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Puzzle No. 3390

Joshua Kosman and Henri Picciotto

February 11, 2016

Puzzled? No more cross words! Read Kosman and Picciotto on “Solving The Nation’s Cryptic Puzzles.” Or watch this video.

Click HERE to download a printable PDF of this puzzle.

ACROSS

 1 Go away after vocalist holds dissonant chord—is it live or not? (12,3)

 9 Wearing jeans, I cut out a book of the Bible (9)

10 Ass-backwards—or dark red, for the most part… (5)

11 …for a tangled hairstyle (4)

12 Beggar with a mischievous spirit taking over (9)

14 Freud, deranged, conceals location of mammary glands (5)

15 Depression-era dryness that is moving south to east (8)

18 Disk storage in a computer holding Trebek’s test (4,4)

20 In westbound flight, LAX elicits praise (5)

23 Musical child adopted by extremely merry sprite (2,4,4)

25 Smell of decaying door (4)

27 Take up blackmail, ultimately, to make money (5)

28 I showed up late, in underwear, in a French restaurant (9)

29 Football team eats in, with some bits served repeatedly (9,6)

DOWN

 1 Study outline boosted casino chain at center of industry (8)

 2 He drove recklessly and defied gravity (7)

 3 For example, “gosh” is old hat, somehow (4)

 4 In a blazing celestial object, fire is one of those unavoidable things (6,3)

 5 On either side of a curve, leave artist’s paste (5)

 6 Amazonian plant made from pieces of tuber, recombined (6,4)

 7 Molding grain on rocks (7)

 8 Hop randomly in attempt for prize (6)

13 Genius brain cell I destroyed (10)

16 “Swift in a frenzy”—Time outflanks the press (9)

17 Streets around van Gogh’s onetime residence are nothing like his most famous painting (8)

19 Official fall chorus (7)

21 Country and/or God (7)

22 Charm a stubborn person with a bit of teasing (6)

24 In Buffalo, best places to find a stud (5)

26 Its alcohol chiefly goes to one’s head! (4)

SOLUTION TO PUZZLE NO. 3389

ACROSS 1 letter bank 8 2 defs. 9 “coarse heir” 11 G(LID)E (e.g. rev.) 12 THE MESON + G 13 [b]RAVE (B-less) 14 pun 18 PALIN + D + ROME 19 S(K)IP 22 CARPED + I.E. + M 25 PAST A 26 anag. 27 “Occident” 28 KNO(W + NOT HINGIS)M (monk rev.)

DOWN 1 MA + NAGER (rev.) 2 RETR(I)EVAL (traveler anag.) 3 AM + USED 4 E(XP)AT 5 SO(CC)ER MOM (memos or anag.) 6 NE[a]R + VEGAS 7 ERA + TO 10 hidden 15 D(ERRING)DO (odd rev.) 16 PA(KIS[s])TANI (pinata anag.) 17 anag. 18 [a]PE + CAN 20 P + HAN + TOM 21 [po/OP]-TION 23 RA MEN 24 MOO + CH

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). Check out The Nation’s Current Issue page each week for the latest puzzle.


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