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Ⓒ 2022 Viresh Ratnakar
Across
1.
6.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
15.
17.
18.
20.
22.
24.
26.
27.
28.
Down
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
12.
14.
16.
18.
19.
21.
23.
25.
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Notes
This crossword is seasonally themed on Halloween, a festival
to celebrate the dead.
ALL HALLOWS' EVE can be seen as a nina running across the
third row from the top and continuing across the second
row from the bottom (Halloween is a contraction of All
Hallows' Evening).
These entries are thematic:
- 5d. RIP.
- 6a. SPIRIT.
- 12d. SKINNED.
- 20a. DECEASED.
- 22a. DAGGER.
- 23d. GRAVE.
- 25d. ASH.
- 27a. HYENAS.
Additionally, the surfaces of the last three down clues
(21, 23, 25) tell a short, macabre tale that fits the theme.
Perhaps the tale might remind the reader of Susanna's
Seven Husbands by Ruskin Bond!
This puzzle is a pangram.
Personal notes
A couple of nice space-related things happened around the
end of September, when I was wrapping up setting this
crossword. Jupiter was the closest it has been to earth in
nearly 60 years, and that provided the perfect motivation
for me to set up my backyard telescope again and enjoy its
magnificent sights. And on September 26, we earthlings
watched in breathless awe the live telecast of a spacecraft
slamming into the asteroid Dimorphos—a first-ever
"planetary defence" test!