CRYPTIC CROSSWORD

ACROSS

1 Play ball with this unnamed artist and stay (6,5) 9 Doctor accepts large ring can be pleasing on the ear (7) 10 Writer was stuck in this home, then put out, I’m told (7) 11 The Listener regularly appears in . . . (3) 12 . . . port the French own, flanking river (2,5) 13 Aide worried about officer close to affray (7) 14 The main source of electricity in South Africa (3) 15 Push back piano half way through dance (5) 17 Avoid 90 leaving bar (5) 18 Distressed copper laid back (3-2) 20 Senior person’s foreign articles (5) 22 Spring begins sooner every year (3) 24 Short message about a Dutch tomboy (7) 25 Everyone eats thin crackers in colony (7) 26 Crew intend to ignore one (3) 27 Scrub lists in church (7) 28 Farm vehicle reverses wagon to start of road (7) 29 TV’s slight riddle (5,6)

DOWN

1 She’s a left-hander sadly showing little commitment (4-11) 2 Stiff old man enters grotto briefly (7) 3 He presents medal on radio (5) 4 Liberals in terrible despair wound up (9) 5 Unguarded fire with swirling smoke that’s annoying (7) 6 Hide chest, don’t lose it! (4,4,5,2) 7 Mum leaves mess and goes for a walk (6) 8 Claim everything, say, before end of case (6) 16 Chum brings in one 3, cooked bit by bit (9) 18 Company recruits girl briefly to produce cloth (6) 19 Flower Auntie cultivated below front of patio (7) 21 Go back over career working around East End (7) 23 Draw lines in a river (6) 25 Old clown enters frantically (5)