CRYPTIC/QUICK CROSSWORD

NO.494

Here’s your chance to win a Collins Concise English Dictionary. Complete the crossword using

either the cryptic or the quick clues and send it to us with your name and address. Send your solution to: Cryptic/Quick Crossword No. 494, The Irish Mail on Sunday, PO Box 5332, Cardiff Lane, Dublin 2. Entries must be received by Thursday. The winner will be drawn from a hat. The winner of Cryptic/Quick Crossword No. 493 is Deirdre Murray, Sutton, Dublin 13.

CRYPTIC CLUES

Acros s 1 See leg pop out during risk of getting a double (12) 9 Gong for food around the start of day (5) 10 Motors in which copper is the driving element (5,4) 11 Salad leaf topped with special tooth (8) 12 Glue commercial at this point (6) 14 Nothing about the article reveals a penetrating piece (4) 15 Snappy opportunity to shop wildly, having a laugh (5,5) 18 Cruelly outclasses people who are hopeless (4,6) 19 Stirring soup is a work of art (4) 22 Name a blue, twinkling, night sky object (6) 24 One obstacle to profitable disposal of water (5,3) 26 I’m on time to turn without preparation (9) 27 Become aware of renal surgery (5) 28 Spoke ill of gathering in gangs thrown out of the country (12)

Down 2 Hospital staff demand untruthful statements (9) 3 Personal assistant to make secure this grand building (6) 4 Hastily clean her up for one with a pot of gold (10) 5 Family member getting worker to hide uranium (4) 6 Wrongly gets South African money accepted as the most exalted (8) 7 Plunder hidden in demure avenue (5) 8 State confidently Romeo is into something of value (6) 9 Mother providing lead for boy, a stone worker (5) 13 Instruments USSR melted in haste (5,5) 16 Place for little Annie playing on harp a long time (9) 17 Seafood concessions take on brand (8) 18 Food the Italian’s taken after period of fasting (6) 20 Inflexible part of the boat (5) 21 Undergarments from shopping centre in the outskirts of Skegness (6) 23 Man, say, in attempt to take gym class (5) 25 Pout unpleasantly thus far (2,2)