{ THE CROSSWORDS }

CRYPTIC CLUES ACROSS DOWN

1 Wild claim goes to company - that’s funny! (7) 4 Decline to meet a composer (5)

7 Music circle (4)

8 Decline to see mother’s certificates (8)

10 The first orphans (4,3,3)

12 The work it does is only skin-deep (6) 13 They’re fired - spaces need to be filled (6) 15 Watercourse required for high speed (10) 18 Racket our family makes turning round gangleader (8)

19 Go on board? (4)

20 A searching examination, by all accounts (5) 21 Tried and tested (7) 1 It may strike out A, B or C perhaps (5) 2 Commands and the ship’s officers who give them out? (8)

3 A number in beastly residences are landowners (6)

4 The whole book is in need of toning down (4,6)

5 50 amp bulb (4)

6 Maintains a rising pressure (7)

9 Able to hold liquor but drunk on non-alcoholic drink (10)

11 One metal fused into many (8)

12 It puts an end to any ill feeling (7)

14 Carry on in summary fashion (6)

16 Free from fault (5)

17 Unlocked (4)

QUICK CLUES ACROSS

1 Fruit of a palm tree (7) 4 Clay used in porcelain (5) 7 Well ventilated (4) 8 Producing abundantly (8) 10 Firm and resolute (10) 12 Irrational dread (6) 13 Quantity (6) 15 Enjoying success (6,4) 18 Power exerted in pulling (8) 19 Style of clothing (4) 20 Mediterranean island (5) 21 Disavow (7)

DOWN

1 Husks of threshed corn (5) 2 A ribbed cotton fabric (8) 3 Appear unexpectedly (4,2) 4 Journey to a shrine (10) 5 Easily influenced (4) 6 Passage from a book (7) 9 Large-leafed house plant (10) 11 Japan’s highest mountain (8) 12 Apparition (7) 14 Severity (6)

16 Custom (5)

17 Form of armour (4)