Colgan's Cryptic Crossword
Across
1. Taking control of the bucks, perhaps, during arrival (13)
8. Special factor in the sperm determined whether it’s a boy or a girl (5)
9. Deprived of head of lettuce, kill for similar vegetables (7)
10. Are boxers inferior to draftsmen? (12)
12. Spot at top of facial feature (6)
14. E. Blair disseminated publicly. Or with efficiency? (6)
16. Produced wine without one miss (12)
19. Tragic figure having false hope for back-pain (7)
20. Old Bernician fish (5)
21. Commercial operation reduced risks with performance measures (6,7)
Down
1. Muse about underpayment of ensembles (8)
2. To hamper rake’s progress on the road to peace (5,8)
3. It winds around electronic gate (5)
4. Dull and boring coverage for listener (6)
5. One providing means to wind up bankrupt (7)
6. Wrong reasoning from long directive (8,5)
7. Cut the emission of element #1 (4)
11. (8)
13. Chill down – very pale
(3-4)
15. African people are, to a large extent, on foreign land (6)
17. Lifts turf (5)
18. Prosperity for Pole (4)
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Solution
EXPLANATIONS (C = cryptic part of clue + S = straight part of clue;
or S + S = clue holding answer twice with two different straight meanings;
or POW = play on words.)
Note that joining words may or may not be an integral part of the clue.
Punctuation and capital letters are irrelevant.
The art of the setter is to make it non-obvious how and where to split the clue,
and to mislead the solver along an irrelevant path.
Across
1. C: bucks, perhaps (man, deer) during arrival (inside ‘coming’)
S: taking control of = commandeering
8 C: special factor (X) in the sperm (inside ‘seed’)
S: determined whether it’s a boy or a girl = sexed
9. C: kill (end lives) deprived of head of lettuce (remove ‘l’)
S: similar vegetables = endives
10. C: inferior to (under) draftsmen (drawers)
S: boxers = underdrawers
12. C: spot (eye) top (lid)
S: facial feature = eyelid
14. C: or (or) with efficiency (well)
S: E. Blair disseminated publicly = Orwell
16. C: produced wine (made moselle) without one (outside ‘I’)
S: miss = mademoiselle
19. C: false hope (anagram of ‘hope’) back-pain (‘ail’, backwards)
S: tragic figure = Ophelia
20. S: Old Bernician = Angle
S: fish = angle
21. C: commercial operation reduced (‘marketing’, minus ‘g’) risks (dices)
S: performance measures = market indices
Down
1. C: muse about (anagram of ‘muse’) underpayment (under ‘cost’)
S: ensembles = costumes
2. C: to hamper (mixed ‘metaphor’)
S: rake’s progress on the road to peace = mixed metaphor
3. S: it winds around = adder
S: electronic gate = adder
4. C: boring (dry) coverage for listener (around ‘ear’)
S: dull = dreary
5. C: wind up (end) bankrupt (ower)
S: one providing means = endower
6. C: from long directive (anagram of ‘long directive’)
S: wrong reasoning = inverted logic
7. C: emission of element #1 (gas H)
S: cut = gash
11. POW: clueless
13. C: chill (ice) down (blue)
S: very pale = ice-blue
15. C: to a large extent (so) on foreign land (Mali)
S: African people = Somali
17. C: lifts (draws up)
S: turf = sward
18. S: prosperity = boom
S: pole = boom