{ THE CROSSWORDS }

PUZZLE 15901

CRYPTIC CLUES

ACROSS

1 Clothes of matching colours with various decorations (11)

9 The origin of an Erin lad (7)

10 Extremist talk (5)

11 Its purpose in sport is to eliminate passion (4)

12 Submitted to the Spanish guard (8)

14 Quietly yearn for table linen (6)

16 It’s sound in diplomacy (6)

18 Political favours? (8)

19 Ruler of star potential (4)

22 He’s found among fuel merchants (5)

23 Wine forced on militant republicans (7)

24 Where to find aces well looked after (2,4,5)

DOWN

2 Half the operations performed in the theatre (5)

3 Breed that may be rare (4)

4 It’s certainly not out of action (6)

5 Etching - or a watercolour? (8)

6 Baltic country resort one is at (7)

7 Late tenders? (5,6)

8 Put in a word for the working classes (11)

13 One who talks one round to composing some music (8)

15 Unusual stamp on a letter is entrusted to him (7)

17 Smiled widely, having support (6)

20 I raced around and looked (5)

21 Notion not quite perfect (4)

QUICK CLUES

ACROSS

1 Outstanding performance (4,2,5)

9 Straggler (7)

10 Do without (5)

11 Region (4)

12 Small part (8)

14 Charm (6)

16 Short of money (4,2)

18 Impractical (8)

19 Operatic song (4)

22 Mental picture (5)

23 Biographical sketch (7)

24 Destination (8,3)

DOWN

2 Keyboard instrument (5)

3 Actual (4)

4 Suffer (6)

5 Authoritative (8)

6 Borne (7)

7 Explore new areas (5,1,5)

8 On the way to success (5,6)

13 Magnificence (8)

15 Lower back pain (7)

17 Unpretentious (6)

20 Rule as monarch (5)

21 Throw lightly (4)