THE CROSSWORD

CRYPTIC CLUES ACROSS

1 Cause of that sinking feeling on the beach? (9) 8 Cream and gold seen in a plant (5) 9 Ship’s boat wrecked in North Cape (7) 10 Luggage returned to a place in Greece (6) 11 One with stable employment (6) 12 One way to obtain goods without paying (2,6) 15 Comanche trained to become bus drivers (8) 18 Unusual snatch of music? (6) 20 Ruined but not executed (6) 21 Save up to get a partner (7) 22 Prevent ship’s loss and rescue about fifty (5) 23 A course designed to be rapidly taken (9)

Down

2 Soldiers from Tunis (5) 3 Light vessel gets led astray (6) 4 An especially ill-used apartment (8) 5 Repaid extravagantly for patterned fabric (6) 6 Gradually destroy a stick in the middle (7) 7 Ruling lines (9) 11 Bound to go wrong? (3,6) 13 Decide finally (8) 14 Model lass and her footwear (7) 16 He’s engaged in outdoor pursuits (6) 17 Gas poker? (6) 19 Partly uniform in cut perhaps (5)

QUICK CLUES ACROSS

1 Be assiduously careful (4,5) 8 Long for (5) 9 To pardon (7) 10 An admirable quality (6) 11 Automatic gun in aircraft (6) 12 Taken prisoner (8) 15 In an emergency (2,4,2) 18 Moderately large (6) 20 Coiffure (6) 21 Group of three written works (7) 22 A synthetic polymer (5) 23 Begin working on (3,4,2)

DOWN

2 Fragrance (5) 3 Railway locomotive (6) 4 Ahead of the times (8) 5 Text of a broadcast (6) 6 Artillery unit (7) 7 Famed in story (9) 11 Humbly (3,2,4) 13 Willing (8) 14 Give a right to (7) 16 Conclusion (6) 17 Member of learned society (6) 19 Not easily obtainable (5)