CRYPTIC CROSSWORD

ACROSS

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26 27 28 29 30 31 2 3 Possibly put on in a London park (5)

Passes over sporting leaders, in short (5)

A few words or couple of letters making a point, cleverly (7)

Girl’s name for a French city (5)

Change from green to red, maybe (5)

Come out with a burst of speed (5)

Loud noises from puffers (7) Sibilant little sibling (3) Prepare less than expeditely (4)

Tease a companion for a sign of restlessness (6) Where frogs’ legs may be eaten in pairs (5)

Faith in direct action (6) In business, one is not soft (4)

Is he half cut? (3) Wherein rushing water cuts round a bend? (7) Crept out of hotels without finishing lunch (5) Irrational devotion to a mere craze (5)

Judged to interfere with trade (5)

One advising a priest, perhaps, on central heating (7) Flat enterable from front or rear (5)

Aliens from the ends of the earth (5)

DOWN

Covered with extremes of peril on the wrong date (6) Mysterious officer heading 4

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18 19 a sect (6)

No it’s less than ten a year (3)

Walks up and down? (5) Thus growl, love, at points of sadness (7)

Use needles to a possibly comforting end (4)

Sort of licence one needs to write verse? (6)

No such thing as a piece of cake! (5)

A place to comb when stranded? (5)

Wrong use of words (5) Drunken sot, I see, showing little emotion (5)

Amid hisses, a bad actor simulates (5)

A name one may fight for (5) Beastly end for a man to 21 22

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26 28 have? (7)

Have a grave effect upon (6) Character playing a big part in a gambling game (6) In Congreve, readers, you’ll find a hero named Paul (6) Cut a corner in a window frame (5)

Locate with sound sense (4) Bit of a square peg, this salesman? (3)