Chapter 3

Easy Peasy Cryptics

IN THIS CHAPTER

Getting stuck into some easy cryptic crosswords

I’ve done my best to write easy crosswords for you in this chapter. These crosswords have easy words in the grids and simpler vocabulary in the clues as well. Abbreviations are (hopefully) mostly pretty obvious. The clues use more anagrams and hidden word devices than normal, which are in general easier clues to solve. Many words in the clues are presented ‘in plain view’, and you don’t have to find synonyms for them. The grids are also smaller than a regular crossword (13 × 13, instead of 15 × 15). I hope you enjoy them!

Puzzle 1

Across

1. Put Rover in lead to get to an adage (7)
5. Cyprus cad’s ancient plant (5)
8. Carries large mammals (5)
9. Illustration shows Diana with silver ram (7)
10. Glib excuse covers wild goat (4)
11. Lack of courage? Muddled Dimity has it (8)
13. Strange hen meowed, only to get vine fruit (8,5)
16. Disloyalty from dodgy early bat (8)
17. Badly cure fawn (4)
20. Exercise caution in public sale (7)
21. American state set in lah-di-dah oasis (5)
22. Sidestep a stray dog in Delaware (5)
23. Drive backwards to wild reserve (7)

Down

1. Bishop and Long Island in push to bring out a book (7)
2. Astatine found in mineral source? Make a speech! (5)
3. Warped seat where the sun rises (4)
4. Bad bends remained, revealing doctor’s attitude to patient (7,6)
5. Sloppy archaism has charm (8)
6. Pleasant drink concentrate (7)
7. Stout jumpy daughter for Juliet (5)
12. Erratic damn yeti has explosive (8)
14. Saw it’s not frosted (7)
15. Upset, rue neon nerve cell (7)
16. Soft ground is tasteless (5)
18. Seat 100 next to locks (5)
19. Ukrainian city infiltrated by Coxsackie virus (4)

Puzzle 2

Across

1. Looking around, trying to find missing centre (6)
4. Ceremonial female, or Malcolm? (6)
7. Warped latitude produces elevation (8)
8. The French doctor identifies the baby sheep (4)
9. Lied badly and became lazy (4)
11. Vaguely ban new style (8)
13. Malingering one has terribly achy chin droop (13)
18. Pa reflected on dainty hunger (8)
21. Downhearted among singing lumberjacks (4)
23. Part of the eye’s flower (4)
24. Ocean identified in student article, found in attic (8)
25. Abnormal uterus gets surgical stitch (6)
26. Amble along to southern cave-dwelling creature (6)

Down

1. Smash his pans from Madrid (7)
2. Rave about core of next Olympians (5)
3. Go to university and beat the Hungarian stew (7)
4. Worries about guitar features (5)
5. Mattered to me and worker (5)
6. Hit ball by entrance hall (5)
10. Scapegoat hid sense of self (3)
12. Decapitated bloodsucker’s grassy area (3)
14. Give money back for bark (3)
15. The French filling needs for sewing implements (7)
16. Mat cuts top off medicine (3)
17. Funny Mike is in ragged calico (7)
18. Remarkably arise to see constellation (5)
19. Hideously inapt whitewash (5)
20. Picture one mage (5)
22. Bingo held in the lot, tomorrow (5)

Puzzle 3

Across

1. Maria plus weird kangaroo, perhaps? (9)
8. Weep for graduate with western student (4)
9. Retain possession of fortress tower (4)
10. Shattered prism lost soft edges (4)
12. Beaten without first being consumed (5)
14. Roast Alaska in bed (5)
16. An odd apple for primate (3)
17. Sited and set audit poorly (8)
20. Bag the Spanish roll (5)
21. Memento of our vines smashed (8)
22. Set on fire, and left it (3)
23. Track down broken crate (5)
25. Place an ad in Brazilian city for a transceiver (5)
28. Looked back to quiet insect (4)
30. Oddly unsteady and pre-owned (4)
31. The Italian Zulu unknown is lethargic (4)
32. For now, e-mail when busy (9)

Down

2. Wise men miss leader for long times (4)
3. Brown Greek letter dropped into the sea (5)
4. Freely smear pan with hard cheese (8)
5. Work the land, without first limb (3)
6. Rapidly go without food (4)
7. Surprisingly bland diet for mysterious rendezvous (5,4)
11. Korean capital’s soul has energy (5)
13. Slowly cook diced escaroles (9)
14. Boyfriend talks about decorative ribbon (4)
15. Cultivate it with a finger (5)
18. Strangely pert Rain Turtle (8)
19. Story end read aloud (4)
20. Under ugly elbow (5)
24. 100 hurry to make a crowd (5)
26. Labyrinth with daughter rather than Mike can stupefy (4)
27. Stagger and leer in lift (4)
29. Contest lost first high card (3)

Puzzle 4

Across

1. Lob moss carelessly and come into flower (7)
5. Tries out cricket matches (5)
8. Damp turnover in ship fricassees (5)
9. Pastoral wall painting, with a castle for 1,000 (5)
10. Buffoon regularly identifies a flying saucer (3)
11. Upset cousin hugs hotel pillow (7)
13. Ancient city ban is the opposite of 9 across (5)
14. Cracked cog teeth cease to make dairy product (7,6)
17. Sprinted to church property (5)
19. Self-satisfied, note the French sneak in goods (7)
23. Insect’s pants missing edges (3)
24. Connection to the web — ‘Fashion with Mike’ (5)
25. Bud to rehash indecision (5)
26. Surprisingly, cadre’s concerned (5)
27. Mad Hot Dory is Toto’s owner (7)

Down

1. Spartan computing language (5)
2. Accepts orders from old boy with an unexpected yes (5)
3. Japanese snack? Squish madly without question! (5)
4. Misapprehend Martin’s sudden confusion (13)
5. Audibly flung to the other side (7)
6. Scour the undergrowth (5)
7. The Italian in a chaotic scene is quiet (7)
12. Beret, for example, can be found in Manhattan (3)
14. Novel car mice are made of clay (7)
15. Embarrassed Ed has Ma out of sorts (7)
16. Veggie extract is an omelette ingredient (3)
18. Lowest level drain broken (5)
20. One from Paris and the German are below (5)
21. Some of the gaga untouchables are emaciated (5)
22. The gentry leave their leader behind, and get admission (5)

Puzzle 5

Across

1. Resident involved in solo callisthenics (5)
4. Flip over the boat hat dimensions (7)
8. Drop from an aircraft? Badly hurt apace! (9)
9. Nap for a Lao dollar (3)
10. Lamer hectic kingdom (5)
11. Sees grasping alien husband, and is furious (7)
13. Administer drugs, unhurried (6)
15. Stables are tall in ships (6)
17. Dancing Peter with Foxtrot Charlie is ideal (7)
18. Dismisses back-to-front letter feature (5)
20. Even one annoys, oddly (3)
22. Plant matter comes from blended louse cell (9)
23. Nastily destroys headless bivalves (7)
24. Modelled and refined Ed’s op (5)

Down

1. Repel rising social outcast (5)
2. Adorn rice anew with spice (9)
3. Stand-in doctor tipped over the Mucol (5)
4. Elaborate cure is to take a sea trip (6)
5. Give a gift (7)
6. Irritate with nitrogen, instead of right pen’s medium (3)
7. Reveals corrupt ex-posse (7)
12. Our hail is haphazard and so funny! (9)
13. Horribly soon, rap with singer (7)
14. Broken eel cart produces dark syrup (7)
16. Loony lusty Sierra gets a pen-like device (6)
18. First umpire hides part of the wicket (5)
19. Companion lost Romeo to a villain (5)
21. Absolutely unknown Asian soprano (3)

Puzzle 6

Across

1. Emotional release from abnormal cat’s hairs (9)
6. Fish found inside a crocodile (3)
8. Bright bulb lit up unsteadily (5)
9. Small part of a plant’s brochure (7)
10. Husband with the old sodium supplies laughing scavenger (5)
11. Disorganised fair can come from Algeria, perhaps? (7)
13. I’ve heard Parisian river is lucid (4)
15. Peculiar ten gum spice (6)
16. Pill battle blown up (6)
19. Arrival misses the middle inland sea (4)
21. Dubious respect for a ghost (7)
24. Caught noisy atmospheric mass (5)
25. Carports have petrol covering broken gears (7)
26. Shaggy fairy gets husband for female (5)
28. Digit caught in photoelectrics (3)
29. Flexible tile resin all over the place (9)

Down

1. Feline half of cattle (3)
2. Highest mobile satellite lost energy unit (7)
3. Placate with a very quiet calmness (7)
4. Muslim ruler’s dried grape finally gone (6)
5. ‘Look at that,’ he said — ‘A step!’ (5)
6. Little brother left cooked broccoli, it causes abdominal pain (5)
7. Ted atoned insanely, and exploded! (9)
10. Understanding from experience with stewed night dish (9)
12. Greek cheese wrapped in taffeta (4)
14. Gallium put into argon makes marine gel (4)
17. Weird local hotel has zero booze (7)
18. Noel goes up to island north east, like a big cat (7)
20. Operates again rescues at sea without Charlie (6)
22. Sinister eastern Great Lake (5)
23. Striped cat’s good in a row (5)
27. Nevertheless, the Abominable Snowman is tailless (3)

Puzzle 7

Across

1. Sounds like royal seat launched! (6)
4. Remove husband from car body and get a drink (6)
9. Southern Egyptian region essential to Ainu biathlon (5)
10. Cost of flying to fancy Era Fair (7)
11. Little Aussie state recalled the S.A.T. (3)
12. Hotel is after a showy flower from the Emerald Isle (5)
13. Obliging husband fell up accidentally (7)
15. Fever gauge’s theorem term edited (11)
21. Remade caliper for scale model (7)
24. Play under par, bird of prey! (5)
25. Graduate George’s carryall (3)
26. Mistakenly rile hag who supplies coiffure product (4,3)
27. Stop sleeping and have a weak cocktail (5)
28. I tarry badly to get collector’s item (6)
29. Hasten, intoxicated, to Greek capital (6)

Down

1. Astringent substance in tea’s brown at home back north (6)
2. Rush bib out to garbage (7)
3. He jumps into turbulent water to get the atmospheric conditions (7)
5. Foolish month (5)
6. Employees stick (5)
7. Dodgy lass holds a note for thieves (6)
8. Unorthodox Abalone Fish is in Vogue (11)
14. Stroke companion animal (3)
16. Long fish is even in cereals! (3)
17. Stylish alien grabs messy angel (7)
18. Inscribe nasty avenger (7)
19. Legendary British king’s hart lost near ancient city (6)
20. Seamstresses make drains (6)
22. Franciscan head has previous! (5)
23. Precious bar pocketed in a redingote (5)

Puzzle 8

Across

1. Wear a costume provided by wicked red puss (5,2)
5. Year round leave maypole tree (5)
8. Set aside cannula that’s missing edges (5)
9. Feels remorse for right herons (7)
10. Flat and unfit, lacking force (4)
11. Thickens stews in cooking areas (8)
13. Something like a strange expiatory lamp (13)
16. Irregular rain came from Texas, perhaps? (8)
17. Gelato fudge contains a soy product (4)
20. Badly stab Ma with Indian rice (7)
21. Sang about learner’s informal speech (5)
22. Unstable truss corrodes (5)
23. Cooked retsina is more awful (7)

Down

1. Vampire’s dual car in pieces (7)
2. Tedium from eleven nuisances (5)
3. Transaction to go by sea, I’ve heard (4)
4. Involvement in organised patriotic pain (13)
5. Weird maniac hugs American soldier conjuror (8)
6. Lead up to unconventional creed involved in physical education (7)
7. Turbulent sea in El Salvador subsides (5)
12. Vacations with wriggly oily shad (8)
14. Makes happy with parking rentals (7)
15. Oscar on broken gurney is less mature (7)
16. Honey-yellow bream mixture (5)
18. Okay ace private investigator represents giraffe’s relative (5)
19. Egyptian goddess heads off catastrophe (4)

Puzzle 9

Across

1. Misshape bananas from Ed (6)
4. Bubble gets an A for university chatter (6)
7. Progeny lend rich cocktail (8)
8. Pa concealing student with oriental entreaty (4)
9. Turning soil yields grain store (4)
11. Start off with mad dietitian, who lost her head (8)
13. Cool down bent rare fig tree (11)
16. Go towards a very quiet roach (8)
19. Mist coming from Hotel Arizona East (4)
22. Dock heath (4)
23. Sleeping pill mixture deviates (8)
24. Sweet seen in packet of feed (6)
25. Distinguished month (6)

Down

1. Evades waterbirds (5)
2. Top up around queen’s ruffle (5)
3. Cocktail for drunk mini rat (7)
4. Sydney beach covered by carbon dioxide (5)
5. Bravo! A trainee gets South Australia’s timber (5)
6. Rub out right in facility (5)
10. Rough bloke lost start of loaf (3)
12. Peg’s odd theme (3)
13. Hit artist quietly (3)
14. Spiny Aussie had nice soup (7)
15. Tree’s embers (3)
16. Da and Tim both climbing up to be let in (5)
17. Evidence of a piano on the top of the house? (5)
18. Talk about a little island’s passage (5)
20. A princess gets English university’s farewell (5)
21. Vent after Asian function (5)

Puzzle 10

Across

1. Plated animal’s messy modallair (9)
8. Slack hobble (4)
9. Champion’s sample of mother-of-pearl (4)
10. Work on textiles half gone (4)
12. Grown weirdly in error (5)
14. Harm surrounds eastern women’s quarters (5)
16. Consumed eight, from the sound of it (3)
17. Tolerance shown by those waiting for the doctor on the phone (8)
20. Jo gets involved in clamour for French mustard (5)
21. Desperately urged Don, but he’s unlikely to win (8)
22. Assess the animal doctor (3)
23. Depend on locking up pawn to get an answer (5)
25. Dark blood group shortage (5)
28. Inscribe ‘tech’ awkwardly (4)
30. Taxonomy covers part of nerve cell (4)
31. Sicilian volcano is strangely neat (4)
32. Insanely chain tsar to insurgent (9)

Down

2. Deer runs back to get plant (4)
3. Pleasant fragrance is a feature of taro macaroons (5)
4. Adventurous diner? Tip at random! (8)
5. The French kiss is slipshod (3)
6. American spies get round to an Italian greeting (4)
7. Mash Pat’s eight strands of pasta (9)
11. American author from Washington gets into tin (5)
13. Treasures suave ball dancing (9)
14. Her daughter got a group of cattle (4)
15. Senior officer to wander back, embracing Juliet (5)
18. Eccentric ghetto queen is level-headed (8)
19. Blue Avenue in New York (4)
20. Sir Francis’ duck (5)
24. Reluctant to discover a Liberal promise (5)
26. Haggard, missing first relation (4)
27. Notice reversed shirts (4)
29. Gold-brown one found in Tennessee (3)

Puzzle 11

Across

1. Unusually good plasma light that’s old fashioned (3,4)
5. Dancing bi lad can speak off the cuff (2,3)
8. Leaderless people get drunk and marry in secret (5)
9. Perplex with a labyrinth (5)
10. Vehicle is a feature of healthcare (3)
11. Beast chewed up mentors (7)
13. Best possible agreement after one (5)
14. Recollections about misguided incense crimes (13)
17. Moved nearer to old carved jewellery piece (5)
19. Examine insect eating phosphorous (7)
23. Uproar from dinosaur! (3)
24. No difficulty to line artist’s frame (5)
25. Small flying mammal he can wash (5)
26. Posts small stubs (5)
27. Mere lad remodelled the green gem (7)

Down

1. Learner in the confusing game gets a glimmer (5)
2. Faint quickly around whiskey (5)
3. A Delaware exercise expert (5)
4. Disguised rioter catnaps to play for time (13)
5. Extreme greed for mixed caviare (7)
6. Rental agreement for renovated 24A (5)
7. Les after root vegetable insects (7)
12. Cut short uncontrolled slide to go over snow (3)
14. Restock demolished missiles (7)
15. Back soon, hugging daughter, who has the French pasta (7)
16. Even unhappy to doze .  .  . (3)
18. Stone worker’s mother has a male child (5)
20. Bears crooked sword (5)
21. Additional English vote on art retrospective (5)
22. We divide Ted’s cloth (5)

Puzzle 12

Across

1. Stallion’s sounding rough, I hear (5)
4. Seychelles Member of Parliament Tom gets an indication (7)
8. Rebuke bad imp — ran red! (9)
9. Mythical bird’s stone tail chipped off (3)
10. Gulliver’s creator is fast (5)
11. Exotic Elm is so supple (7)
13. Irritable, like a crustacean? (6)
15. Messed up maturely — forgot Gold Eucalyptus, perhaps? (6)
17. Italian herb and old orange mixed up (7)
18. Platform yard has a white flower (5)
20. Corner missing new berth (3)
22. Alert, yet tentative at sea (9)
23. Fowl and duck included in work schedule (7)
24. Inflexible, I can be put in crude grid (5)

Down

1. Sherbets don’t include set of aromatic plants (5)
2. Reproduce from mutated elite carp (9)
3. Decree cited revision (5)
4. Main paper fastener (6)
5. Method with pigpen produces humility (7)
6. Large rodent runs up sticky liquid (3)
7. Teach me acrobatics with a broad knife (7)
12. Getting big nation amendment (9)
13. Jemmy’s black bird next to a tavern (7)
14. Flagrant bishop left at worker (7)
16. New Forest is more marshy (6)
18. Diana ran back to get Iranian currency (5)
19. Produce from unusual Yankee deli (5)
21. A bit of an assiduous pair! (3)

Puzzle 13

Across

1. Building gap as goal for Pacific archipelago (9)
6. Large snake regularly seen in baobab (3)
8. Very liberal translator seen in the Ukraine (5)
9. I left neutrino disrupted, to find another subatomic particle (7)
10. Ink all over iron blade (5)
11. Keenly, Georgia got in ahead of time (7)
13. Prohibits from pubs (4)
15. UK city’s 50 playing Bradman (6)
16. Wild typhoon shed unknown light particle (6)
19. Heads off nauseous plain sailing (4)
21. Drunken brawl on with bird of prey (4,3)
24. Sweetheart is after golf hand protection (5)
25. Deport old battered missile (7)
26. Sample of spaniel bow-wow’s joint (5)
28. Yes, Spanish Romeo’s formal address (3)
29. Segregate corrupt bunny’s gift (6,3)

Down

1. Wildebeest understood, by the sounds of it (3)
2. Jaunty, valiant one from Riga (7)
3. Pulverised pale cob for an experimental control (7)
4. George and the Queen get a male goose (6)
5. Daze German, injured by an insect (5)
6. Tedious insect that makes holes? (5)
7. Ludicrous! Anyone can be a nuisance! (9)
10. Tykes boil reconditioned memory units (9)
12. Gasps ‘Headless vipers!’ (4)
14. A north-eastern wife, once again (4)
17. Tidy up nigh, with eye to personal cleanliness (7)
18. Problems? Ring in versatile butler! (7)
20. Gives permission to Capone, with batty owls (6)
22. More bloody steak is scarcer (5)
23. Corpulent queen’s honour goes to soprano and Asian (5)
27. Swigger wears a toupee (3)

Puzzle 14

Across

1. Chapter in total edited for Little Women author (6)
4. Outlandish ideal Eastern Penguin (6)
9. All went back after six to the country house (5)
10. Recover from an amazing miracle (7)
11. Regularly wrote of great sorrow (3)
12. California sheltering Middle East’s desert animal (5)
13. Do without salt blemish (7)
15. Rewritten soccer intro leads to improvements (11)
21. Rum bees mistreated the Asian cat (7)
24. World’s molten heart (5)
25. Flow back among pebbles (3)
26. Cavorting chis run to ragamuffins (7)
27. Avoid advertisement collected by Eve (5)
28. UK county ruin sorted (6)
29. A German husband? A saint is horrified! (6)

Down

1. Modern day immorality leads to counselling (6)
2. Sri Lankan capital’s combo travelled around lake circuit (7)
3. Fish boat from Turkey gets Awl Queen (7)
5. Removes ports (5)
6. Shopping centre raised one pack animal (5)
7. White stoat comes from the King Quarry (6)
8. Dynamic ace scheme re dairy food! (5,6)
14. Pair depicted in artwork (3)
16. Caught up in ephemeral sleep state (1,1,1)
17. One cold grebe reversed Titanic’s nemesis (7)
18. Cobain’s band in paradise (7)
19. Ridiculous zany rad bus (6)
20. About intercepting that warning .  .  . (6)
22. Motorsport driver’s ace in Rolls Royce (5)
23. The Spanish tangled neckwear is best (5)

Puzzle 15

Across

1. Wild python gets to first mesmerist (9)
8. Missed start of march to curved structure (4)
9. Contrary cat devours a litre of perfumed powder (4)
10. Following former partner in the Northern Territory (4)
12. Tests axe the wrong way on manuscript (5)
14. Copper alloy found right inside a fish (5)
16. Sounds like actor Grant’s colour (3)
17. Demented bag got on sledge (8)
20. Make mention of, either way (5)
21. Red American bird’s number (8)
22. Small rug has an impact, even (3)
23. Because it’s part of a disincentive (5)
25. Judge leaves the mysterious jungle to pounce! (5)
28. Ripped up accommodation fee (4)
30. Foul smell from stream primarily gone (4)
31. Tango victory for identical sibling (4)
32. Arduous tune sours badly (9)

Down

2. Unknown eastern Arabic twelve-month period (4)
3. Agitated prince loses his head, and becomes friendlier (5)
4. Light filament metal net stung dreadfully (8)
5. Soprano has ace times with instrument (3)
6. Drunken affair, without very loud operatic song (4)
7. Nuts Guevara takes on mad stunts (9)
11. Singer changed toner (5)
13. Confectionary loot cache is organised (9)
14. Live on King Ale (4)
15. Couches one note after another with soprano (5)
18. Denigrate till beet disintegrates (8)
19. Courageous pastime (4)
20. Flower that holds water (5)
24. Bedraggled cur of Greek island (5)
26. Sodium on the Italian pin (4)
27. Guys have uniform bill of fare (4)
29. Baby newt’s left leaderless (3)

Puzzle 16

Across

1. Doctor lets out roadside lodgings (6)
4. Anxious about fair ad arrangement (6)
7. Reduce 501 Minis next to hotel (8)
8. Oscar and wife residing in Tennessee’s settlement (4)
9. Stand over with a weaving device (4)
11. Give details of French secretary (8)
13. Roan bug dove, flailing, into some kind of swimming pool (5,6)
16. Messily open oats with kitchen utensil (8)
19. Poland to back secret plan (4)
22. Object in Counterfeit Emporium (4)
23. Pink bird’s burning with oxygen (8)
24. Fresh rare south-eastern rubber (6)
25. Sabotage one ark from Seoul (6)

Down

1. Male love of the Italian replica (5)
2. Met in lift at Post Office to get speed (5)
3. Welds in tangled fleece (7)
4. Unexpected chase results in dull pains (5)
5. King Victor left ravioli and garlic mayonnaise (5)
6. I abandoned the author of this book, she’s impenetrable! (5)
10. Earth’s satellite cut short cow’s noise (3)
12. Naughty part of Barbados! (3)
13. Heard about a raw mineral wonder (3)
14. A crank’s deplorable plunder (7)
15. Short referee is endlessly jumpy (3)
16. Fashionable, in ornate wet string (5)
17. Assembled near a stadium (5)
18. Provide a strong box missing its top (5)
20. Horseman’s spear is clean, surprisingly (5)
21. Short time on antler spike (5)

Puzzle 17

Across

1. Take heart! It’s mixed here, in a cup (5,2)
5. Ascot complex serves Mexican snacks (5)
8. Rinse poorly, get alarm bell! (5)
9. Lock bag unexpectedly, it causes a build-up of work (7)
10. Accomplice is sort of loyal, without love (4)
11. Queen’s Australian state (8)
13. Heaven’s editor cooked a light British meal (10,3)
16. Atrocious bloc leak can be secured! (8)
17. Threesome come from Thailand and Brazilian state (4)
20. Shuddering, eased in to black jellybean flavour (7)
21. Give nickname to first class Arabic emirate (5)
22. Requires dense novel (5)
23. Shouting and lying afresh around the Spanish (7)

Down

1. Stir at curds to make a milky dessert (7)
2. Sign up confused loner (5)
3. Chime from band (4)
4. Upset, duly chop alibi time off for everyone (6,7)
5. Unforthcoming cat ran back to island turn (8)
6. Criminal cult hiding bad rip (7)
7. Greek letter to tenor leaves stigma (5)
12. American runners from Alaska wearing cruel smiles (8)
14. A carbon copy dividing vine immunisation (7)
15. Cherishing marriage token following commotion (7)
16. Discover renal disturbance (5)
18. Jewish scholar’s bunny lost its tail (5)
19. Celebrity found among wildfowl, even! (4)

Puzzle 18

Across

3. Noticed the hand tool (3)
7. Maybe come around eleven to see Central American country (6)
8. Automate arrangement without Ma, to dine at a restaurant (3,3)
9. Doctor included in strange decree for a month (8)
10. Flower’s oily, left for nothing (4)
11. Part of indomitable Miss (4)
13. Blend of opposites is my fuel, strangely! (8)
15. Wrapping operation found in Version Eleven (8)
16. Whip up iced game cubes (4)
17. Impale the Saint Sailor (4)
18. Revolts at absence of gusts? (8)
20. Poke at bustling capital of Kansas (6)
21. The Italian fool’s lake (6)
22. Megastore contains helium, for example (3)

Down

1. Flexibly orientate mind’s will power (13)
2. Smooth portfolio (4)
3. Ornate brooms hide concerning hat from 7A (8)
4. Have on, leaving off first promise (4)
5. Awkward sly edits done in a mannered way (8)
6. Certificate in AquaFit Coil exercising (13)
12. Doctor trainee is among trees; shakes like a leaf (8)
14. Weirdly uses lint with gadgets (8)
18. Doctor has silver haul (4)
19. Spur on, even in outrigger (4)

Puzzle 19

Across

2. Strangely loves to find the solution (5)
7. Be servile to the baby deer (4)
8. Speak indistinctly to the mule harbouring a doctor (6)
9. Squished endless tropical stone fruit (7)
10. Drop off peels in return (5)
12. Morning drops among trade wind (3)
13. Account with curate is correct (8)
16. Military stronghold devastated the right forests (8)
17. Los Angeles daughter has a young man (3)
20. My reflection collected in her confused verse (5)
22. Garbled cue: pack small baked treat (7)
24. Surly among consul lenders (6)
25. Foul-smelling grade (4)
26. Unpleasant leaders left ancestral line (5)

Down

1. Example of maples in pieces (6)
2. Garden pest cruelly slain (5)
3. Loaned me cooked citrus drink (8)
4. Aussie bird’s lemur has no fringes (3)
5. Beseech little devil over legends (7)
6. Exhaled on the air, depressed (4)
11. Beg for soft heavy metal (5)
12. Delay the German grasping the iron (5)
14. Some cuts wrecked the fancy outfits (8)
15. Trip over scattered elm tubs (7)
18. Enquiring about lazing in the sun, topless (6)
19. Hair-raising vehicle in the Seychelles! (5)
21. Take a handful, drop the centre, and pull (4)
23. Tavern invested in domain name (3)

Puzzle 20

Across

1. Sodium got on crumpled pink serviette (6)
4. Spatter quietly, 50 wrapped in a cloth band (6)
9. Mined the wrong way to get fabric (5)
10. Tail Ian, tottering from Rome, perhaps? (7)
11. Someone hides for a very long time (3)
12. Cruelly reject incentive before noon (5)
13. Gad obtains little devices (7)
15. Broke in on bizarre Runt Pet ride (11)
21. Ship’s captain is one who hops about (7)
24. It’s typical for us to join University Alabama (5)
25. Repair, without heading to the finish (3)
26. Australia, Turkey, and Iowa join to form a republic (7)
27. Chow down! It’s boiled uranium paté! (3,2)
28. Elegant characters in double entendres system (6)
29. Strapping Romeo in home office (6)

Down

1. One who avoids clothes endlessly dusting all over the place (6)
2. Antarctic bird upending pie, excluding daughter (7)
3. 2,000 in turbulent Seine — it’s huge! (7)
5. Spent, acquiring length of chequered cloth (5)
6. Nimble American soldier got into the beer! (5)
7. Shaken up, the son is truthful (6)
8. Cruelly gibed ranger making edible housing material? (11)
14. Belly held in by alarming utensil (3)
16. What’s the point of the dump? (3)
17. Cautious prude went to the Northern Territory (7)
18. Queen got around busy quota line around the Earth (7)
19. Lively lads in the atoll (6)
20. Slapdash Papa in bungled ploys (6)
22. Explosive use is a problem (5)
23. Parish covers French city (5)

Puzzle 21

Across

1. Turns up distorted sepia film (9)
6. Give in to archery equipment (3)
8. Half note unaffected when played backwards (5)
9. Italian wine’s from a chitin mixture (7)
10. Manoeuvre the bullock (5)
11. Cracked tan gems make lodestones (7)
13. Primates concealed by tapestry (4)
15. Settle with monsieur instead of soprano, it shows fortitude (6)
16. Altered a licit sloping font (6)
19. Mark’s a scholar without heart (4)
21. Umbrella with ornate opals covering sun god (7)
24. Heavenly messenger removed edges of the tangelo (5)
25. Wildly moronic Greek letter (7)
26. Tenor with reckless rubbish (5)
28. It’s the night before, either way (3)
29. Fiery bond forged with sweetheart (9)

Down

1. Line up piece of raiment (3)
2. Quiet United Nations gentleman has a strong smell (7)
3. Loony liar mom’s unethical (7)
4. Frolicsome mice on wages (6)
5. Carol can consume whiskey, and sway (5)
6. Begin dreadful drinking bout (5)
7. Quaint and eccentric wish claim (9)
10. Busily share poem message with flags (9)
12. Continent that’s part of quasi-alliance (4)
14. Peru note is also Mexican currency (4)
17. Turkey performer has a farm vehicle (7)
18. Kind of gauge 50 good suitcases (7)
20. Emotionally dependent fish in Cyprus (6)
22. Sounds like beams are set upright (5)
23. Credit in bus, going north to the bush (5)
27. Concealed sample of orchid (3)

Puzzle 22

Across

1. Shows off British scraps (5)
4. Cocktail infests health (7)
8. Admonish careless errand imp (9)
9. Tear fast current (3)
10. Pithy trees regenerated (5)
11. Guarantee note set in prose (7)
13. Grabs hold of Greek snakes! (6)
15. Hot drink dispenser ate top stew (6)
17. Special bi dudes are close friends (7)
18. Shriek, losing head, to get dairy product (5)
20. Computer game includes a work unit (3)
22. Insanely trot to India’s historical convention (9)
23. Cause great suffering to scrappy cur’s ego (7)
24. Rival Zulu left transmuted enzyme (5)

Down

1. Bereft without France’s flat cap (5)
2. Demolished snared amp and sign (9)
3. Distilled wines for pigs (5)
4. Drink very quietly amidst mixed fare (6)
5. Pod at sea in story for a baby frog (7)
6. Make a mistake in part of Barrier Reef (3)
7. Somehow, a spinet is intelligent? (7)
12. Unpredictable epic miser is vague (9)
13. Inebriated, begs lot of wine glasses (7)
14. Suffering territory for artist (7)
16. Break free from El Salvador Cape (6)
18. The Italian found in Guevara’s country (5)
19. Primate lost kilo of banknotes (5)
21. Slime is endlessly wonderful! (3)

Puzzle 23

Across

1. Interrupt improper rust bid (7)
5. Charlie, I recalled set quotes (5)
8. Horrify a quiet friend (5)
9. Submerge upsetting memories, missing Oscar (7)
10. Decapitation murders lead to problems! (4)
11. Elastic clip kits for make-up (8)
13. Accidentally drench darling offspring’s offspring (13)
16. Elegant ecru flag flying (8)
17. Block the wooden shoe! (4)
20. Cooked up ma viper for Dracula, perhaps? (7)
21. Stressed verb form (5)
22. Cruel, corrupt money (5)
23. Gathered around retiring rani’s mosque tower (7)

Down

1. Doctor has a wing illustration (7)
2. Make watertight around Portugal’s flower part (5)
3. Hideous feature of smug lynx (4)
4. Submit mushier plastic home for the Rosetta Stone (7,6)
5. Hit mosaic with the French woman’s top (8)
6. Retire rambling with Rex, a small dog (7)
7. Second vegetable is smooth and glossy (5)
12. Dave hies out to get glue (8)
14. Unsteady main ace doesn’t have enough iron (7)
15. Disregard Charlie in gentle break up (7)
16. Grit scratched the right judge’s hammer (5)
18. Lutetium, nitrogen and argon from the moon (5)
19. British school held by skeletons! (4)

Puzzle 24

Across

3. Big cat lost his first charged particle (3)
7. Papa has disgust for speaker’s platform (6)
8. Steers clear of insanely sad Eve (6)
9. Perverse main son gets a stately home (7)
10. The French got into a car, it’s obvious (5)
11. Parent’s involved in propaganda drive (3)
12. Second-rate iron? Fire got out of hand! (8)
16. Rag cad in unravelled knitted top (8)
18. Spicy, even in throat! (3)
21. Begin street painting (5)
22. Mammal from Ireland involved in gaffe (7)
24. Undergarment sector is jittery (6)
25. Weird aliens’ salt solution (6)
26. Young horse dropped 50 for baby bed (3)

Down

1. Composition of cooked oats got around North America (6)
2. Dynamically ski OK to sales hut (5)
3. I’m being a model, it’s impressive! (8)
4. Sounds like was aware of novel (3)
5. Garment-makers’ gold invested in tails (7)
6. Italian ice cream got ale mixture (6)
11. Informal medico brought back cod (3)
13. Crushing fine nuts is most amusing (8)
14. Rodent’s regularly truant (3)
15. Present day frock’s location (7)
17. Public sale without uniform deed (6)
19. Upset with rotten finish (6)
20. Backwards elf gets around sailor’s moral tale (5)
23. Even in lettuce, and so on (3)

Puzzle 25

Across

1. Intricate piñata shows the lustre of age (6)
4. Creature from hectic Manila (6)
7. Cool road construction leads to American state (8)
8. Tropical tree’s lamp broke (4)
9. Pole and dune grain (4)
11. Cairo inhabitant cooked a tangy pie (8)
13. Cruelly foul up users’ surplus (11)
16. Grows smaller, sadly swindled (8)
19. Sound reflection in biotech office (4)
22. Leave with an unknown in a twisted tie (4)
23. Read aloud attendance to get gifts (8)
24. Grown-up mate got around old city (6)
25. Snoops about to get cutlery items! (6)

Down

1. Stows away cap back in Kansas (5)
2. Shaped tonal bird’s claw (5)
3. Non-professional Asian involved in trauma treatment (7)
4. Suffering in the past, over New York (5)
5. Aim to get back to Michigan, from Florida’s city (5)
6. Crushed melon fruit (5)
10. Sauce held by Oedipus (3)
12. Donkey and asps missing papa (3)
13. Noticed the hand tool (3)
14. Pays attention to intricate tinsels (7)
15. Unit came in first, from the sound of it (3)
16. Armed violent ambition (5)
17. Outer wrappings removed from edition, confused the halfwit! (5)
18. Break in concentration ruins leaps (5)
20. African river condo has golf for day (5)
21. Water hole foundation has nothing for British (5)