CRYPTIC CROSSWORD

presenter tweeted to her 331,000 followers: “What on earth has happened to blitz spirit? billions of people get by with very limited electricity #SpoiltUK.

“Storm winds blow, trees come down, electricity goes off, it’s not much fun, need to make contingency plans, why does this mean compensation?”

Her comments ignited controversy on Twitter. One acrOss 1 Featured conglomerate of traders (7) 5 Goods to be sold by staff (5) 11 Is one Queen’s attendant a tart? (3,4,2,6) Pack in a hundred with battering implement (4) Lost heart in affair with posh mum (5) First letters received in dawn of love for heartthrob (4) 17 Convulsed lassie rolling in these? (6) 18 Height of game’s reversed in situation (7) 20 Stress of playing tennis is about

nothing (7) 22 Boy is without marks against him (6) 24 Ponder over island (4)

12 13 14 25 Skiing area where poles get twisted (5) 26 Foreign Office takes on marines’

previous record (4) 29 It’s fiction that after going no distance on university river one discovers fine material (3,8,4) 30 Pursue son to have a serious word, perhaps (5) Puts up with final caper and leaves high and dry (7)

31 dOWN 2 Money owed on horse race is over a

trillion pounds (3,8,4) 3 Artist or opposite number may behave

as if lionised (4) 4 To finish with listeners is appealing (7) 6 City seized by ancient royalty (4) 7 Obscure bird may come to rest in

fantasy world (5,6,4) 8 5 have a change of heart and decline

to go further (5) 9 Bids to start off funds (6) 10 River-caught fish are cooked thus (7) 15 It’s clear that one’s included in

arrangement (5) 16 Utter thanks inclusively for Chinese

sauce (5) 19 Mysterious marks of injury sustained

when strapped to a mast (7) 21 Get hold of naval hero (6) 22 Believer tips bat over (7) 23 Change clock at 11.59 in the morning

(5) 27 First friend’s total dereliction (4) 28 Lay odds on a second-rater (4)