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ACROSS
1 Hater’s need! (6,2,5)
9 Find start of trail and wander (5)
10 Peruvian hollers for working together (2,7)
11 Solidarity for mischievous kids gives protection from punishment (8)
12 Accent a shoe (6)
14 Database constrains diminutive dork (5)
16 Staggered around erratically, etc., like Ronald Reagan (9)
17 Mentions singer having taken sedatives (7,2)
19 Get to a point with a radio journalist, sometimes (5)
22 Relative is held back by unfinished matter (6)
23 That man’s fear is originating in Mexico, perhaps (8)
26 White onion, maybe? That’s an idea! (5,4)
27 How cute sportsman in Oakland halfway kept up (5)
28 Transmitted germ of inspiration by telepathy and with feeling (13)
DOWN
1 Comedian frames funny bit for singer (7)
2 Two naked males limiting insurrection (1,6)
3 Gather leftover ends and nubbins, primarily! (5)
4 $5 found between circle and winding street: that’s worth noticing (2,8)
5 Yokel’s fruit-flavored drink with potassium (4)
6 Discombobulate brother with an offensive… (9)
7 …otion, however tolerable at first (7)
8 One hundred boarding a ship to get high (6)
13 Elegant bio, revised, is up for discussion (10)
15 It involves a racket: running a foundation for illegitimate moneymaker (9)
17 Research lymphatic features in a clever way (6)
18 United Nations breaking boxes and bars (7)
20 Unpleasant person lying about sports-league game (7)
21 Likely to collapse from miserable, icy trek (7)
24 Beginning to labor in long factory (5)
25 Car’s incomplete sound system (4)
SOLUTION TO PUZZLE NO. 3409
ACROSS 1 SP + ICE 4 final letters 6 2 defs. 9 EM(PER)OR (Rome rev.) 10 M(IST)AKE (it’s anag.) 12 hidden 13 anag. 14 SE + SAME 16 CARD A MOM 19 anag. 21 2 defs. 24 pun 25 C(UR)IA 26 O + S + MOSES 27 E(MY + LO[af])MU 28 2 defs. 29 pun 30 hidden
DOWN 1 anag. 2 I + MPOSTS (anag.) 3 pun 4 HO + RACE 5 RO(MANIA)N 7 [l]ANA + H(E)IM 8 initial letters 11 S(WIND)LE[d] 15 ME(AD)OWS 17 M + ARM + A + DUKE 18 anag. 20 anag. 22 PAR(S)LEY 23 A + GREED 24 hidden 25 COMET[o]
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.