CRYPTIC CROSSWORD

ACROSS

1 We start the race for cereal production (5)

6 Come down, but not too heavy! (5)

9 Pets for young children (or tired businessmen?) (7) 10 Wherein a racketeer may find himself (5)

11 Life is not uniform in this street (5)

12 Warms up pork pies, perhaps, out East (5) 13 Politician capable of treason? (7)

15 Does she seem entitled to a plurality of husbands? (3) 17 Some popular ideas, dry as dust (4) 18 Mistakenly agrees to provide lubricant (6)

19 Gaze at something heavenly – an eye-opener! (5) 20 What the frog does at last? (6)

22 For the present, a soldier goes on foot (4) 24 Longing for money (3) 25 Architectural features that figure in a spiral arrangement (7)

26 A mug can start getting stoned with a German one (5)

27 Get into trouble with the police? (3,2)

28 An RAF unit making a deep impression (5)

29 Pacify by putting a tee in position (7)

30 It’s written in a professional way (5)

31 Got the royal colour wrong? (5)

DOWN

2 Angler’s vessel? (6) 3 Overseas in a general sense (6)

4 The tutor’s expression of disapproval? (3) 5 Antagonism, for some strange reason (5) 6 What one can read about the French style of cruet (7) 7 Goddess who has a double life? (4)

8 Lingers to view the rugged shore around mid-Devon (6) 12 A supposed Scotticism (sounding owlish?) (5) 13 Cheeky, say, about “University Challenge”? (5) 14 Fabricated name for a Frenchwoman? (5) 15 Passion can make a man a bit of a liar! (5) 16 Supporters at the bottom? (5)

18 A good shower means very little (5)

19 One bowled over in the alley? (7)

21 Artist about to use black (being French, of course) (6) 22 Let down at golf, look displeased (6)

23 Possibly lunatic hair-style? (6)

25 Arrest for robbery (5) 26 Drinks very little (4) 28 Devoured less than a plateful (3)