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Natural World No. 1 — cryptic crossword

A themed (Natural World) toughie puzzle: 38 clues on a 15×15 grid. Solve it online — check your answers as you go, ask for a hint, and read how each clue works once it is solved.

Across

  1. Hunting, reportedly, up a wrecked main st — insect with hands together (7,6)
  2. China smashed, making a series of links (5)
  3. Urns tumbled, one inside — ancient remains (5)
  4. Bar nothing overdue — that is sweet (9)
  5. Leaders of industry now support those in office (3)
  6. Ethan, in a state, becomes a Scottish lord (5)
  7. Ice miners, adrift, look back (9)
  8. Minor star upset, giving a deluge (9)
  9. Small cross, turned round, gives ways in (5)
  10. Choir voices: salt at sea, with love inside (5)
  11. Cleanest arrangement, with time in, for grasping limbs (9)
  12. Soldier's horse is of the first importance (9)
  13. Sap-rich tree gets ample changes (5)
  14. Own, in Scotland, a bit of Spain (3)
  15. Tribal ire, out of control, makes one tetchy (9)
  16. Snare, cunningly set, brings in the money (5)
  17. Strike when mites are scattered (5)
  18. Shampoo merits redesign for a complete change (13)

Down

  1. Asia's quiet, brought up for Indian small change (5)
  2. Japanese cash concealed in spring water (3)
  3. Swears wildly about new solutions (7)
  4. A fashionable dog to bring upon oneself (5)
  5. Wedding attendants: stable hands and blokes (9)
  6. Idolised, taking in knight, and richly decorated (7)
  7. Warty hopper's perch! (9)
  8. Went to law about ecstasy, getting soft leather (5)
  9. Erratic development, with one in, produces the standards (8)
  10. Invader's hour? Come again? (4)
  11. Explain how new fits in a prettier version (9)
  12. Exceed — unfeeling, and caught in the outer ring (9)
  13. Uses pens clumsily — that shows tension (8)
  14. Wild stomp, my sign of distress (7)
  15. One smiles falsely, and without purpose (7)
  16. Glass that shows its true colours (5)
  17. Cogs; what the new law needs (5)
  18. Pairs get lost here! (5)
  19. Fire-starter, losing its head, is fluff (4)
  20. Friend of Marcel found in the family (3)

More: Natural World cryptic crosswords.

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