Click HERE to download a printable PDF of this puzzle.
Puzzled? No more cross words! Read Kosman and Picciotto on “Solving The Nation’s Cryptic Puzzles.” Or watch this video.
ACROSS
1 An English seductress might know what makes this something for your lips (9)
6 One radical restrains really, really obscene oil company (5)
9 Coal in Mississippi is an arm and a leg (7)
10 Singer’s conciliatory gift drove band (7)
11 Is unable to secure our group on the radio—difficult! (12)
14 Nutcase conceals height and weight (6)
15 It might keep you in bed: a Streisand movie whose opening has shifted to the end with ease (8)
17 Implicit connotation of person who lacks subtlety (8)
19 South of the border, 15 fruit (6)
21 Researcher put resources on one reptile (12)
25 Go back to the drawing board with a colorful bunch (7)
26 Practical thinker about top celebrities (7)
27 Head of Microsoft blasted eBay, perhaps (5)
28 Economic reformer listening to naked fisherman (3,6)
DOWN
1 Raise initial grade of physician hoarding flaky mineral for Jim Carrey, for instance (5,5)
2 Manage poorly rated skirts inside (10)
3 What leaks from part of a cross-reference (7)
4 Comforting words to ski bum (3,2)
5 Some hawks trek less when disoriented (8)
6 Pose awkwardly to exploit embrace (7)
7 How to Look Within Ruins (in pig Latin) (1-3)
8 Whether you look up or down, both hands point up now (4)
12 Be judged and processed last, darn it (5,5)
13 Yellow bench found amid more hackneyed author’s equipment, sometimes (10)
16 A bit of bread stuffing left on the plate without a loss (8)
18 For example, article not returned with shipping tax (7)
20 Improvement to fix rude gap (7)
22 Cast is terminated at an audition (5)
23 Dance for a bit of money (4)
24 Irritable executives don’t get yogurt on their faces (4)
SOLUTION TO PUZZLE NO. 3412
ACROSS 1 SH(A KED)OWN 6 REH[t]AB (rev.) 9 BA + BY + SAT 10 TAG A LOG 11 anag. (&lit.) 12 & 21 ENO + UGH 13 C(H)AIN 14 BLIN(DIN)G 17 MERCI (anag.) + FUL (anag.) 19 F + ARGO 23 anag. 25 NO(THIN)G 26 TA[x]I + LEND 27 2 defs. 28 B[o](ILL + HALE)Y
DOWN 1 SUBTR (anag.) + ACT 2 [h]AR[d] + BIT + RATE 3 anag. 4 anag. 5 NATHANIE (anag.) + L 6 RAG(WE)ED 7 HA(L)VE 8 & 20 B([gi/IG]-JOE + T)URNER 14 BAF + F + LEGAB (rev.) 15 NE(RVECEL)L (clever anag.) 16 anag. 18 anag. 19 F(O + PP)ISH 22 HOT + EL 24 TO TAL[k]
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.