No.58 May 2020

Across 1 Hairs and feathers at level 4? (8) 5 Spoke of right vaccine for Covid-19… (6) 10 …say, right 4 us, perhaps (5) 11 What did Apple do in 2010? I ignored the platform (6,3) 12 Dude with crest entering when burial chambers (9) 13 Attractive direction for axes (4) 16 Implements may be special in films (7) 18 Noble ruler without a malicious spirit (7) 19 Organise Scottish island – content to leave George (7) 21 Cold diarist stuffs up? (7) 22 Horizontal threads beheaded newts (4) 23 So the judge hits pay dirt (9) 27 See 26 Down 28 Banish widow to island lacking society (5) 29/15 Doctor is healed, fly racing to consume Orlando (6,10) 30 Fields of produce slip away (5,3)

Down 1 Relish reversed during revolution (4) 2 About Curie getting tail of 6 (5) 3 Dancing? It’s dancing (social or physical?) (10) 4 Hits the beers? (7) 6 Creature of gold and 2 (4) 7 PPE wearing, extracting a sample – that’s police work (9) 8 Edward’s regularly ignored, Edwyn’s uglier, old even – she’s one parent’s favourite (6,4) 9 Show enthusiasm for a type of gum (6) 14 Angers friend, rising after relations. Time? Second Sunday before Lent (10) 15 See 29 Across 17 Warning call to hot 9: “Chopper at the front!” (9) 20 Principle around gas is cultural (6) 21 Soap network brought up in relation to 5 (7) 24 Animal with one horn, perhaps? (5) 25 Notes show where you can’t go during level 4 (4) 26/27 Fellation is so arousing in your 9! (4,9)

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No.57 April 2020

Across 1 6 down 17 down is, we’re told, an affected young lady (7) 5 Almost believed taking a tablet could show where one’s left one’s chopper (7) 9 Ram right into one that is on 1/9 (5) 10 Recurrent pressure before noon leads to broken nail (9) 11 Hopers coo over it? (9) 12 Love-in about river (5) 13 Reptile is present but not correct (7) 15 Nitpicker, female, gets us a place (7) 17 Agent consumed (ate) guard (7) 19 Like rice, or wood? (7) 21 He’s dead keen (5) 23 Change poles for insertion into public transport (9) 25 Captures access points (9) 26 Two soldiers get a big one (5) 27 Burns quantities of paper following heads of state (7) 28 Rises, as outwardly more impudent (7)

Down 1 North Americans raised father’s pangs (7) 2 One who keeps attempting to get king into a row (5) 3 Disrespect and end up in the T team, say? (9) 4 Help drink drink (7) 5 17 down in person? (7) 6 Girl held by hands of the Moon (5) 7 Nasty letter could kill writer (6,3) 8 Coloquial judge rising to prevent a case of maximum flatness (7) 14 Tiller could run backwards just as well (9) 16 Idol gives autograph to Leo and 9 across, say (4,5) 17 Deity to infer strange replacement for universe (7) 18 Notes they aren’t frozen? (7) 19 Sings to plants? (7) 20 17 down does, taking in Scotland Yard (7) 22 6 down 17 down lawyer, taking in Scot (5) 24 Alright, then, a mathematically constant giraffe (5)

 
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No.56 March 2020

Across 1 Writer may be failing men (3,7) 9 Game in river, see? (4) 10 Beloved of 28, eponym of a drink, 23, not 12 (6,4) 11 I’d join the French, Eric (4) 12 Moved porridge left (7) 14 South Americans overheard in the role of investigators (6) 16 Donald is in, almost – that goes without saying (6) 17 A politician can be mischievous (3) 19 Hatcher of 12 down said to have suffered a knock-out punch (7) 20 Brisk, detailed parable where right moved left (7) 21 Pig pen with some taste (3) 23 Agitated by fish between poles (6) 25 Practice not concerned with slow-moving vehicle (6) 26 A result unexpected by one who greets (7) 27 Buzzers with knees? (4) 30 I aid Dalton playing extra (10) 31 Joy, dropping ecstasy, goes round the bend for sticker (4) 32 Silly talk thanks to present in puzzle (10)

Down 2 Agreements said to be for you alone? (4) 3 Dandies at foreign office having an afterthought (4) 4 Greets endangered herons (6) 5 I, very heartlessly, have an odd evergreen (3,4) 6 11 wanderer to acquire something beginning with Q (6) 7 28’s antagonist on course, holding down Cockney girl (10) 8 Jolly ensign with 30, say; a player of 28 (5,5) 12 Plans of revolutionary in mess – in a mess (7) 13 Dead cigar maker is more humorous (7) 14 Plant type of radio 6s around insects (6,4) 15 What you can’t be in a risky situation (10) 17 Papers from the subconscious? (3) 18 Money for returning bark (3) 22 Cracking weather! (7) 24 Floating, like King Cole and Adam? (6) 25 Supplied 30 degrees (6) 28 Love a duck! 7 formed using 31? (4) 29 The 22 after-party? (4)

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No.55 February 2020

Across 1 15 7 for crows with revolutionary Communist spirit (6) 4 Stuff bunk with the works of Edward Lear? (8) 10 Hand in traded metal and keep going (7,2) 11 Inferior toilets heard in musical form (5) 12 Anger over all these mountains! (5) 13 Spectacles left in Portuguese city (6) 16 15 7 for eggs (or car mechanics?) (6) 18 Ring of Fire, the 15 7 for which is a stand (8) 20 Taken with shyness (8) 21 15 7 for fish’s cool (but hot inside) (6) 23 Arrest unruly owl, perhaps (6) 24 A not quite completely neat and clean jelly (5) 27 15 7 for sheep secure on front foot (5) 28 Enter, if it amuses the Queen (9) 29 Doctors are bloody angry! (3,5) 30 Nice beach includes universal 15 7 for locusts (6)

Down 1 Scrooge’s given a rope for church support (10) 2 Bar leaving barrel well content with wish, say – give up? (10) 3 Oriental hat turned up with cream (5) 5 Possess aims to shoot oneself in the foot (more than once) (3,5) 6 Tiny vessel with power source (9) 7 Lack of organisation is a thing? (4) 8 Remove a falsehood from earliest 15 7 for bees (4) 9 The first feeble rising of a 15 7 for Scouts (5) 14 Releasing the odd flying fish? (10) 15 Small body part raised in bed I’ve found on kibbutz (10) 17 Custodian to create ark, perhaps (9) 19 Red or pickled, their 15 7’s a glean (8) 22 Doctor, if time’s the 15 7 for pigs… (5) 24 …Penny’s in the money raised by arriving fourth in the year (5) 25 At a distance from Mia Farrow (4) 26 See present 15 7 for cobblers? (4)

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No.54 December 2019

Across 1 Envelope torn apart with passion within indicates calculation (6,4,3) 10 Snake put in charge of jelly (5) 11 Bar for male relations? (4-2-3) 12 Hun takes the helm, they say (6) 13 Kelly’s blend of DNA? (4,4) 15 Dogs Russian – yes, at church – avoids taking in head of Diocese (10) 16 Pence follows this to be right as… (4) 19 …yes, a theatrical picnic (4) 20 Director Mike’s first alarm was the sound following Rudolph? (6,4) 22 Stands with bits of wood in the vicinity (6,2) 24 British vehicles can be cruel (6) 26 Old city splitting at time of birth, of course (9) 27 Previous lag of energy x lightspeed now activated! (2-3) 28 Causes up and down movement, relatively speaking – and that’s all there is to it! (4,4,5)

Down 2 Some capital marks of approval follow Lydon’s band not going down the tubes? (9) 3 Singer’s notes pursue avocado without fuss (8) 4 Sodium ‘as infiltrated space agency (4) 5 Side with O’Neill to make flax seed extract (7,3) 6 Metal with Mâyâ moved back one place in Ira Levin novel (6) 7 Roger’s follower of almost Scarlet company (5) 8 Sally giving a talk over lunch? (5,8) 9 Recombine 1 to get the same end result (6,4,3) 14 Peel a sleepy brown bear? Could make a racket (10) 17 I deform “99% fat-free”, all the same (9) 18 1 and 9 make this thing partly right for a youngster (8) 21 Avoids protests over losing energy (6) 23 The beginning of Nitro Circus? (5) 25 Colourist is awful, they say (4)

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No.53 November 2019

Across 1 Saint Uriah may be fleeced (5) 4 Pilots, perhaps, losing right to be parachutists? (9) 9 Overrate love for Muse (5) 10 Appraisers of 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 diggers? (9) 11 Traitor and revolutionary make a high pitched sound when moving in one direction (10) 15 Knows instinctively that Eskimos drink Tango (7) 16 Hoofed every second on a chalky hill – could even make a square dance (7) 17 Mild expletive obtains devices (7) 19 Bad day for Caesar after Prince makes sodium chloride, etc (7) 20 Advanced break in early 70s rock music, I hear (10) 24 The result of a ballet dancer going for a 21? (9) 25 Tongue bone covered greeting internally (5) 26 She’ll be right now trucks don’t start (2,7) 27 Rudolph holding deer’s nose – red, naturally (5)

Down 1 Hear bandages worn by types of 1 across (10) 2 Teach giving Times for Time; retrospective about bird has precision (10) 3 One who favours an individual’s right of decision (and 4 down?) (3-7) 4 Wonderful asset we abandoned (5,2) 5 A h-hyena might be agreeing, or not (4,3) 6 Is bismuth found in wader? (4) 7 Solvers, as some say, are examples of 1 across (4) 8 Help duck – not 4 down, but not bad (2-2) 12 The right conditions to give a ring, I’m told, to a leading 1 across? (10) 13 Johnny B. heard playing a song by Spandau Ballet? 4 down! (4,2,4) 14 I am nonchalantly hanging around Germany in a unilateral manner (3-7) 18 Titters about operatic climaxes (7) 19 E.g. Goths despoiled 1 across that aren’t yet 1 down (7) 21 Rotate nails, heels over head (4) 22 Power line to the front (4) 23 King Ben backed industrial region (4)

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No.52 October 2019

Across 1 Doctor vies with sailor to get lead (5,4) 9 Woman’s refusal, first off, where something may be attached (6) 10 Moves up from Massachusetts to film Heath’s comeback (5,4) 11 Church official about ten minutes over (6) 12 Brick bearer with woolly pullover in 30 town (9) 13 Oh, flip! Blunt, pointless platitude! (6) 17 Heard to mock whisky (3) 19 Play, book and magazine (7) 20 Lioness, perhaps, eats one astronomer (7) 21 A couple may be found in the deciduous forest (3) 23 From that place, the nice one left (6) 27 Carpool used to get I and I to citadel (9) 28 Give money to 17 down in mockery (6) 29 Awareness of one taking part in a stretch (9) 30 Can son et lumière openings be showy but insubstantial? (6) 31 Narrow-minded decorum from Bill, a one-time interviewer of 8? (9)

Down 2 Public speaker’s extremely deficient for a Tory (6) 3 Standards of identity for fish, say (6) 4 Stalks Green through streets (6) 5 Atonement for a game case of gravity (7) 6 Open up in Leo Legend’s diverse collections of hereditary information (9) 7 Unexpected communist to take questions (9) 8 The artist formerly known as 24? (4,5) 14 Swamps with tender feelings? (4,5) 15/26 Entertainment two Os short of the Olympics? (5-4,6) 16 Buffer fish held by tenant with heads swapped (3,6) 17 Stewart’s doctor getting up and eating egg (3) 18 I am, for example, a duck (3) 22 Sam or Bob, perhaps, with Arab? That’s rather vague (7) 24 Rent: nett or gross? (6) 25 Teasing about sea fun (6) 26 See 15

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No.51 September 2019

A PERIMETRIC JIGSAW! Fit the answers in, jigsaw fashion, where they will go. The periphery (starting at top left and going clockwise) is the answer to: Little girl somehow never having a yard of tea with her dragon (4,2,5,6,7)

Jerry dribbling – not unknown for egging on dogs (9) Dance Queen at home with a dancer (9) He’s a spoilt one, barking “Break a leg!” (11) O, a ruler can hold a novice in a young tree (7) Make red hot coals with hanging to replace ‘er (9) Scan around in fashion to surpass (9) Suffering got quite a few dirty (3-6) Post sheep in the Netherlands? (5) Dame is clued by papers, for example (4,5) It could be argued she’s coming out with a counter (9) Improves violin’s sound with break circles (9) Type of omelette with roughly bridge-like properties? (7) Judged to have attempted (5) Live how you can’t live, entirely (2,3) Mournful shades of Gray? (7) Caruso and choir composed a work in shades of grey? (11) Lead me like a stony beach, very small or rare (11) Annoyance at bite taken from sausage (5) Digs heartlessly around headless circumnavigator who likes a whip round (11) Remove obstacle to entering organisational lounge (5) Smell a traveller, say (5) Den’s at our place (5) A German might be in charge (7) Solver that half made a child (5)

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No.50 August 2019

Across 1 Thief gets fit in preparation for this crossword! (8) 5 In whatever way is an expression of relief about a US city a cry of pain? (6) 10 Solver visits Thailand to find this fountain? (5) 11 Junction with spirit noises and paraphernalia (9) 12 Blessed one suffers from epistaxis (10) 13 Cheat at cards? (4) 14/19/1D/30 Tom’s Cycling Trophy is funny-peculiar; its 1 across falls in October (5,7,6,6) 16 Edwin’s on course, but can’t get out (6,2) 20 Leave in January or February, say (8) 21 January and February, say, lack no insects (5) 24/9 Show bottom at top of stairs, with its 1 across in July (4,7) 25 Emporia about right to take on Housman’s lad (10) 28 Sunhats do become many (9) 29 Band that often has dates? (5) 30 See 14 31 They travel, often with difficulty – to SF conventions? (8)

Down 1 See 14 Across 2 Mr. Tumnus’ kin at footballer’s organisations (5) 3 At home he’d embrace me a small amount, being shy (9) 4 Lead offensive against That Woman (6) 6 Round the back, have a short sleep – get the point? (4) 7/26 German dog rose with this file recently passed by this magazine (9,5) 8 How Ibsen sorted out a small part of the chicken (8) 9 See 24 Across 15 Shell, for example, found by lake – our addition: it’s delivered by tube (3,6) 17 Court with a good sort in the dock having its 1 across in August (9) 18 Those people attending and in charge like this crossword (8) 19 See 14 Across 22 Design competition’s queen’s a killjoy (6) 23 Against poetry, they say (6) 26 See 7 27 Prophet I saw in a playground? (4)

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No.49 July 2019

Across 1 See 23 Down 6 See 13 10 I re-echo jolly farewell (7) 11 Warm lady with broom? (7) 12/20 He may come after vice and French company, typically heads for organisation that recently celebrated 150th (5,7) 13/6 Flag Day recently celebrated 150th (8,4) 15 Separate from white bark remedy (5,4) 17 Rock band left in difficulty? On the contrary (4) 19 Otherwise Barbara? (4) 21 Dig article on double meaning originally found in northern part of the Indian subcontinent (3,6) 24 Reticent, with implied vase (8) 25 Edge around King in satire (5) 28 Centrepiece in each gene-edited holding (7) 29 See 18 Down 30 Every second spy was around, Old Bean (4) 31 People present when Jono and Ben aired on the hop (10)

Down 1 Strange, as 4 might say, being partial to gun control (4) 2 I coerce engineer to provide a sample (3,4) 3 ‘arken to gospel’s characteristic features (8) 4 Burns, for example, racecourse, losing a… (4) 5 …ketch and church to catastrophe, and trinkets (9) 7 Only survivor of hunt for an albino who’s blubbered (7) 8 Bird of around breeder age (5,5) 9 I gasp carrying coat (5) 14 Jests can be spoilt by servility (10) 16 Funeral of irregular (Addams cousin failing to attend) (9) 18/29 A twist of luck, and growl about mother going back and forth to place that recently celebrated 150th (8,7) 20 See 12 Across 22 At 12 they’re considered able to produce a sentence (7) 23/1A Go out with a butcher? Yes, ’tis vicar, in from the east where they recently celebrated 150th (5,10) 26 Heartlessly dispute illness (4) 27 A carbon sink for shoes? (4)

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