SPECTATOR CROSSWORD No. 1116

ACROSS 27.

1. It walked in the steps of tragedy (6)

4. Current gain is fishy (8)

9. The weeping poet's cold con- dition (6)

10. Ancient characters a hundred alike (8) 12. 'In shape no bigger than an agate-stone On the forefinger of an -' (Shakespeare) (8)

13. Sound of bells in a higher court (6)

15. Expensive-sounding game (4)

16. The pursuit of a day-dreamer at night? (4-6)

19. High-flown sign of death in black and white (5, 5) 20. Abstain from beans? Not here! (4) 23. Cry of the green wood bird (6) 25. HMS Prometheus, perhaps? (8)

'To be nameless in worthy deeds exceeds an - history' (Thomas Browne) (8)

Pilgrim pace? (6) Hen dance made prettier (8) Author of phrase and fable (6) DOWN Legal lady dispensing good cheer (7) Flowery wish for a racing driver (9) Enclose between courses (6) Trade union with gold backing spells defeat (4)

An honest performance, as a critic might say (4, 4) She was petrified and wept (5) Interval for the convict after his stretch (4-3)

No, it's Jack back into the tower (7) A faithful wife, but bony! (4, 3)

11.

14. 17. A dish of a colleen! (5, 4) 18. Bike-rider in a blooming muddle (8) 19. Was this what they went from Aix to Ghent for? (3-4) 21. Ambitious steeple-jack, maybe? (7)

22. Go and make good (6) 24. The last of five (5) 26. Apollo's was strung with his hair, it is said (4)

Solution next week