{ THE CROSSWORDS }

CRYPTIC CLUES ACROSS

1 It can be boring if a commercial interrupts a fight (7)

4 In the operating theatre, the routine anaesthetic (5)

7 It’s not difficult to name a novel midshipman (4)

8 Put out of one’s mind? (8)

10 Prettiness in a constantly recurring form (10)

12 Get out the cane, for example, or put into confinement (6)

13 Remote sort of space-traveller (6)

15 One without real authority led the way at sea (10)

18 Perhaps I am disposed to produce an object of worth (8)

19 Withdrawal of 101 meeting points (4)

20 Simple but revealing (5)

21 May accept a joke with dignity (7)

DOWN

1 Call for a doctor, perhaps (5)

2 Not easy to grasp by sailors on land (8)

3 Incline towards a simple building (4-2)

4 Finished full of wrath and in jeopardy (10)

5 Animal quarters, perhaps (4)

6 Rusty looking locks (3,4)

9 Brilliant winner of the angling contest? (10)

11 Mean the opposite (8)

12 Unmasks once one asks questions (7)

14 Enough to prevent parting without meeting (6)

16 A common flower I’d say perhaps (5)

17 Perhaps every church includes one (4)

QUICK CLUES ACROSS

1 Sports arena (7)

4 Morass (5)

7 Once more (4)

8 Avaricious (8)

10 Significant (10)

12 Avoiding extremes (6)

13 Reduced to powder (6)

15 Complex details (3,3,4)

18 Solid traffic jam (8)

19 Woodwind instrument (4)

20 Motor sport event (5) 21 Generous (7)

DOWN

1 Sudden convulsive action (5)

2 Australian city (8) 3

Optical illusion (6)

4 Disguise oneself (10)

5 Destroy (4)

6 Hollow-eyed and gaunt (7)

9 Like it or not (5-5)

11 Salad vegetable (8)

12 Company executive (7)

14 Revoke (6)

16 Artillery projectile (5)

17 Determination (4)