CRYPTIC CROSSWORD

16 409

Across

1. Account given by girl in court in superb performance (5,3) 5. Ban energy-free drink to get trimmer? (6) 9. Form the basis of three foreign articles about India (8)

10. Turn soil over — it’s rotten (6)

12. Traffic controller operating in church (4)

13. Great fun working in middle of July, but thankless (10)

15. Eg Mexican language linked to a chap around Morecambe (5-8) 19. Ned’s replacing stove that’s spotless (6-7)

23. Thrash orphan girl holding broken lathi (10)

25. Leading group of Rastafarians withdraw

emperor (4)

28. Crafty, like Oliver’s friend (6)

29. Wake- up call concerning European in French town (8)

30. A number of Romans involved in boxing team (6)

31. Head man from Warsaw’s a tall thin person (8)

Down

1. Grasp contents of nest (6) 2. Plug lecturer’s extra feature (3-2) 3. Father’s anonymous seductress (4)

4. Bun and French mushroom a politician rejected

(7)

6. Notice uniform on officer’s dirty maybe (5)

7. Glaring, having had a close shave? (9) 8. Enter old ground once smelling good (8)

11. Quietly pack first carriage? (4)

14. School’s sequence of 10 letters (4)

15. Brief missive about journal lacking adult viewers (9)

16. Bacilli regularly give trouble (3)

17. Skate here, beginning to go off the edge (4) 18. Mount about 50 for the first time in grounds (8)

20. Small room for biology unit (4)

21. Utter text, remembering contents (7)

22. A piece of cake, a sort of block (6)

24. Put up hotel on river (5)

26. Lots of rounds also exploded across bow of Victory (5) 27. Average bloke nurses athlete’s foot (4)