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Fred Piscop
NY Times, Sun Apr 13, 2025 Cryptic Crossword
18-Across : Smooch in front of the best place to catch a ride (3,4)
Author:
Fred Piscop
Editor:
Will Shortz
Rows: 15, Columns: 15, Words: 32, Blocks: 65
1 P | L | 2 U | M | 3 B | I | 4 N | G | | 5 C | 6 A | P | 7 O | N | 8 E |
E | | B | | R | | E | | 9 C | | N | | P | | N |
10 T | E | E | T | I | M | E | | 11 H | O | T | S | E | A | T |
D | | R | | A | | D | | A | | I | | R | | R |
12 O | R | G | A | N | | 13 L | A | S | T | P | L | A | C | E |
O | | E | | | | E | | E | | A | | | | A |
14 R | E | E | D | 15 I | T | S | | 16 D | E | S | S | 17 E | R | T |
| | K | | N | | | | | | T | | N | | |
18 B | U | S | S | T | O | 19 P | | 20 B | L | O | N | D | I | 21 E |
A | | | | H | | R | | L | | | | T | | V |
22 S | P | 23 A | R | E | T | I | R | E | | 24 T | E | A | S | E |
E | | I | | P | | D | | M | | R | | B | | R |
25 T | O | S | C | A | L | E | | 26 I | C | E | F | L | O | E |
W | | L | | S | | S | | S | | S | | E | | S |
27 O | M | E | R | T | A | | 28 C | H | E | S | S | S | E | T |
© 2025, The New York Times
Across
1
Fruit, a kind of cherry, in a certain trade (8) :
PLUMBING5
Notorious gangster to limit what I might be (6) :
CAPONE10
Drink with seasoning announced at the start of a golf round (3,4) :
TEETIME11
Leader of North Vietnam, rogue state, in a precarious spot (3,4) :
HOTSEAT12
Instrument's back in a groove, in large part (5) :
ORGAN13
Tape calls illegally in a baseball league's cellar (4,5) :
LASTPLACE14
Makes further changes to clarinets and such around it (7) :
REEDITS16
Reportedly walk away from pie or cake (7) :
DESSERT18
Smooch in front of the best place to catch a ride (3,4) :
BUSSTOP20
Rock band in a comic strip (7) :
BLONDIE22
Place to exercise and get rid of some unwanted fat (5,4) :
SPARETIRE24
Kid is free from anxiety, but not at first (5) :
TEASE25
Lactose-free, like many models (2,5) :
TOSCALE26
Part of the Arctic Ocean in revised eco-file (3,4) :
ICEFLOE27
In retrospect, rat removal encompasses this Mafia code (6) :
OMERTA28
32 men in a big box, holding a compass heading (5,3) :
CHESSSET
Down
1
Torpedo demolished dog's entree (3,4) :
PETDOOR2
Supernerds' Greek salad seen in topless televisions (9) :
UBERGEEKS3
Composer Eno's a smart fellow reversing A.I. (5) :
BRIAN4
Mostly superfluous, tattooists' tools (7) :
NEEDLES6
Not a fan of endless macaroni and egg in a first course (9) :
ANTIPASTO7
Spear carriers are seen here in proper attire (5) :
OPERA8
Beg for last third of broken dog biscuit, say (7) :
ENTREAT9
Went after virgin in speech (6) :
CHASED15
Pantheist cracked up long ago (2,3,4) :
INTHEPAST17
Gives the authority to accommodate Dream Team leaders in living room furniture (3,6) :
ENDTABLES18
Binary, and sounding deep-voiced as well (4,3) :
BASETWO19
Reason to have a parade with small groups of big cats (6) :
PRIDES20
Bad mark in Belgian, after failing grade changed to a B (7) :
BLEMISH21
Challenge for Hillary: "First lady, keep quiet!" (7) :
EVEREST23
A cruise destination's seating option (5) :
AISLE24
Suffer from anxiety, losing at first a bit of hair (5) :
TRESS
Answer summary: 1 unique to this puzzle.
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