CROSSWORD Roger Squires No. 3,211

ACROSS

1 Object I’ve put into the salad (6) 4 Could mean coming in last despite everything (5,3) 9 Out of the country? (2,4) 10 A crying need for free trade cut (4,4) 12 Lean nurse (4) 13 Follow the band (5) 14 Sound cure for cant (4) 17 Bound to fight? (2,3,7) 20 Travels far and makes one’s mark in the world (4,1,4,3) 23 A slack return in fielding (4) 24 The mating game (5) 25 Retainer for an author (4) 28 Press the bell and run away for security (8) 29 Take quite a time to enjoy membership (6) 30 Gloomy result of fewer actors getting parts? (4,4) 31 Fishermen use many spinners (6)

DOWN

1 A compulsory turnout (8) 2 Set off for school in time (8) 3 They’re taken very seriously (4) 5 Glossy coat shows Parisian chic (6,6) 6 Make sound of a large vessel (4) 7 Sharpness shown by a man with a cue perhaps (6) 8 Very much the opposite (6) 11 Brawl he takes badly is illegal (6,3,3) 15 Attack currency returns (3,2) 16 Gem of standard weight (5) 18 Short odds? That’s not fair (3,2,3) 19 How slowly one travelled in olden days (2,6) 21 Critic unreasonably acid (6) 22 Second thoughts about thin pieces of wood (6) 26 Jack and Edward retired (4) 27 Try to be informal (4)

SOLUTION to Jeremy Mutch No. 1188: Across – 1, Glasses. 5, Eclipse. 9, Shearer. 10, Vagrant. 11, Icing. 12, Bushcraft. 13, Startling. 15, Fudge. 16, Covey. 18, Deduction. 21, Loose ends. 24, Locum. 25, Plateau. 26, Ruffian. 27, Oversee. 28, Misdeal. Down – 1, Gossips. 2, America. 3, Sprightly. 4, Scrub. 5, Envisaged. 6, Logic. 7, Placard. 8, Entitle. 14, Indenture. 15, Facelifts. 16, Calypso. 17, Violate. 19, Incline. 20, Nominal. 22, Evens. 23, Scram.