Joshua Kosman and Henri Picciotto

The Nation Puzzlers

Joshua 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.

Puzzle No. 3360 Puzzle No. 3360

Click HERE to download a printable PDF of this puzzle. ACROSS  1 Crazy proposal for travel (10)  6 Assistant reversing digital divide? (4) 10 Business associate sending back money for housing strike (7) 11 Yale student invested in plastic dyes—they keep out the light (7) 12 You sat awkwardly with a poet (5) 13 Where some children learn arrangement of crop holes (9) 14 Think about a swindle, with employee behind schedule (11) 17 and 18 across Miscellaneous source of heat, without liquid (6) 18 See 17 across 19 Where you could get milk or grain, in the past, with raw material (6,5) 21 In the far south, tactic ran off the rails (9) 24 Wood from a plank, turned over (5) 25 Terribly bored, sanction magazine (7) 26 Water shortage is severe within the boundaries of Detroit (7) 27 Dressing from April 30? (4) 28 It might keep you from suffering a retreat before a male jerk (10) DOWN  1 Pretend to sing along with South Korean rapper in Long Island and North Carolina (3-4)  2 Surprisingly tiny trace leads to conviction (9)  3 Lists to choose from when a planet’s face is magnified by a factor of 200 (5)  4 Academic exercise for Rev. Spooner: style hair with a candle (4,5)  5 Robes evidently concealing fat (5)  7 Judge came down against the essence of Roe (5)  8 The smallest quantity of soda, unopened, overcoming endless thirst (7)  9 Brutally scare the faculty (8) 15 Load in established staple of the slow-food movement? (8) 16 Three-digit sequences are not DC poems (4,5) 17 Herb interrupts insult to get attention (9) 18 Site of the Taj Mahal seen in poorly illuminated illustration (7) 20 Shred laciest part of some underwear (7) 22 Diminutive cover for the state’s lawyer, at present (5) 23 Naked star (a well-known doll) is not available (5) 24 Stall an assassin (5) SOLUTION TO PUZZLE NO. 3359   ACROSS 1 2 defs. 4 VI + DEOT (rev.) + APE 9 hidden 10 CHO(M)P 11 [f]EELS 12 “cone and oil” 14 pun 15 KNIF (rev.) + [d]ES[k] 18 B(L)EACH 19 BUD + A PEST 22 anag. 24 hidden 26 “Thai grrr” 27 QUID + DITCH 28 H + OPEC + HE’S + T 29 rev. DOWN 1 [s]HO[t] + THÉ + AD 2 anag. 3 SO FA[r] 4 [o]VER + MOUTH 5 phonetic hidden 6 [a/O]-CCIDENTAL 7 AGO + NY 8 EM (rev.) + PRESS 13 EGOCEN(T)RIC (concierge anag.) 16 F(RE)IGHTER 17 hidden 18 BEW (rev.) + ITCH 20 TO(Y)SHOP (photos anag.) 21 OPA[l] + QUE 23 rev. 25 A + D.D.S.

Apr 22, 2015 / Joshua Kosman and Henri Picciotto

Puzzle No. 3359 Puzzle No. 3359

Click HERE to download a printable PDF of this puzzle. ACROSS  1 Tolerates bad writers (5)  4 Violet kicked back with King Kong, e.g. (a movie for watching at home, once) (9)  9 Team with a specific assignment might ask for certain materials (4,5) 10 Bite a cut of lamb containing bit of mint (5) 11 Without fail, gropes some fish (4) 12 Author discussed something to hold ice-cream-and-peanut product (5,5) 14 Stray scandal concerning an opera singer? (8) 15 Stabs informant, returning contents of desk (6) 18 Get white, and ultimately pastel, in a location where some get tan (6) 19 Capital from friend ahead of a nuisance (8) 22 Wino and lapdog romping in shallow water (6,4) 24 Offensive excerpt from smug lyricist (4) 26 Big cat’s loud growl from Southeast Asia? (5) 27 Pound a long hole for a team sport (9) 28 Unmarried woman’s collection is originally hijacked by international cartel, along with the man’s shirt (4,5) 29 Secure sectors in a recession (5) DOWN  1 Impetuous person, naked, shot French tea commercial (7)  2 Evil caste running amok—hey, what are you gonna do about it? (4,2,3)  3 Piece of furniture is unfinished until now (4)  4 Done removing cap and opening wine (8)  5 Radio personality residing in Abidjan? (6)  6 In the West by chance, switching blood types at first (10)  7 Hurt back near New York (5)  8 The author is upset over iron ruler (7) 13 Self-absorbed, unreliable concierge takes time (10) 16 Combatant secures perimeter of reconnaissance ship (9) 17 Passage from Nahum? Or is that someone making a joke? (8) 18 Entrance in part of the Internet raised desire (7) 20 Children’s store retouched photos featuring yeti’s face (3,4) 21 Cut stone in Guadalajara—that is hard to see through (6) 23 Find a small dog tag turned over (3,2) 25 A dentist’s supplements (4) SOLUTION TO PUZZLE NO. 3358   ACROSS 1 pun 9 anag. 10 NEED + LED 11 “chilly” 12 anag.
13 EN(TROP)Y (yen anag., port rev.)
15 AD VERSE 17 anag. 19 ENCO (anag.) + DER (rev.) 21 SPRIN[t] + KLER ([c]lerk anag.) 23 anag.
25 not cryptic 26 H(AI)TIAN (a hint anag.) 27 pun DOWN 1 2 defs. (&lit.) 2 [s]HINDI[g] 3 S + PIRITOSO (anag.)
4 NUR (rev.) + SE + [bu]RY 5 PAN + ACE + A 6 anag. 7 SOLD(I)ERED
8 ADH (anag.) + ERE 14 THEOR (anag.) + ETIC (rev.) 16 VA + CA + NC + I.E. + S 17 AU + S + TIN
18 anag. 19 EARS HOT 20 RU(L + IN)GS 22 anag. 24 P + RICE

Apr 14, 2015 / Joshua Kosman and Henri Picciotto

Envoi Envoi

Word Salad heads into the sunset

Mar 23, 2015 / Joshua Kosman and Henri Picciotto

Puzzle No. 3358 Puzzle No. 3358

And don’t miss Kosman and Picciotto’s crossword blog, Word Salad.

Mar 23, 2015 / Joshua Kosman and Henri Picciotto

Problems That Can Be Solved Problems That Can Be Solved

Math puzzles and cryptic problems

Mar 5, 2015 / Joshua Kosman and Henri Picciotto

Puzzle No. 3357 Puzzle No. 3357

And don’t miss Kosman and Picciotto’s crossword blog, Word Salad.

Mar 4, 2015 / Joshua Kosman and Henri Picciotto

Notes From an Opera Notes From an Opera

What Wagner says (by implication) about crosswords

Feb 26, 2015 / Joshua Kosman and Henri Picciotto

Puzzle No. 3356 Puzzle No. 3356

And don’t miss Kosman and Picciotto’s crossword blog, Word Salad.

Feb 25, 2015 / Joshua Kosman and Henri Picciotto

Sandwich Men Sandwich Men

Advertising container clues

Feb 12, 2015 / Joshua Kosman and Henri Picciotto

Puzzle No. 3355 Puzzle No. 3355

And don’t miss Kosman and Picciotto’s crossword blog, Word Salad.

Feb 10, 2015 / Joshua Kosman and Henri Picciotto

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