CRYPTIC CROSSWORD

22/4

ACROSS

1. Of supreme use to airborne soldier, a horse! (9)

5. Junior reporter where Havana is losing a tail (3)

7. Do the opposite for a French party (4)

8. Posture it takes in duet at breaking up (8)

10. Made rain serve as a liquor to steep meat in (8)

11. A breeder may have to be put in a collar (4)

13. Fastener for leg got in a tangle (6)

15. For a while take allowance for slope of the green (6)

18. Long-running drama in a bar maybe (4)

19. Puts cord around right one or finishes with a passageway (8)

22. Poem of rural life is finished with the viva (8)

23. A jumper may be irritating to host (4)

24. Swindled one going to and fro (3)

25. Will try change of name on tank-top (9)

DOWN

1. Plunge headlong, having encountered Victoria to begin with (7)

2. A corollary for one on a horse (5)

3. No neat unit turns dry right away (6)

4. A journey – over one’s own feet? (4)

5. Answer the charge where sales are effected (7)

6. Smooth mixture starts leaking in a stoop (5)

9. Go fishing with an old Mercian settler (5)

12. Argument given up on the railway, causing some concern (5)

14. Informed on one being laid out on the lawn? (7)

16. Writ for arrest will arrive when in need (7)

17. Wet ground on Mars, so it may be (6)

18. Tasty pad is adjusted to it (5)

20. Dig down inside a model verandah (5)

21. This point is disputable in a historic court (4)

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTION

Across: 1. Ocelot 4. Gallop 9. Earnest 10. Cease 11. Nail 12. Bias

13. Tea 15. Gulp 16. Boom 19. Leo 21. Yolk 22. Tree 24. Irked

25. Basenji 26. Naming 27. Degree

1. One in a million 2. Earring 3. Open 5. Ancestor 6. Least

7. Pre-Raphaelite 8. Strip 14. Played on 17. Mariner 18. Globe

20. Oakum 23. Isle

Down: