CRYPTIC CROSSWORD

No 16,375

ACROSS

1 Completely confess to embracing western at its height (2,4,5) 9 Code PC entry in wrong order (7) 10 Grubby pawnshop article (7) 11 Some fritter away many years (3) 12 Legendary cross with gold in middle mostly (7) 13 Writer’s included in list for party (7) 14 Even bits of fleece offer protection (3) 15 Wells partner’s fine old ship (5) 17 Spooky English lake (5) 18 Heel in upper layer of earth (5) 20 Hotel provided one’s sound systems (2-3) 22 Clear goal (3) 24 Everything in bible in retrospect is standard (7) 25 Cigar-chomping brother’s cough or hiccups (7) 26 I avoided country

and fled (3) 27 They rob this, tying up

first woman (7) 28 Soldiers providing

rocks for opening (7) 29 It’s wise even to pay attention to clothing bill (5-6)

DOWN

1 Minor Latin icons ordered to impress troubled queen (15) 2 Crafty prince given fine position at Twickenham (3,4) 3 Lake swallowed river eventually (5) 4 Perhaps four old fellows prepare to fight (6,3) 5 1 and 9 divided by 150 – which is lower? (7) 6 £1000 hidden in awfully large ditch for member of family (5-10) 7 Power cable goes up around back of Mac and drawer (6) 8 Hairpin then nasty turn at end of race? That’s wrong (6) 16 Tries to stop genuine dummy run (9) 18 Feverish activity without it creating hole (6) 19 Six clean up Middle Eastern city (3,4) 21 Assorted editors celebrated in legends (7) 23 Small digger beginning to till lower compound (6) 25 Scaremonger to some extent upset Zurich financier (5)