Weekend crossword

ACROSS

1 Songster from the West accompanied

by jangling barrel (7)

5 Gang go one better in frilly headdress

(3, 3)

8 Woolly youngster ‘urried on, whacked

(9)

9 Always a long record sounding like a

pack of hounds (5)

11 Professional bat? Anyhow, I rocket

century after century (6, 9)

12 A hard case, crazy to join the

underworld (8)

14 Weeds bordering a road in large

numbers (6)

16 Take me back, chief, to do some relief

work (6)

18 Tyrant, depart, used to start a game

with sticks (53)

21 Rushed me away from a Sunday

outing, gave me a wigging (4,2, 3, 1, 5) 23 The last thing Leander did, send word

back north (5)

24 For a metric unit, study this in the

theatre (9)

25 . . . in which I entertain with piano scale

(6)

26 Stout? Stop the flow (7)

DOWN

1 Being of good family has spring water

brought to the house? (49)

2 A fresh horse is more skittish on ride to

‘ounds (7)

3 Meadow Street, lowest number (5) 4 Breaking rule, etc, pinches one old

lady’s bag (8)

5 A flier, I am, going up the centre of a

leaf (6)

6 Kitty’s after dark at the seaside (9) 7 Warded off a green foreign editor (7) 10 Selection from an oration, the

adjectives, etc (5,2, 6)

13 Quiet rhino’s reward for keeping mum

(45)

15 Fools with nothing on, in bare skins (8) 17 A nightbird is dashing Al Brown (43) 19 We row, love having the last word

about rights (7)

20 The lethargy that comes, from claret or

port (6)

22 Firstclass railway’s heading north for

the country (5)