Crosaire No 17068 by Crossheir – Thursday, September 26th, 2019

Blog explanations available at 10pm on the day of publication

Across:

1 Held up (LIFTED) paper (Financial Times = -FT-) consumed by deception (lie = LI-E-) at department (-D) (LIFTED),

4 Picked out (ISOLATED) unfamiliar (= anagram indicator) details (details = IS-LATED) about Ring (-O-) (ISOLATED),

9 Pay (SALARY) for Express (express = SA-Y) covering link (-L-) to a (-A-) royal (-R-) (SALARY),

10 Turns up (= reversal indicator) sound (noise = -E-SION) catching resistance (-R-) from Virginia (VA = AV-) (AVERSION) in disgust (AVERSION),

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12 Trick (FOOL-) by Laurel’s partner (Laurel and -HARDY) (FOOLHARDY) is over-adventurous (FOOLHARDY),

13 Ran out of grenades (‘ran’ out of ‘grenades’ = gedes = EDGES) on the borders (EDGES),

14 Establishing the truth (CHECKING UP ON), as it’s said (= homophone indicator) Czech King (‘Czech king’ = ‘CHECKING’) is well informed (UP ON) (CHECKING UP ON),

18 Spot (WITNESS) on street (ST-) as well as (-AND) (WITNESS STAND) facing the bench in New York for Brief Encounter (US WITNESS STAND / witness box facing the bench/court for brief/lawyer encounter),

21 Cocktail (‘cocK’ tail = K-) is fine (fine) – possibly (= anagram indicator) (fine = -NIFE) (KNIFE) it will take the edge off (KNIFE),

22 Torment (PAIN-) from ringing sounds (-TINGS) (PAINTINGS) produced the scream and others (Edvard Munch’s The Scream and others = PAINTINGS),

24 Walked awkwardly (-WADDLED) after (= position indicator) temperature (T-) (TWADDLED) and spoke gibberish (TWADDLED),

25 Teenager dismissed by travel agencies (‘teenager’ dismissed by ‘travel agencies’ = avlcis = SLAVIC) is Polish (SLAVIC),

26 The job of the drug dealer (DISPENSE) to give out (DISPENSE),

27 For short periods (short SPELLS) they’re witnessed in Macbeth? (SPELLS).

Down:

1 Ditch (LOSE) celebrity (FACE) (LOSE FACE) or suffer humiliation (LOSE FACE),

2 Supported (FOLLOWED) revolutionary (= anagram indicator) Old Wolfe (Old Wolfe = FOLLOWED),

3 Where to find everyone (EARTH) with heart (heart = EARTH) problem (= anagram indicator),

5 Keep nose out of The Sun (SAVE YOUR SKIN) and do it out of self-preservation (SAVE YOUR SKIN),

6 An inclination to take (LARCENOUS) in Clare (Clare) travelling (= anagram indicator) (Clare = LARCE-) with common sense (-NOUS) (LARCENOUS),

7 Rachel comes out of cartwheeling (‘Rachel’ comes out of ‘cartwheeling’ = tweing = TWINGE) with sharp, sudden pain (TWINGE),

8 Is rather sweet during the break (DANISH pastry) describing Hamlet (DANISH),

11 Cries of relief (-PHEWS) after (= positional indicator) impressive (GRAND-) directions (directions North and East = NE-) (GRANDNEPHEWS) from young relatives (GRANDNEPHEWS),

15 On balance, critical point (KNIFE-EDGE) produced by 21 across (‘knife’ = KNIFE-) and most of 13 across (most of ‘edges’ = -EDGE) (KNIFE-EDGE),

16 Caviar (caviar) served (= anagram indicator) (caviar = CAR-IVA-) around mid-evening (mid ‘eveNing’ = -N-) is left (-L) (CARNIVAL) – is that fair? (CARNIVAL),

17 Unfamiliar (ODD) ship (S-S) going around pier (dock) starting off (d) (‘dock’ without ‘d’ = -OCK-) (ODD SOCKS) in low gear that can’t be matched (ODD SOCKS),

19 Put on The Blades (SKATED) for fish (SKATE-) dish starter (‘Dish’ starter = -D) (SKATED),

20 Upsets (= reversal indicator) Slav- (Slav = -VALS) -Irish (-I-) by writing (from the 3Rs = R-) (RIVALS) to competitors (RIVALS),

23 Head (T-IP) introduces university (University of Limerick = -UL-) (TULIP) to one of Lily’s family (TULIP).