daily double
the easy way ACROSS
1 Great pleasure (7) 5 German operatic composer (5) 8 Improperly (3,2,4) 9 Small venomous snake (3) 10 Departed (4) 12 Mad (8) 14 Leave stranded (6) 15 Cancel (6) 17 Surreptitious (8) 18 Wound with knife (4) 21 A social insect (3) 22 Any huge or powerful thing (9) 24 Linger in expectation (5) 25 Clear enough to be read (7)
DOWN
1 Amusing (5) 2 To permit (3) 3 Present (4) 4 Large-beaked fruit-eating bird (6) 5 A Canadian provincial capital (8) 6 Diversify one’s activities (6,3) 7 Drive back (7) 11 Much superior (3,6) 13 Violence or murder (4,4) 14 Allotted an unsuitable role (7) 16 A spade-like implement (6) 19 Bout of overindulgence (5) 20 Long, sharp tooth (4) 23 Focal point (3)
the hard way ACROSS
1 Running across junction (7) 5 A question of choice (5) 8 Happen to change course (4,5) 9 Short tailless dog (3) 10 A span of roguishness (4) 12 Such a net may become loose (8) 14 Many admit to being inexperienced (6) 15 Sarah’s new worry (6) 17 Suggest the main difference is in prestige (8) 18 Let it be one sort of square in another (4) 21 Frequently no distance at all (3) 22 Put back in office and control political community (9) 24 Reviewed American position in the Mediterranean (5) 25 After midnight youngsters sparkle (7)
DOWN
1 Doctor has endless discussion over coffee (5) 2 Wood essential in model making (3) 3 Country that is right to put Scotsman out (4) 4 Earth reduced to dust? (6) 5 He’s paid to mind someone else’s business (8) 6 An insect’s uninterrupted development (9) 7 Gear to make use of horsepower (7) 11 They spend their time together (9) 13 Rounded up but not rounded off (8) 14 Be like the rest and study past results (7) 16 The horses in the racket (6) 19 The king holds one of them (5) 20 It’s a foreign drink (4) 23 Skill acquired through regular training (3)