Crosaire No 16701 by Crossheir – Saturday, July 21st, 2018

Blog explanations available at 10pm on the day of publication

Across:

1 Wasn’t informed (LEFT IN THE DARK) this was ditched in the wee hours (LEFT IN THE DARK),

10 Aggressively pushed (ELBOWED) one of the joints (ELBOW- joint), ecstasy (-E-) and primarily diazepam (primarily ‘diazepam’ = -D) (ELBOWED),

11 Tear the (tear the = THEATRE) dress (= anagram indicator) in the gate (The Gate THEATRE),

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12 It’s a turn of phrase (TERM) belonging to quartermaster (belonging to ‘quartermaster’ = TERM),

13 Panel (panel = NEPAL) beating (= anagram indicator) in the Himalayas (NEPAL),

15 It’s not right (LEFT) for all sides today (LEFT on all sides of today’s grid),

17 Go astray (SIN) with half of 23 across (half of ‘logs in’ = SIN),

19 Gets carried away by love (ELOPER) on the run to a secret get-a-way? (ELOPER),

21 Open bar (open ‘bar’ = B-) to begin with (first =1ST = -IST-) for most of (d) the staff (‘rod’ without ‘d’ = -RO) (BISTRO) in small restaurant (BISTRO),

22 Chanted (SANG-) tune (air = -RIA) back (= reversal indicator) (SANGRIA) to drunk in Madrid (SANGRIA),

23 Prepares to go surfing (LOGS IN) for records (LOGS) with type of crowd (IN crowd) (LOGS IN),

25 Initial test (DRY RUN) of type of wine (DRY wine) from Rush (RUN) (DRY RUN),

27 Tear strips off (RIP) Shaw leaving warship (‘Shaw’ leaving ‘warship’ = rip = RIP),

29 Found in Bluebell – a store (found in ‘Bluebell – a store’ = LAST) that’s the only one left (LAST),

30 Show reluctance (DEMUR) to express doubts (DEMUR),

31 Some characters develop useful (some characters ‘develop useful’ = OPUS) work by the artist (OPUS),

34 Look for one’s seat (run = N-UR-) back (= reversal indicator) around Spain (-E-) with figure (-ONE) (NEURONE) from nerve centre (NEURONE),

35 Down in the dumps (DOLEFUL) with jobseeker’s benefit (DOLE-) and bad (= anagram indicator) flu (flu = -FUL) (DOLEFUL),

36 Had no chance of winning from the start (LEFT AT THE POST) with what Labour stands for (LEFT) according to leaders (‘according to’ leaders = AT) from newspaper (THE POST) (LEFT AT THE POST).

Down:

2 Half of them (half of ‘them’ = EM-) from pub (-BAR-) run away? (-GO) (EMBARGO) It’s Prohibition! (EMBARGO),

3 Selling out of wellingtons (‘selling’ out of ‘wellingtons’ = wton = TOWN) in urban area (TOWN),

4 Digs in the ribs (NUDGES) with elbows (NUDGES),

5 Shrug off human rights (‘shrug’ off ‘human rights’ = hmanit = HITMAN) working for The Mob expected to hit targets (HITMAN),

6 Operated without rota (‘operated’ without ‘rota’ = peed = DEEP) – how profound is that? (DEEP),

7 Give ground (RETREAT) to design (= anagram indicator) tree art (tree art = RETREAT),

8 Didn’t get involved (LEFT WELL ALONE) at 9 o’clock (LEFT) with Spring (WELL) without help (ALONE) (LEFT WELL ALONE),

9 Abandoned (LEFT TO ONESELF) in solitary confinement (LEFT TO ONESELF),

14 Mouthy type (lip = PIL-) upsets (= reversal indicator) stern figure (-GRIM) (PILGRIM) on the Camino (PILGRIM),

16 It’s about (RE-) what’s not right (-SIN) (RESIN) in various plants and trees (RESIN),

18 ‘Astrodynamics Takes Off’ – Scotsman (‘astrodynamics’ takes off ‘Scotsman’ = ardyi = DIARY) and The Daily Record (DIARY),

20 Found in transit (found in ‘transit’ = RAN) in Dart in the past (‘dart/run’ in the past = RAN),

21 A lot missing from tabloid (‘a lot’ missing from ‘tabloid’ = bid = BID) – for example, what to do at auction (BID),

24 Get user (get user = GESTURE) off (= anagram indicator) with a wave of one’s hand (GESTURE),

26 Last letters (RIPs = RIP-S) about old (-O-) party (Fianna Fáil = -FF-) (RIP-OFFS) scams (RIP-OFFS),

27 Feel bitter about (RESENT) bank’s research department (banks ‘research department’ = RESENT),

28 Hard up (hard up = PURDAH) boss (= anagram indicator) produced mechanism for keeping women in one place behind The Curtain (PURDAH),

32 Put on (HOST) sample of gazpacho stock (sample of ‘gazpacho stock’ = HOST),

33 One of The Commotions (FLAP) turns up (= reversal indicator) with Bud (pal = -LAP) and loud music (forte = F-) (FLAP).