thecrosswords
CRYPTIC CLUES ACROSS
1 Short of shotguns (4-3)
5 Fresh loans required to form a hairdressing business (5)
8 Duty-free state (9)
9 There’s nothing new being in the doldrums (3) 10 Supporter of proposal (4) 12 Payments subject to approval (8) 14 Changes which should be made by wrongdoers (6)
15 First of the inclinations of vagrants (6) 17 Satisfies all within (8)
18 A test for which there is something to be said (4)
21 A well-cut length of cloth? (3)
22 Part of the plans for promotion? (9) 24 Test the patience of a good man at a meeting (5)
25 See 14 Down
DOWN
1 Meat and chips, we hear (5)
2 We are hungry - that’s distressing (3) 3 Go up, up, up in the old Russian secret police (4)
4 They live an ordered existence (6) 5 Reason why there’s music in the air? (8) 6 Wildcat strikes will put him out of work (4,5) 7 They are barely visible to each other (7) 11 Always enter, perhaps, with a friend (9) 13 A follower required here and there, perhaps (8) 14 and 25 Across: Itinerant craftsman in poetry (7,7)
16 Disturb the master flow (6)
19 Ruler of the waves? (5)
20 Light fine? (4)
23 I am given a northern name (3)
QUICK CLUES ACROSS
1 Quicksilver (7) 5 Composer of The Planets (5) 8 Plateau (9)
9 A beverage (3)
10 A complete failure (4) 12 Enjoyment (8) 14 Powerful US rocket (6)
15 For the most part (6) 17 North African savoury dish (8) 18 Spoils (4)
21 Flow back (3) 22 Thorough and vigorous (9) 24 Ground (5)
25 Roman sea god (7)
DOWN
1 A repeated design (5) 2 To ridicule (3) 3 Accustomed (4) 4 Annual (6)
5 Secluded place (8) 6 Baltic country (9) 7 Very sad event (7) 11 Exceed in quantity (9) 13 Slightly salty (8) 14 Place out of sight (7) 16 A Muslim monarch (6) 19 Locale (5)
20 Break suddenly (4) 23 Promissory note (3)