the crosswords

CRYPTIC CLUES ACROSS

1 Dash to stop work (6) 4 Small boy put in the high chair (6) 9 Novel title of Esau’s mother (7) 10 Work to make some dough (5) 11 Little room and nothing extra for music-making (5) 12 Shorten a river crossing? (7) 13 One depending on bluff to hold interest in a serial (11) 18 A teacher has to admonish (7) 20 Area for repair (5) 22 It turns out bilingual articles (5) 23 Pole went searching but was sidetracked (7) 24 Responds by breaking up crates (6) 25 Chap went down with a cry of pain (6)

DOWN

1 Severe internal gastric trouble (6) 2 Brew of beer left to rise (5) 3 Recoil from first act of play (4-3) 5 His journey takes longer if completed without a hitch (5) 6 Done unpaid and behind schedule (7) 7 Extraordinary deed is opposed to current trends (6) 8 A chap I trust freely as a down-to-earth type (11) 14 Girl to turn to later (7) 15 Writer comes up with a melody for big star (7) 16 Making jokes with no beginning; purely visual (6) 17 Sort of boxer dog? (6) 19 Not inclined to build (5) 21 Head teacher a lot out in sum (5)

QUICK CLUES ACROSS

1 Consternation (6) 4 Audacious (6) 9 In dispute (2,5) 10 Seriously damage (5) 11 A soft fine silk (5) 12 To sanction (7) 13 Like it or not (2,9) 18 Excess over requirement (7) 20 Persuade by reasoning (5) 22 Put up (5) 23 Person with much experience (3,4) 24 Oppressively hot (6) 25 Orderliness (6)

DOWN

1 Scarcity (6) 2 A fall from a horse (5) 3 Morally strict (7) 5 Greek fabulist (5) 6 To smooth over (4,3) 7 Ship’s kitchen (6) 8 Chief object of dislike (3,8) 14 In earnest (3,4) 15 Wait in readiness (5,2) 16 Possessions having value (6) 17 On few occasions (6) 19 Succeeding (5) 21 Abnormally tall (5)