Shakedown
a cryptic puzzle by Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon
In a “shakedown,” a word is both
shaken and downsized—that is, it
gets anagrammed repeatedly with
a letter dropped at each step. For
example: ALTERING, GRANITE,
RETINA, IRATE, RITE, TIE, IT, I. This
puzzle’s nine unclued answers form
a similar sequence of words shaken
down from eleven letters to the
three-letter one spelled out in the
middle of the grid. At least one
word along the way is capitalized.
Across
-
1.
The face of Saint Peter, seen around 100? (7)
-
5.
Penny admits Long Island customer (6)
-
10.
More roguish zodiac figure (6)
-
11.
Beside Turin’s river, bury hint (7)
-
12.
One searching the pantry for ripening agent (7)
-
13.
Kid kept back by guitar guru (3,3) (3,3)
-
15.
Holding Twin at first, fires pitches (5)
-
18.
Getaway locale is large and empty (4)
-
20.
Oblong ornament lost to Chaucer (9)
-
23.
No longer connected evenly (4)
-
24.
Exhausted writer lying in street (5)
-
26.
What a roller coaster may create: time lapse (6)
-
28.
Succeeding in court case involving more than two sides (10)
-
32.
Eatery with no waitstaff to put in gold floor cover (7)
-
33.
Some states truncated a shakedown? (4,3) (4,3)
-
34.
Roman is the lady’s biblical heroine (6)
-
35.
Eerie settings as scene shifts (7)
Down
-
1.
More conservative, fares poorly (5)
-
2.
Crackers in soup for extravagance (9)
-
3.
Burned vegetable on your tongue (7)
-
4.
Standing up before court (5)
-
5.
Relative pest entering college in Iowa (7)
-
6.
Roll heel to one side (4)
-
7.
Way of entering encrypted intel (5)
-
8.
Warm new audio receiver (4)
-
9.
Tied fast conviction to auditors (7)
-
14.
Current Pac-12 athlete exhibiting sharpness (5)
-
16.
12:00 Eastern turnout that’s underwhelming? (2,3) (2,3)
-
17.
Changed a cloche to dark brown (9)
-
19.
Worst noisy nap repeatedly cut short (8)
-
21.
Material for overlaying hole in one London gallery (7)
-
22.
Ground floor nurse dejected (7)
-
25.
Course including Latin poet (5)
-
27.
ACLU concern upon hearing formalities (5)
-
29.
Some loaves dry in the middle, for sure (4)
-
30.
4,840 square yards are about average (4)
-
31.
Somewhat anticlimactic release of 1998 (4)