CROSSWORD

728: Not half simple by Jac

A first prize of £20 and two further prizes of £10 (or a copy of Chambers Dictionary, value £11.95 — ring the words 'Chambers Dictionary' above) will be awarded for the first three correct solutions opened on 21 October. Entries to: Crossword 728, The Spectator, 56 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LL.

1

I2

3

8 6

10 1

11

13

15 '

16

17

II—II

21

23

ss

27

29

h."'

31

32

34

36

37

4,

42

The six unnumbered clues (in which X stands for half of the alphabet) account for nine lights. One other light is of three words, one is of two and one is hyphened.

Name Address CLUES Get used to it backing one letter in X Town composed of X X's some help X's particle Take X for him Double the number in half our teenagers' X IA Sobriety upset Susie's best man? Nothing in that! (14) 1D In field, perhaps, is both third man and point (5) 2 About to voyage forth and scatter (5) 3 God's agent upholding a couple of elements (6) 4 Outside-left's bird, one fallen from grace (5) 5 More tasteful across? (7) 6 One diviner air about one or another (6) 7 Litter? A lie! (9) 9 A work-goddess? Foreign, that's plain! (11) 10 Bast's one of 34 for a theologian (10) 11 A lot of work, raising a king when a giant's around(6)

13 Refuse, say, en masse (7)

14 Country wear (6) 15 In Senegal it's spoken about as a dynast (8) 16 Having a head's maybe a help (once!) to us (11) 19 What point has she in France providing something to eat?

20 cut out Thecla's heart was

dismal (7) 21A An inhuman brute (7) 22 River that's poison in South America (7) 23 Individual introducing a speaker in a poem (7) 25 Was prepared for Spring (5) 26 People of Kerala assist turning up of daily record (7) 27 Back East, its container held a poisonous gas (7) 29 See 40 (6) 30 Plain Scots gold coin (7) 31 Possible bias in a medico once shut out (6) 32 Time long before tax (7) 33 Softly negative undergoing growth (5) 34 Rounds up, about to fish (5) 35 Birds' bosses (5) 36 Nickname in bankruptcy (5) 37 Scott's 35's turn to fish (5) 38 Epic, even, in 32 (6) 40 Trying a tea-blending group of 29 (10) 42 Being of Russian Orthodox origins, in various scenes this Otto! (14)

The solution to Crossword 725 is on page 52. Dictionary prizes are sent out by the 'Post-a-Book' service.