Daily crossword

CRYPTIC CLUES Across

1 Essays which are certainly not pointless (5) 4 Cancel the commission for one who looks after the money (7)

8 They have connections, relatively speaking (7) 9 A spice having no end of use in savouries (5) 10 He may supply arresting information (4)

11 The point of punctuation (4,4)

13 A die in fancy shape (4) 14 Fiddlesticks! (4) 16 He should know how to press a suit (8)

17 I could make this scheme plain (4)

20 Country name found in certain dialects (5)

21 Sort of settler to give support (7)

22 For Eric to hide a deserter would be most irregular (7)

23 A chance to make an escape? (5)

Down

1 Duped, as hitchhikers may be (5,3,1,4)

2 It goes round the bull (5) 3 Superfluous oil-well (4) 4 It's made by people who count (6)

5 All is not as it should be in the stud (8)

6 I'm upset about an impulse (7)

7 Key point of a hotel? (9,4)

12 A liking for a swansong? (8)

13 A driven out intruder (7) 15 Still the cause of poor reception (6)

18 Being agile, he put the light on first (5)

19 One step up from the gutter (4)