CRYPTIC CROSSWORD

ACROSS

1. The way poet Paul could supply inhabitants (8)

7. Deck it in gold and cut it off (5)

8. Is able to be sullen with frankness (7)

9. It’s late to be finished, owing to the rest (7)

10. What pupil sits with previous partner before noon (4)

12. Shiver three times as much around beginning of May (7)

14. Scurried about, bosom-first (7)

17. Granny may be found in the wood (4)

18. When wine was made, for instance, in vat like this (7)

21. Covetousness makes one carve a version of it (7)

22. Nine one finishes off in a material way (5)

23. Enquire about rites performed in star pattern (8)

DOWN

1. Appropriate cavity (6)

2. Hanging ornaments finish in underwear (8)

3. Give an eye to one’s appearance (4)

4. It’s the gullet that holds the alternative up (6)

5. The leading lady in the plot was wounded (4)

6. The scene of activity was The Globe (6)

7. Corkscrews for numbers one and two batsmen (7) 31/12

11. For a crook, to be unwell is in vain (7)

13. A drinking-song which, in bird, is misplaced (8)

14. It’s like cattle to be around when vino is distributed (6)

15. Has visions of how to read manuscript (6)

16. Will move like lightning, not being suited to it (6)

19. In Lebanon, evidently, there aren’t any (4)

20. Will grow white at the stake (4)