Ten unclued lights (including four pairs) are of a kind. Ignore two hyphens and an apostrophe. What could have induced this puzzle will appear diagonally in the completed grid and must be shaded.

Across

1 Eminent composer gives great cellist inspiration (7)

9 Sin doesn’t start somewhere in church (4)

12 Piece of lead turned grey (5)

13 Stop kid meeting adult (4)

14 Deficient nosegay wounded Joan (6)

16 Men in river fish (5)

17 Fir going west robbed of sun by coloured tree (5)

21 Swank acquires hill where planes are displayed (7)

22 Roving actor Matt retired I see (7)

25 Sporting XI adore openers (7)

27 Legendary poet’s abridged alternative passage (5)

30 Dad done wrong and forfeited chattel (7)

34 Guardsmen binning an awful blotter (7)

37 Behold Yankee returning with a woman (7)

40 Trees from Oz housing larks’ nests initially (5)

41 Lush capsized with singular growls (5)

42 Toltecs shunning line dancing and eightsomes (6)

43 Surrealist tree (4)

44 Tenor drove through tunnel (5)

46 Tree with two branches pruned (4)

47 I and you and us (3)

49 Arabian woodcutter gives girl cake (7, two words)

Down

2 Keenest rookie’s enthusiasm (5)

3 Rector in endless discussion about old overcoat (6)

4 Love a shabby house made of wood (5)

5 Rice dish mostly eaten up in state (7)

6 Bank one leaps over (7)

7 Rude hut competed with cold house (6)

8 Seedy wag shuffling crabwise (8)

10 Snapper soup Twist prepared (6)

15 Jack at fault here and there (5)

19 Most valuable skirt Tom shortened (7)

23 Scholar after bed for sacred lotus (5)

28 Philosophical saint over in Cuba (5)

29 Dye a gossip mentioned aloud (7)

31 Good news from guy in Moray? (7)

32 Actress Deborah reared first-rate plants (6)

33 Middle of gum inflamed amounts to gingivitis (6)

35 Inn barred naughty Ukrainian monkey (6)

36 Sextet of metro’s train platforms (6)

38 Alpha bitch upset OK city (5)

39 Big weasel Asian nearly chased (5)

A first prize of £30 for the first correct solution opened on 31 May. There are two runners-up prizes of £20. Please scan or photograph entries and email them (including the crossword number in the subject field) to crosswords@spectator.co.uk – the dictionary prize is not available. We will accept postal entries again at some point.

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