{ THE CROSSWORDS }

CRYPTIC CLUES ACROSS

1 Succession of command (5)

8 Trifling, perhaps, with one’s affections? (8) 9 Legally prevent poets being translated (5) 10 Office location (8)

11 A boring couple (5)

12 To sum up briefly a religious scholar (3) 16 Fitting task for a puzzle addict? (6) 17 Subjected to decreasing pressure? (6)

18 Left with a thousand to beat (3)

23 Tito’s upset the Italian singing-master (5) 24 Scratch game (8)

25 Untrue statement about an essential part of one’s diet (5)

26 Tales of the Camerons in trouble (8)

27 A word in one’s ear from aides (5)

DOWN

2 Check the others before wet weather (8) 3 He acts in a dispiriting way (8)

4 Old man chopped down tree (6) 5 Something growing in the wood (5) 6 One of five who understand it (5)

7 Get involved with an intermediary (5) 12 It helps a cobbler break the law (3)

13 Ten cents is pointlessly stupid (3) 14 Unimportant persons, found after well-planned murders (8) 15 Shakespearean clown, blushing, was rotten (8)

19 They fight with one another (6) 20 Appropriate (5)

21 An act that violates an act (5)

22 Timber re-ordered by one (5)

QUICK CLUES ACROSS

1 Stylish (5)

8 Legendary baseball player (4,4) 9 Renown (5)

10 West Indian island (8)

11 Perform without preparation (2-3) 12 Offer at auction (3) 16 Violet-blue dye (6)

17 Illusory (6)

18 Strange (3)

23 Good-naturedly frank (5)

24 For the whole time (3,5) 25 Excessive (5)

26 Smallest state of Australia (8) 27 Latin American dance (5)

DOWN

2 Cooked thoroughly (4-4) 3 Italian island (8)

4 African hunting trip (6)

5 Cope (3,2)

6 Cash resources (5)

7 Pursuit (5)

12 Sound of disapproval (3) 13 Firework that fails to go off (3) 14 Island country in South Asia (3,5) 15 Widely scattered (3-5) 19 Utterly exhausted (4,2) 20 Quick (5)

21 Conflict (5)

22 Offering little or no hope (5)