CRYPTIC CLUES

MURRAY, CLIJSTERS GET WILD CARDS

MANCHESTER: Former champions Andy Murray and Kim Clijsters were on Thursday both handed wild cards for the US Open which will take place under strict health guidelines in New York from August 31.

Former world number one Murray, currently ranked 129 after a lengthy period battling a hip injury, narrowly missed direct entry. The 33-yearold won the first of his three Grand Slam titles at the 2012 US Open, becoming the first British male to win a major since Fred Perry in 1936. Clijsters will be looking to repeat her magic from the 2009 US Open, when she famously won the women’s singles title as a wild card after returning from an initial retirement, during which she became a mother.

ACROSS

1 A man seen in the distance (5)

4 Having a roof over one’s head (7)

8 Talking - but it might be laughing (3)

9 I’m the one being treated and reluctant to wait (9)

Not a large measure of spirit, just a little one (4,3)

Tender proposal (5)

Unable to produce a group of stars (6)

Severe constriction at the centre (6)

It turns out articles in two countries (5)

Lands in Eastern America (7)

Submit to pressure and return to the base camp? (5,4)

23 A mischief-maker is simply without cunning (3) 24 Letter finished, then altered (7)

25 We set out without a trace of bitterness (5) 10

11 13 15 18 19 21

DOWN

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 12 14 16 17 18 20 22

Not a stone upturned of enormous weight (7) A gamble that doesn’t come off (6,3)

It wasn’t worn long during the Sixties (5) Charge back up in time perhaps (6)

Tried to reform a US city (7)

Our first cardinal (3)

Stray around in the woods perhaps (5)

A ruling that’s not very clear (5,4)

His rise is postponed (3-4)

One drunkard turns to espy another (7)

It may get broken - put it down (6)

Fifty with a new cure make a profit (5) Grasping secret societies in China? (5)

One about to show anger (3)