THE CRYPTIC:

ACROSS

1. E G Damson British? Absolutely! (5)

4. Open seats, but they take away the colour (9)

9. Messy screen around the meadow – wash it again (9) 10. German, we are included in von Braun service (5) 11. Frantically tries around a thousand for a hit (6)

12. Hiding away the waste product in a confidence trick (8)

14. Watch a new dismissal – but it was too late (4,3,3)

16. Lazy Eric (4)

19. Right team – or possibly left it (4)

20. Christmas chicken for the playwright (4,6)

22. Seaside disease, garden danger and bedroom boredom (8) 23. Opera for motorists? (6)

26. Tutor has no alternative – turn it around all together! (5)

27. Dark horse – can be frightening (9)

28. They say knight quits and desists from action (9)

29. Cheats in beds (5)

DOWN

1. Ticks as parties mingle (9) 2. Filthy lucre leads to stomach problem (5)

3. Waves to journalists who produce scoops (8)

4. Musicians barred, they say (4) 5. The day before, new time, crammed with unknown but interesting phenomena occurring constantly (10)

6. Sea voyage and its reported workers (6)

7. Help a saint die in Calcutta, or thereabouts (4,5)

8. Quiet carpet – toss it off (5) 13. Registrations to join up creators of Lent sermon (10) 15. The rat, as portrayed at Alice’s tea party (3,6)

17. Brings peril to aim tantrums (9)

18. Amorous royal order – caper! (8)

21. Speaks, begs for adulation (6) 22. Bets, but upset not available (5)

24. A note, repeated about Florida resort (5)

25. Urges on ova (4)

Solution next week