CROSSWORD 983: Crackers by Mass

A first prize of £20 and two further prizes of £10 (or, for UK solvers, a copy of Chambers English Dictionary — ring the word Dictionary') for the first three correct solutions opened on 19 November. Entries to: Crossword 983, The Spectator, 56 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LL.

1 1____ I

9 - ici

...■_

11 ,

12 i 13 to

17

18

20

Fr 1 u

19

23

E 25

c

26 -

27 28 29

30 1

31

7

-

35

9

i_f, ,

38

1....

---E 40 1 42

Each clue comprises a definition and the hidden letters of the light consecutively jumbled. Each jumble includes one extra letter, and these 35 extra letters in clue order spell out a five-word phrase clarifying the unclued lights (two of them of two words each).

Name Address ACROSS 9 Steep tax, top level (4) 11 Outward signs of stress? Then relax (9) 16 Bait for maigre or grayling (5) 20 Price a valuable genus of pearl • oysters (7) 21 In sleeve a record shows (7) 24 Grass, clover, of pasture-lands

(7)

25 To destroy refuse is reasonable

(5)

26 Animal grubbing in wood (5) 28 Intolerable coachman's barrier (7, hyphened) 31 Sea-birds from S. West, cormor- ants (7) 34 Senior service — no tanks (7) 37 Sea-trout grilse up rivers in Wales (5) 38 Play Rook, third rank (5) 39 Gross, strident blusters (6) 40 Eject from boat suddenly (4) 41 Trim quality of guest's manner, sartorially (9) 42 Spirit (hard) — usquebaugh (4) DOWN 2 Undermine early cunnin (5) 3 Manages vermouth, gin (6) 4 Pass a tent, rambling 5, two words) 5 Starts one valet as domestic em- ployee (7) 6 Naive clues, lacking in vitality

(7)

7 Warning made samurai look out 8 Removed hair from head — pile, a thatch (8) 10 Gunpowder Plot? Ten planted explosive for firing (10) 13 Inflated a eulogy, to flatter (7) 15 Speeded? A car let rip (8) 23 Anagram, appropriate form of word-play (8) 27 Metals are, I am told, eminent conductors (7) 29 Won — i.e., utterly surpassed 30 canty, Mrs Crippen (6) 32 Charge batteries in hour (6) 33 Early sun struck gnomon (6) 35 Twig overhanging greenlet (5) 36 Complete formal toast (5)