CRYPTIC CROSSWORD

ACROSS

1 Complicated score ended with C, getting softer (11) 9 Queen Victoria at first fills bowl for Muslim ascetic (7) 10 Time when almost nobody starts to do any yomping? (7) 11 Youth’s case abandoned and dismissed (3) 12 Stresses — they vary regionally (7) 13 It’s forbidden, yet still e.g. allowed to some extent (7) 14 Couple prepare to tour university (3) 15 Bottle neck (5) 17 Sentimental work bores agent (5) 18 Novelist’s about to host good character from Athens (5) 20 Don’t slouch! Unnamed Russian boss is back (3,2) 22 Bridge opponents gather round right away (3) 24 Caught editing novel (7) 25 Island engineers marriage (7) 26 Long period during 1 Down (3) 27 Very nearly returned number one’s form (7) 28 Token minimum invested in dodgy loan (7) 29 Nick instrument designed to deter lice (3,8)

DOWN

1 Noted career girl worked for boss of BBC (8-7) 2 A politician avoids mushroom in Paris bun (7) 3 Old letters about Oscar’s animating principle (5) 4 Happy to keep batting, exercising self-restraint (9) 5 Pasta finally eaten by lots (7) 6 A grand European inn fits in more mature retiree (3-3,9) 7 English dukes control conflict for king (6) 8 Parking in layby ruined action in the background (2-4) 16 Home team respecting new church fences (9) 18 Domestic atmosphere about five past four (6) 19 A street journey on horseback perhaps (7) 21 The best police go down quickly (7) 23 Manage to obtain whiskey and fish (6) 25 Latest fashion? Conquering new mountains (5)

FOR your chance to win, solve the crossword to reveal the word reading down the shaded boxes. HOW TO ENTER: Call 0901 293 6233 and leave today’s answer and your details, or TEXT 65700 with the word CRYPTIC, your answer and your name. Texts and calls cost £1 plus standard network charges. Or enter by post by sending completed crossword to Daily Mail Prize Crossword 16161, PO Box 28, Colchester, Essex CO2 8GF. Please include your name and address. One weekly winner chosen from all correct daily entries received between 00.01 Monday and 23.59 Friday. Postal entries must be datestamped no later than the following day to qualify. Calls/texts must be received by 23.59; answers change at 00.01. UK residents aged 18+, exc NI. Terms apply, see Page 68.

NEED A CLUE? Text TIP to 65700 to receive FOUR answers to today’s crossword, or call 0901 293 6236. Texts and calls cost £1 plus standard network charges. Today’s clues available between 00.01 today and 23.30 only.