THE CRYPTIC:
ACROSS
1. Wager over a donkey and a dog (6)
4. Standard Australian situation: tick! (8)
10. Cover dogs – they say followers
hang on to them! (4-5)
11. Worker in charge of caper (5) 12. Savage guard maintains her
hemp gardens (6,8)
14. Get on board a big hill (5)
16. Tidied, and again issued instructions (9)
18. 7 and 11 for instance – incongruous link (3,6)
20. Extreme skill – left turn, go back! (5)
21. Wild rhino would fish for a big dog (5,9)
25. Colder – 99, that’s right (5)
26. It’s the centre of town! (5,4)
27. Now’s the time for gifts (8)
28. British bird dog (6)
DOWN
1. Support smoked pork and game (10)
2. One in a heavenly body, one in flight! (5)
3. Part of a former leaflet (7) 5. I shall, they say, need a passage (5)
6. Ashamed of a tree in a garden plot? (7)
7. Explain the meaning of new, prettier version (9)
8. Not right to vomit – dig in! (4) 9. Broadcasts tour of landing area (8)
13. Inland explorer nervously eyed reward (6,4)
15. Stress, beneath the queue (9) 17. Distraught lover in association with leftish literary journal (8) 19. Old boy to bring out the meal, see? (7)
20. Throw him off the mount – use
horn vigorously! (7)
22. Become leaner around the
middle (5)
23. They say you confess
employing … (5)
24. … a thousand! Within the
record – that’s slack (4)