TWO-SPEED CROSSWORD

CRYPTIC CLUES

ACROSS

1 Mongrel with what it wags

cut short (7) 8 Excel with alternative in

the open air (7) 9 Puzzled to find Australian

birds in bed! (7) 10 Quiet tunes for couples (5) 11 Stops concealing fury and

puts in peril (9) 14 Harasses dogs (6) 15 Batman’s ally to steal in (5) 16 Ran back to the line to get

thin (6) 20 A French tree containing

uranium is not welcome

(9) 23 Instruct artist in metal (5) 24 Spun stick round gallery (7) 25 Daughter comes in to mend broken piece left over (7) 26 Open screen I replaced (7)

DOWN

1 Company books in which

we found spider’s trap (6) 2 Cure my deer, diseased

(6) 3 Crime beheading clergyman (5) 4 Deposit for gatekeeper’s

house (5) 5 Crushes underfoot a relative

by marriage (7) 6 Unacceptable to harbour

one idea (6) 7 Large number of pay increases bring troubles (6) 12 Mature daughter finally appears wearing formal dress (5) 13 Some catarrh in one animal

(5) 15 Outside old castle without

a decorative disc (7) 16 NATO in exercise in

country (6) 17 Country lady’s following

Rex (6) 18 Carefree bachelor moving

supply (6) 19 Cooler than being loud on

hill (6) 21 Bits of belt overturned (5) 22 Don in bed still turning

(3,2)