The Spectator - October 29, 2016

LIFE

Across

1 Excel as old Greek

character among women

(11)

11 Cable runs past part of

bow (6)

13 Look in after settling

vagrant (7)

15 Firework is dead wicked (5)

16 No hesitation in game

giving derisive gesture (5)

17 Homer teacher’s badge of

honour (6)

18 Holding first note, see

about singing technique (5)

21 Cope, plain, fitted with

skirt-like sections (5)

22 Minor storylines credited to

important people bring in

pounds (7, hyphened)

27 As witch’s child, rustic’s

good for the ultimate in

sorcery (7, hyphened)

29 Sheepish address to

climber? (5)

30 Lent cases by engineers (6)

34 Such a band needs, say, a bit

of jazz backing (6)

36 Scots complain about year

making no friend (5)

37 Assembly phobics won’t

leave home for? (5)

38 Very defective green

pigment of the coloured

part of the eye (7)

39 Elegant physician’s

composition not first class

(6)

40 Uncle’s Vermeer oddly

missing (3)

41 Checkers soundly fasten

metal lugs (11)

Down

1 After business, show card

to church guide (10,

hyphened)

2 Vicious riposte about grand

self-inflating episodes

(8, hyphened)

3 Doormats replaced at

English sports venue (9)

4 Craftsman shows strength

without depth, taking

caulker’s tool (12,

hyphened)

5 Excuse to avoid court from

slave full of sauce (7)

6 Books on this, before

assistants cancel one

(8, hyphened)

7 One complacently

contemplated hail in

Holland (5)

8 Work stiff clay (4)

10 After-life state is nothing to

poet (5)

14 In storm, mooch about,

drained of all colour (12)

19 Wicked leftovers? (10,

hyphened)

23 Short ropes bring sap in

Indian tree up (8)

25 Repay churchman in time

(6)

26 Hospital item, small one

filling a tin (7)

28 A permanent impression in

English memory (6)

31 Consume long shoot in

midweek (5)

33 Ladies extremely sensible

to relax (5)

A first prize of £30 for the first

correct solution opened on 14

November. There are two

runners-up prizes of £20. (UK

solvers can choose to receive the

latest edition of the Chambers

dictionary instead of cash —

ring the word ‘dictionary’.)

Entries to: Crossword 2284,

The Spectator, 22 Old Queen

Street, London SW1H 9HP.

Please allow six weeks for prize

delivery.

Crossword

2284:

Shocking!

by Fieldfare

Spectre from a gruesome past,
You were first and now are last.
Now is now and then was then,
So please, don’t spit at nobler men.

Bliar, Bliar, thing of night,
Go to where the price is right.
Preach to others, not to me
Your gospel of depravity.
Merryn Williams

I’m one with the hopeless,
the plotless, the hapless,
the clueless, the viewless,
the low-key and sap-less.

I speak with the soft-voiced,
the muted, slow-thinking,
the muddled, deluded,
the seatless, the sinking.

I know there are bullied —
both beaten and whipped.
I wince when I hear of
their splits, the foul-lipped.

O Unity, blend us
together in bands
as brothers and sisters
and all holding hands.
D.A. Prince

I walked through dismal London streets
With Diane, hand in hand,
And sweetness filled our hearts, although
It was a Tory land.

For as we walked through Islington
We talked, as lovers do,
Of conference resolution
Composite 22.

Perhaps our love was too intense
And could not hope to last.
We parted. Much has happened since,
And toilsome years have passed.

Yet thinking of her now still brings
A stirring to my blood.
And that’s why I’ve promoted her
To shadow Amber Rudd.
George Simmers

If all the world was happy
And every pleasure free,
If rich and poor went arm in arm
I still would disagree.
If wars were all forgotten
And every kid could play,
If no one called a neighbour names
My tongue would holler ‘Nay!’
If kings went round in cotton
And beggars sported lace
I’d look around with careful eye
And see it as disgrace.
And though it may surprise you
To witness my success,
The reason for my rise to fame
Is never saying ‘yes’.
Frank McDonald

NO. 2974: I QUIT!

You are invited to submit a resignation let-
ter from God (150 words maximum). Please
email entries to [email protected] by
midday on 9 November.

12345678

91011 12

13 14 15

16

17 18 19

20 21

22 23 24

25 26 27 28

29 30 31

32 33 34

35 36

37 38

39

40 41

SOLUTION TO 2281: FAIL

Extra letters in clues form the phrase BITE THE DUST.

Thematically created entries at 10, 11, 19, 29 and 34 (in

which the types of dust are pother, pollen, stour, bort and

ash) are defined by 15, 30, 18, 39 and 9.

First prize Andrew Bell, Shrewsbury, Shropshire

Runners-up Brenda Widger, Bowdon, Cheshire;

John Honey, Brentford, Middlesex

Name

Address

Email

Unclued lights consist of a quo-

tation (in ODQ), its speaker

and source, and a synonym (one

hyphened) of each of its three

words. Its author appears in the

grid and must be shaded.