THE CROSSWORD

CRYPTIC CLUES ACROSS

1 Miscellaneous collection of biblical characters (3,3)

4 Bob finds a quicker way (5,3)

9 and 7 Down: Discount only? Free? Here

everything comes off! (6,6)

10 Encourages a boy to have a light meal (3,5) 12 American tug? (4)

13 Senior member longing to give party

backing (5)

14 A duck egg blue (4)

17 Presumably he can be relied upon for dexterity (5-4,3)

20 Office girl could give a stranger hope (12) 23 Find fault with the price (4)

24 Light fossil resin (5)

25 Appear to make a sound joint (4) 28 Champions in making top sales (8)

29 The artist's sitting room (6)

30 It's very hard yet maths revision is essential (8)

31 Lake contains silver in very small quantity (6)

Down

1 Scrap area where ships are built in Hong Kong? (8)

2 Banter becomes hurtful in time (8) 3 Ring road going round a hop kiln (4) 5 What postgraduates work for, to a greater extent? (6,6)

6 Don't work for the others (4)

7 See 9 Across (6)

8 Demonstrate an early form of motion (6) 11 Such figures are letters (5,7) 15 Declare the taste to be novel (5) 16 Revolutionary article found in the market (5) 18 Animal trained to work without worrying (8) 19 Plain words about a border flower (8) 21 Equip a girl for naval war service (6) 22 Flashing light designed to bring any movement to a stop (6)

26 Attack the copper with acid (4) 27 Eyesore you once found on street (4)

QUICK CLUES ACROSS

1 Refuse to acknowledge (6) 4 Dusk (8)

9 Economy (6)

10 Begin (8)

12 Not generally occurring (4) 13 Deduce (5)

14 Rip (4)

17 Having fixed aversion (12) 20 Rebellion (12)

23 Before long (4)

24 Take up again (5)

25 Ponder (4)

28 Flowering bulbous plant (8) 29 Frustrate (6)

30 Unexpected good

fortune (8)

31 Quick (6)

DOWN

1 Confusion (8)

2 Harshness (8)

3 To decrease in strength (4) 5 Earnestly committed (12) 6 A citrus fruit (4)

7 A pungent spice (6) 8 Hypothesis (6)

11 Serving as a means (12) 15 Backbone (5)

16 Temporary impediment (5) 18 Feign (8)

19 Lineage (8)

21 Avoid (6)

22 Sphere of influence (6) 26 Slight quarrel (4) 27 Gaming counter (4)