Crossword solution

to 2384: bang!

1 December 2018 9:00 am

Unclued lights, individually or as a pair (38/9), are FIREWORKS.  First prize F. Whitehead, Harrogate, North YorksRunners-up I. Livingston, Wilmslow, Cheshire;…

to 2383: Flagged

24 November 2018 9:00 am

The unclued lights are presenters of BLUE PETER: individually at 39; pairs are 3/2, 7/22, 15A/15D, 15A/17, 25/14, and 32/31,…

to 2382: A pointed remark

17 November 2018 9:00 am

The quotation is 10/11/39. Remaining unclued lights are all daggers.  First prize G. Snailham, WindsorRunners-up Lynne Gilchrist, Willoughby, New South…

to 2381: Step changes

10 November 2018 9:00 am

The word ladder connecting UNITED and STATES goes: UNITES (1D), URITES (18), WRITES (7D), WHITES (34), WHILES (30A), WHALES (7A),…

to 2380: Dedover

3 November 2018 9:00 am

The unclued Across lights are US state capitals and the unclued Down ones are the states. The title refers to…

to 2379: Shocking

27 October 2018 9:00 am

The word is ‘pink’. Definitions of the eight headwords are: CARNATION (9), STAB (43), CHAFFINCH (22D), SMALL SAILING SHIP (41/1A/13),…

to 2378: Boundary

20 October 2018 9:00 am

LIMES (22), a term for a boundary of the ROMAN EMPIRE (7 30), is a DEFINITION (19) of five items…

to 2377: Service book

13 October 2018 9:00 am

The twelve unclued lights can be arranged into the sequence yielding phrases from ‘First’ to ‘Twelfth’. First 21, Second 24,…

to 2376: Somewhere XI

6 October 2018 9:00 am

On 15 September, Costa Rica, bordered by PANAMA (31) and NICARAGUA (5), and whose capital is SAN JOSÉ (40/10), celebrated…

to 2375: 2

29 September 2018 9:00 am

Unclued lights are MOONS OF (1A) SATURN (9), which are OTHERWORLDLY (2).  First prize Don Young, Shaw, OldhamRunners-up Samantha Pine,…

to 2374: Watch your step

22 September 2018 9:00 am

The unclued lights are DANCES. First prize K.J. Williams, Kings Worthy, Winchester. Runners-up Bridget Workman, Purley;C.S.G Elengorn, Enfield. Got something…

to 2373: Susurrus

15 September 2018 9:00 am

The theme was The Wind in the Willows (suggested by the title). RATTY defined 9, 13 and 22; MOLE defined 7,…

2372: Spot-on

8 September 2018 9:00 am

The key phrase is LIKE A TANSY (39). The scientific name of the tansy is TANACETUM VULGARE (4A 12); remaining…

to 2371: In a paddy

1 September 2018 9:00 am

The unclued lights and those clued without thematic definition (2, 11, 26, 33 and 42) are Irish forenames. Nuala Considine’s…

to 2370: Problem XII

25 August 2018 9:00 am

The numbers were linked to titles of classic works of FICTION (12): The Two DROVERS (26) (Walter Scott), The Three MUSKETEERS…

to 2369: Prodigious

18 August 2018 9:00 am

WUNDERKIND — given by corrections of misprints in clues — can be read as W UNDER KIND, indicating the unclued…

to 2368: Cobbled together

11 August 2018 9:00 am

The unclued lights (6, 20/9, 21, 23/31, 30D/13, 34/3 and 42/32) are characters in Coronation Street with its COBBLED streets.  First…

to 2367: When pigs fly

4 August 2018 9:00 am

The quotation ‘NEVER (1A), NEVER (35), NEVER (41), NEVER (7), NEVER (32)!’ is from King Lear (V.iii.310). Lear was the…

to 2366: The square

28 July 2018 9:00 am

THE RUSSIA HOUSE, TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY and A MURDER OF QUALITY are novels by JOHN (41) LE CARRÉ, whose…

to 2365: Beds

21 July 2018 9:00 am

GARDEN (at 46 Across) reveals the theme. Paired solutions are ‘gardens’ in ‘countries’; 8/10, 32/1D, 33/28+29, 12/36, 37/34, 38/2, and…

to 2364: Frolicsome Threesome

14 July 2018 9:00 am

WEIN (2D) suggests 21, 35 and 37 (German wines); WEIB suggests 10, 25 and 42 (Germanic female names); GESANG suggests 14,…

to 2363: Case ending

7 July 2018 9:00 am

In Henry VI part II, Dick says to Cade: ‘The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers’, thus…

to 2362: MEN OF NOTE IV

30 June 2018 9:00 am

The unclued lights are COMPOSERS whose surnames begin with the letter D.  First prize E.C. Hynard, GuernseyRunners-up Geran Jones, London…

to 2361: Snoot

23 June 2018 9:00 am

The unclued lights are anagrams of the names of Scottish towns. Dalry (12), Dundee (14)), Brechin (27), Kelso (1D),  Peterhead…

to 2360: Diplomatic

16 June 2018 9:00 am

THE AMBASSADORS (1D) by HANS HOLBEIN (15 16) includes, as a MEMENTO MORI (17 27), an ANAMORPHIC (11) depiction of…