GIANT CROSSWORD
Choose between cryptic and quick clues to tackle the Giant crossword – both lead to the same answers. CRYPTIC
ACROSS
12 Very soon having your every moment occupied (2,4,2,3)
13 Time means little (6)
14 The girl is in a nun
ensemble: not uniform (6)
16 Induce one to be
a guide (4)
17 What’s at fault if a film doesn’t know where it’s going? (9)
18 Backed down, you
assume (3,2)
19 Prepared for recession,
I went into bonds (4)
20 Hurry up, good gracious,
and identify the plant! (9)
22 A non-hit something’s
wrong with (5)
23 How the yelling is
going strong? (2,4,3)
27 Clothes take a long time
to put on? Rubbish! (7)
30 What dad and the girl had at the Spanish restaurant? (6)
31 Set a figure, to help with (4)
32 A lot of people
save, you say (5)
35 Used to be as you
and I are (4)
36 Takes pity on and, melting,
enters the figure in (7)
38 Nervous when at
the border? (4)
39 The last course is to
abandon, you say (7)
42 He’s making no progress
in getting a sponsor (6)
45 Will be running the bay
in myself, possibly (5)
46 Chat, unwrapping
the new tool (7)
47 Take in money (4)
48 Reputed to have
uttered the words (4)
50 Excellent. Can combine
in, to fund one (7)
52 The animal has a cold, I
get someone to treat it (5)
54 Strip the room, due to
having to move (6)
56 It’s a stalemate. I myself
hold the ticket (7)
57 Some of the pictures
tell a story (4)
59 Shouts at the skiers assembled outside the hotel (7)
61 Catches in the
said wood (4)
64 Juncture at which you
show to the public (5)
66 A small tool: one of a
matching pair (4)
67 Having stolen from,
got rid of (6)
69 She’s dressed in a
strange, coarse fabric (7)
72 Like a note that’s cross (9)
73 Nancy turns out to
be shrewd (5)
74 Annoyed, bring the
amended list in (9)
79 Succeeding in the job (4)
81 If retiring and timid,
it’s suspicious (5)
82 Emphasise, as you hammer it all the way in (5,4)
83 Very careful to find the
right way round (4)
85 It shows one’s been
educated – to an extent (6)
86 A pout (wry) when I put in
“The perfect place” (6)
87 Easy earnings (for a driver when his taxi’s motionless?) (5,3,3)
DOWN
1 By midnight one will have departed (4)
2 Making a racket with
the instrument (6)
3 Cry “Have a party
in the field!” (6)
4 At the beginning, the little
tips come as a surprise (7)
5 Hit in the face (5)
6 The major part of the
circus performances? (5,5)
7 Gets rid of the blues (5)
8 Eating the outside bit
and running off (7,2)
9 Prove to be, when
you evict (4,3)
10 Handed down to,
didn’t take (4)
11 Daunted by and upset,
Ted made a mistake (8)
15 Gloomy and sad, I’m
wandering at large (6)
21 Said it’s an ordinary tree (5)
24 Has lions wandering around, all right, when one visits (5,2)
25 “Mostly virile”, I
interposed (6)
26 Unimportant? That’s
an insult! (6)
28 Go to pieces and
you get a rest (5)
29 A fish head for “27” (3)
33 A mild “That’s not a
girl’s name” (7)
34 Warmed it up and he’d
been about to eat (6)
37 A foreigner who’s
taken root here (5)
40 Scolded, a tear drop
started to form (5)
41 Break mum has a treat
arranged for (7)
43 Fear malaria is starting
to break out (5)
44 Say no to waste (6)
46 Chops with a tool, as
the cockney said (5)
49 Beer that’s just what
the doctor ordered (7)
51 Bitten by, ran (6)
53 Is not always the same
number and sign (6)
55 Steals nothing to
speak of (5)
58 Does the casting director say where it should go? (7,3)
60 Understand and keep
an eye on (3)
62 It’s obvious from the
map I brought in (5)
63 Erases “Colours
are in” (6,3)
65 See what’s on the bottom
of the pastry? (8)
68 Frank, as well, is held
by the police (6)
70 Moved about, fit into
the outhouse (7)
71 Mulled over the locked
door in bed (7)
75 Take to the airport and
drive away (3,3)
76 Scowls at the many
debtors (6)
77 Only roughly a quarter
of the material (5)
78 Pretend to be pupil
at the school (3,2)
80 Get a shock when
you go round (4)
84 Are terribly large,
it’s true (4)