CRYPTIC CROSSWORD

ACROSS

1. Manufacture, of national importance, supplying locks as well? (3,8)

7. Archer used protracted acknowledgement of applause (7)

9. A cutting implement one soundly supplements (4)

11. Company given support by a hooded creature (5)

12. Minds the South making such a loving gesture (6)

14. Coffee makers are wrong to use coal reports (11)

18. One took the sun to invite one into bed (6)

20. One from the pack in the body of the church, one hears (5)

22. Lowest division of whole number of soldiers, say (4)

23. Quietly steers round and keeps on at one (7)

24. Distinctive character only Pater is capable of writing out (11)

DOWN

2. Make one peer, perhaps without narrowing one’s eyes (7)

3. Girl who has a fresh get-up every day? (4)

4. High pressure feature of the earth thrown up (5)

5. Is not taught, soundly, to idle (5)

6. It could serve as a reference to the Bible (5) 8. Had offshoots from the trunk? (8)

10. Portion sounds dully painful as one has one’s share of it (8)

13. A secretive, drunken tinker (3)

15. Chemical test substance turns green at making it (7) 16. Roughly, it stands for a dose of the ‘flu (5)

17. The smallest amount as is allowed outside (5) 19. A county horse (5)

21. Did a quick turn and made a web (4)

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTION

Across: 1. Bastion 5. Parch 8. Crawled 9. Ergot 10. Manifesto

12. Née 13. Topee 17. Cob 19. Extradite 21. Alibi 22. Obscure

24. Shrug 25. Pertain

Down: 1. Became 2. Spanner 3. Ill 4. Nodes 5. Phenomena

6. Regan 7. Hatred 11. Fattening 14. Primula 15. Oceans

16. Demean 18. Briar 20. Troop 23. Sir