instance, top Europe at first in spectacular victory (9) 19 Oman, PLO skewered in satire (7) 21 Airmen flying to Tunisia’s capital for clothing (7) 23 Roll all over Libya (5) 24 Egypt in turmoil, like the sun (1-4) 26 Hoisting flag is what we need, in huge amounts (3) ACROSS 1 TRAIN + OF + TH[e] + OUGHT 9 FL + OUNCE 10 G-ELATIN[g] 11 FOOT + BALL + CO + ACH 13 LIB + I DO 15 HA + R(D)TACK (track anag.) 17 anag. 19 hidden 22 BUS ONE’S + DI + SHE’S (bonuses anag.) 25 LO + NG AGO (a gong anag.) 26 2 defs. 27 ate both anag. DOWN 1 TUFT[s] 2 A + LOOF (rev.) 3 NO + NWORD (rev.) 4 “flue buy” 5 H + EGELIAN (lineage anag.) 6 UN + LACED (rev.) 7 2 defs. 8 anag. 12 2 defs. 14 anag. 16 anag. 18 DEN + MARK 20 “yacht Z” 21 MI(SF + I)T 23 rev. 24 2 defs.
Jul 12, 2011 / Joshua Kosman and Henri Picciotto
Puzzle No. 3200 Puzzle No. 3200
Stumped? The authors explain “How to Work The Nation’s Cryptic Puzzles” at thenation.com/puzzle-rules.
Jun 28, 2011 / Joshua Kosman and Henri Picciotto
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 / 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 / Joshua Kosman and Henri Picciotto
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 / Joshua Kosman and Henri Picciotto
Puzzle No. 1634 Puzzle No. 1634
Herewith, Frank W. Lewis’s last puzzle in our pages—from the May 29, 1976, issue.
May 25, 2011 / Frank W. Lewis
Solving The Nation’s Cryptic Crosswords Solving "The Nation"’s Cryptic Crosswords
Newly revised and expanded (April 15, 2015).
May 25, 2011 / Joshua Kosman and Henri Picciotto
Puzzle No. 1633 Puzzle No. 1633
This puzzle originally appeared in the May 22, 1976, issue.
May 18, 2011 / Frank W. Lewis
Puzzle No. 1632 Puzzle No. 1632
This puzzle originally appeared in the May 15, 1976, issue.
May 10, 2011 / Frank W. Lewis
Puzzle No. 1631 Puzzle No. 1631
This puzzle originally appeared in the May 8, 1976, issue.
May 4, 2011 / Frank W. Lewis