CROSSWORD

843: Pen-friends by Doc

A first prize of 00 and two further prizes of £10 (or, for UK solvers, a copy of Chambers Dictionary, value £13.95 — ring the words 'Chambers Dictionary' above) for the first three correct solutions opened on 15 February. Entries to: Crossword 843, The Spectator, 56 Doughty Street, London WCIN 2LL.

1 2

3

4 5

6

718

9 10 11

12

13

r■

14

18

15 16

12:1

19

17

20

—1

21

Li i

,

23 25

26

24

27 28

2 .

30

31 34

37

• 32

33

35

36

D

38

40

I 41

The unclued hghts (four of two or more words) are of a kind One of their unchecked letters is accented. One other solution is a well-known foreign word not in Chambers.

Name Address Dictionary prizes are sent out by the 'Post-a-Book' service. ACROSS 1 Stronghold supporting lock (8) 14 Low-down female in a place of torment (7) 16 Epicure initially the reverse of crazy for food (4) 17 Difficulty about constant com- puter unit (5) 18 Wind one mentioned before around lake (6) 22 Out of eleven, ten testified these agreements (8) 23 New servant for hostelries (7) 24 Scottish bird painting in school (6) 25 Fetches boats about noon (6) 27 Nothing against sign for glands

(7)

29 Like the key fit for the family cupboard (8) 33 Ditches deserted before the wet season (6) 34 Very, very bad! (5) 35 It holds up a long skirt with buttons (4) 37 Port spilt in grate (7) 38 Old shaft's central cylinder (5) 39 Difficulty in speaking about Heath on Spain (12) 40 King wound round Norway (4) DOWN 1 Overdressed following bereave- ment at end of July (6) 2 Item of food in France obtained from outer bits of fondue (4) 3 Morsel in the same place, maybe, during race (6) 4 Stepwise arrangement of Helen and Co (7) 5 Pop-singer suggesting the beach (10, two words) 6 Father throws out strangers (7) 8 Smooth boats overturned (5) 9 New term 'Ekon' for device measuring dust in air (9) 10 Genus of plants one time in river (6) 13 Where I can see it, speaking personally (8, three words) 19 Expert on tumours, twisted col- ons and goitre, endlessly (10) 20 General appearance one's seen in new nest of owls (8) 26 Dispatch includes hint for allow- ance (7) 28 Star sentry (7) 29 Stable crackling (6) 30 Seasoned sailor and journalist (6) 31 Like bones from outsize bird (6) 32 It's a part of laughter (5)