the crosswords

CRYPTIC CLUES ACROSS

1 Move to break concentration (8) 5 Rainbow seen when in the garden (4) 9 One may have nothing to say at any stage (5) 10 About ten Anna’s a bit of a butterfly (7) 11 He lacks refinement and sparkle perhaps (5,7) 13 They have news or distribute it (6) 14 Not so fair (6) 17 Container that’s made to go by elephant (9,3) 20 Make the most of an adventure (7) 21 Giant group of stars (5) 22 Quits the day before starting at noon (4) 23 A double first (4,4)

DOWN

1 Expected to end in mortal combat (4) 2 Placed in a losing position in tennis (3,4) 3 Inflation means cut-back to going rate perhaps (12) 4 A drink that is diluted and cast out (6) 6 Music for a man to perform (5) 7 Normal colours (8) 8 A firm grip on the throttle? (12) 12 Whole poem Celt revised (8) 15 Fancy a title for a Lennon song (7) 16 A fine state to be in (6) 18 Fall back in initial circuits to gain energy (5) 19 Speed of negative sound (4)

QUICK CLUES ACROSS

1 Firmly lodged (8) 5 Dense aggregation (4) 9 Relation by marriage (2-3) 10 Rude (7) 11 Up and running (3,3,6) 13 Firm opinion (6) 14 Sparing (6) 17 With a show of reluctance (5,7) 20 Permanent (7) 21 Moneylending at exorbitant rate (5) 22 Fencing sword (4) 23 Defect (8)

DOWN

1 Large-scale and heroic (4) 2 Malignant (7) 3 Utterly wasted (4,3,5) 4 Token (6) 6 Valediction (5) 7 Plan of work (8) 8 Aghast (6-6) 12 Resisting persuasion (8) 15 Indicate by body language (7) 16 Capital of Czech Republic (6) 18 Compel (5) 19 Affirmative votes (4)