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February 2023 crossword puzzle
Click the puzzle for a full-size, interactive version. 
BY STELLA ZAWISTOWSKI

This is a fraud case where
an exciting venture went
forward with great expectations and hope only to be dashed by untruth, misrepresentations, hubris, and plain lies.

—US District Judge Edward Davila describing the downfall of health tech company Theranos and its founder Elizabeth Holmes, whom he subsequently sentenced to more than 11 years in prison for defrauding investors, according to NPR (November 18)

This walks, talks, quacks like a human vagina.

—Bioengineer Don Engber speaking to The New York Times about the development of a “vagina on a chip” for use in research (December 8)
ACROSS

1. Social insects with more than 12,000 species
3. Shaped like a starfish
9. Animal in a mutualistic relationship with clownfish
10. Location of the 11-Across
11. Organ with atria
12. Ability that may not require a cerebral cortex
14. ___ chromatids (copies formed during DNA replication)
16. Prefix with “-trophic” or “-zygous”
19. Disease associated with replicative immortality
21. String of amino acids, for example
24. Ruminant with striped legs
25. Like gametes, genetically
26. Valuable beryls
27. Egyptian cobras

DOWN

1. Mitosis stage involving chromosome migration
2. Brain wave type seen during REM sleep
4. Number of vertebrae in a human thorax
5. Gene’s location on a chromosome
6. Common organic solvent
7. Ingests
8. Container for a reagent, often
13. Columns of violent air
15. Perennial that grows on land, despite its name
17. Evade, as immune system detection
18. Flower with dendrobium and phalaenopsis varieties
20. Country that claims ownership of all giant pandas
22. Molecules’ building blocks
23. Tissue that contains hydroxyapatite

Illustration of a mugshot of Elizabeth Holmes holding a place card with her booking ID 
© JONNY HAWKINS