THE CROSSWORDS
CRYPTIC CLUES
ACROSS
1 No women around - it’s heavenly! (3,4) 5 His victims lose heart (5)
8 Blends in a pie’s ingredients - it’s vital (13) 9 Do a rough job of cleaning some of the tennis courts (5)
10 Time of day for ironing things out (7) 11 It makes a place look like a pigsty (6)
12 It is weighed by a craftsman (6)
15 Put me back in the box and dispose of the body (7)
17 Girl upsets Alice (5)
19 One who has retired down under has a comfortable berth (13)
20 Dissolute persons employed in the garden (5)
21 Continue to cause a commotion (5,2)
DOWN
1 They are driven to join things (5)
2 Take him for wed perhaps? Right off target! (4,2,3,4)
3 Make watchful remarks? (7) 4 Relatives may make a scene about one (6) 5 A sect reserved for a social class (5) 6 When most people stop work (6,7) 7 It profoundly improves a channel of communication (7)
11 A striking example of an evil personality (7) 13 Such energy can be devastating (7) 14 Decimal used in some tricky calculations (6) 16 Fly from a ship (5)
18 Poet of golden study (5)
QUICK CLUES
ACROSS
1 Grandiloquent language (7) 5 Wrongly (5)
8 Languid (13)
9 Refrain from enforcing (5) 10 A stretch (7)
11 Inn (6)
12 Bring about (6)
15 Conspire together (7) 17 Mature (5)
19 Act of soaring imagination (6,2,5) 20 Of the moon (5)
21 Gather (7)
DOWN
1 Inferior to (5)
2 Cunning and unscrupulous (13) 3 Unpaid player (7)
4 Make a journey (6) 5 Ancient Greek fabulist (5)
6 As a result (2,11) 7 Prominent (7)
11 Discreet (7)
13 Afraid (7)
14 Nobly courageous (6) 16 Escort courteously (5) 18 Lovers’ meeting (5)