CRYPTIC CROSSWORD

ACROSS

3 Almost begin to embark – that’s right (9)

8 Give a hand signal when this approaches the shore (4) 9 Learning to recognise a foothold on the mountain (9)

10 A kind that is made to sally (6) 11 One who sums up the scaly creature (5)

14 Change the level of the shafts, we hear (5)

15 Depression for the theologian, by the sound of it (4)

16 Just the thing for the highstepper (5)

18 Cramped accommodation may well be barred (4)

20 Too early for the Mayflower? (5)

21 It would be carried by the chairmen (5)

24 Show off the United Nations in uninteresting surroundings (6) 25 Split completely in a sorrowful way (9)

26 Small piece of land mentioned in Marconi’s letters (4)

27 One who faces the wall (9)

DOWN

1 Frightened by an undefined article, we refused to work (9) 2 Charges too much? (9)

4 Subtle blending provides quality of sound (4)

5 Went boating and fell out! (5) 6 What the abbot expects to be, as far as holy orders are concerned! (6)

7 Right time of life for passion (4) 9 Birds whose flight is groundcontrolled? (5)

11 Foreigner with a legal right to retain property (5)

12 Turned up in a nosy way (9) 13 Facts that place genuine restrictions about one (9) 17 Agree with the amount scored (5)

19 Acquires 9 Across (6) 22 Ill-treatment for Lincoln around America (5)

23 Timber transaction (4) 24 Escape from most of the Navy (4)