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And don’t miss Kosman and Picciotto’s crossword blog, Word Salad.
ACROSS
1 See 2 if confused about final two parts of clues (7)
5 Filthy locale outside university, very loud and poorly ventilated (6)
8 “Goodbye, trouble!” is heard (5)
9 Places where animals graze in unadulterated delight (8)
11 Will examine last word at end of fight (9)
12 Benjamin’s half—it alternates with the second half of 5 across (5)
13 and 10 down This hint to four words hidden within this puzzle’s entries was not uttered by a discoverer of DNA, nor by a master decipherer of clues (10,2,4,6)
16 A monster, and therefore repulsed (4)
18 Part of church: section of cheap seats (4)
19 Ocean bird harassed hat wearers (10)
23 Hipster’s comeback: it is implied (5)
24 Creatively recook rap to produce a kind of musical (4,5)
26 Monkeys with computer get a question half-written (8)
27 Times-edited articles (5)
28 and 15 down Prehistoric boast about ravaged zone at onset of epoch (6-3)
29 I agree to equip hothead and heavyweight (5,2)
DOWN
1 Sexist metaphor: he wants “a pert bombshell” (4,3,5)
2 Ties at first, then victories for baseball team (5)
3 Erudite fellow getting up to embrace actress Blanchett (8)
4 Sage’s torn panties (7)
5 Irrationally respect symbol of authority (7)
6 Dangerous snafu disrupted beginning of enterprise (6)
7 Wood cube securing front of fortress in skirmish (9)
10 See 13 across
14 Spooner’s tacky first-born gets a comfy seat (4,5)
15 See 28 across
17 Go back and forth around noon—starting a little late, feeling faint (8)
20 I hear the lady’s outfit is covered with hair (7)
21 Emile Zola, famously: “California brought up dreadful curse” (7)
22 Injury is a feature of rigorous training (6)
25 Former tennis champion is upset (5)
SOLUTION TO PUZZLE NO. 3256
ACROSS 1 anag. 4 S(MIDGE)N 8 rev. 9 BA[ck] 10 THOR + N 11 OF FENDERS 12 “gallop, pole” 14 hidden 17 MA(K)E 18 ART I CU[r/L]ATE 20 B(L)ACK + L + UNG (rev.) 21 PE(T)ER 23 SP(HERO)ID (dips rev.) 24 E + NAMEL[y] 25 LA(TEN)CY (net rev.) 26 N(OT)YET
DOWN 1 rev. 2 2 defs. 3 MERING(U)E (regimen anag.) 4 SCAF + FOLDING 5 IN + FA(N)T 6 G + UATEMALA (a lame tau rev.) 7 N + UKES 11 OP + PORT + UNITY 13 LIKE + AS + HOT 15 anag. 16 BUM PINTO 19 SKI(RU)N 20 2 defs. 22 hidden