Sign of the Times

A different letter of the alphabet belongs in each of the 24 shaded squares crossed by puzzle entries. The remaining two letters of the alphabet are reserved, aptly, for the 25th shaded square, at the center of the grid; when placed there in the proper order they will form a timely symbol. The four entries not intersecting any shaded squares are clued in the order of their given locations; all other entries are clued in mixed order. Clue answers include three proper nouns.

Twenty-five years ago this month the first Atlantic Puzzler was published in these pages. Since then Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon have crafted a puzzle for every issue. They also make puzzles for The Boston Globe, The New York Times, Attaché, and the National Post of Canada.

The instructions above are for this month's puzzle only. See a complete introduction to clue-solving.

See the solution to last month's Puzzler.

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2.Portion containing puzzle's primary junction (6)

3.Pitches a fastball at the back of the ankle (6)

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1.Set of steps going around full curb (6)

4.Cover of darkness or lightness? (6)

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a.Piece of code cracked by right sort (5)

b.Noble sights on Broadway for the audience (8)

c.Monk absorbed by buzzer in Michigan city (9)

d.Decade for men's formal wear (7)

e.Described cap worn by foreign men (6)

f.Stays in rough sector (6)

g.Members of a Canadian tribe eating first of peach pancakes (6)

h.Sly looks taking in a Democrat's bosses (7)

i.The guy filled with cheer, privy to ace (4,2,3)

j.One who tilts after starting removal (6)

k.Nine catching cold, each part of a mountaineering outfit (3,2)

l.Giant white rabbit? (7)

m.Networks' confusion about helium (6)

n.Okay, stuff dug up behind foe's back is not a pretty sight (7)

o.Bar what's found in a heel (8)

p.Oswald mangled maxim (3,3)

q.Matched anger, breaking tablet (6)

r.A sect is disturbed about 100 hermits (8)s.Part of staff is called regarding money matters (6)

t.Veggie Lover's inaugural article about how Lincoln introduced himself? (4,4)

u.Fiddle music initially interrupting recorder (6)

v.In hearing, is allowed to measure composition (6)

w.Server's situation unsatisfactory in one period (2,3)

x.Turning down J. R., get nice convertible (9)

y.Art supplies some beers around one (6)

z.Innocent, assuming positive intention (7)

aa.Opening of dam gathers waterfowl (6)

bb.Keeping quiet, balance large knife (7)

cc.Pioneering astronaut missing premiere on one of the Fab Four (6)

dd.Located around university proper (6)

ee.Destroyer must ultimately like Atahualpa (3,3)

ff.Is seen again in Spanish for antecedent (9)

gg.Bad atmosphere for Maureen O'Sullivan? (6)

hh.Physicist's room surrounded with iron and iodine (5)

ii.Vague period just before taking credit card back (7)

jj.Setting next novel in bed (7)