JUMBO CROSSWORD

It's Christmas! by Dumpynose

A firstprize of £120, three prizes of £30 and six further prizes of Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (Cassell, £20, paperback The £14.99) will be awarded for the first correct solutions opened on 13 January. first four prizewinners will also each receive a bottle of Graham's Late Bottled Vintage 1990 Port. Entries to: Christmas Crossword, The Spectator, 56 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LL.

ACROSS 3 Guts accepting 'ot poisons (12) 11 Leather bag for sis, not a merry treat (8) 16 Sail for port (5) 17 Hard case posed riddles (8) 19 NT's mucky Shaw English nun scotched (8) 23 Very good original cocktail (4) 24 Gun misses third good unit (6) 25 Columba's quality; Mass's sound skilful head (13) 26 `Dear Ed' meandering letter bores? (9) 30 Huge ox for gourmet (7) 31 Purity's core in Doe's style (5) 34 Lone TT ladies run rum for governors (15, two words) 35 Knowledge of note in backing tune (6) 36 Pine and yen for sweetie (5) 41 Drug for sale? Put foot down (7, two words) 44 Sandpiper nabs fish amid marine plants (10) 46 Oil source in female salmon met locally (8, hyphened) 47 Less done in stranger (5) 49 Downed neat gin as stimulant (7) 50 After rhenium that's pure (7) 53 City aggravated acne (4) 58 Garments game gossip has (6) 60 Dash from Iceland (4) 62 Rodent swimming R. Thames (7) 69 Cupboards one shifts in US arsenals (8) 70 Disagrees about pies cooked in stingy places? (10) 72 In rushes, note floral parts (7) 81 Tips of Dutch trees (6) 82 Thrusting, smooth protector (15, hyphened) 84 Girl returned valuable item (5) 86 Crime did seem heinous (7) 88 I quickly bounced back after half semester of study (9) 90 Ordered these as secret trial devices (13) 92 Broadcast on tumulus (6) 93 Giles almost moulded clay (4) 94 Snuffbox Annie lost for ages and ages (9) 95 Fungi attack remitted having damaged elm (8) 96 It's gone ten — heard pips go before (8) 98 Resonance of nuns holding note for Rector (8) 99 Basely renegade abandoned the city (12)

DOWN 1

Shiny silver dished meal (6) 2 Braving lout with thump (8) 5 Boots wasn't rising type (8) 6 Stretching therapy unaltered (7) 7 Fish and fly rear hybrids (8) 9 Took crust from Leeds cad's pie

(8)

12 Natural killer least active in chains (7) 13 Poet's on the throne emulating

bard's mercy (7) 15 Scheme to locate sulphate (9) 18 Island High School inspires drive

(4)

80/64 (two words) and 65/89 are associated with 4. Further unclued lights (one of two words) include two quintets suggested by two other unclued lights: one of these two lights would sooner 27 in a 57 than 10 (two words) to it; the other is anything but 20, 71 or 77. Each of the same two lights, when combined with 4, is associated with another unclued light (one of seven words, one of four). Ignore an accent. Have a 48A/87.

Name Address 22 Blunt PM awaits win (4) 28 In bend I punt provokingly (9) 29 Grinders murmur square

harmonies (10) 32 Basket-maker/sock 'andler? (5) 37 Has revamped Carmen no room

for recitative? (5) 38 Proposes anew (bride's shaky) (6) 40 Shy bear in boggy copse (4) 42 Dad's plain heartless (4) 45 Study for Harry is a game in

busy GCSE year (10) 48 Each in turn split marble (9) 51 Harvest attractive women

cropped (6) 54 Training, namely lifting, for

these? (4) 56 Arm with baby tank (7) 59 Melody contains tenor entries

(5)

61 Out of wind, 50 per cent of ath- letes selected ... (4) 63 ... fell in vitality (4) 67 Peach for tea (5) 68 Scores off dazed tourists a

thousand and one for one (9) 72 Set aside grilse in pen (8) 73 Dons stick around, scratching

(8) 74 Wardens from Egypt probing

fishy types (8, two words) 75 Madder triumphed, dogging up

brushwood (8) 76 Cloth suit alien emir dons (8) 78 NY gnat treks sadly round Erie's edges (7) 79 Wavy high note not in hand (7) 81 Two rivers hinder chevrotain (7) 83 Transport Saint directed? (4) 85 Coin English tax absorbs (6) 91 They love violet-blue (4)