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Shakespeare No. 2 — cryptic crossword

A themed (Shakespeare) toughie puzzle: 44 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. A backbencher, Marshall perhaps (3)
  2. Cobweb's colleague arranged Dream's duets (11)
  3. Dieter's enemy: one taken in by doctored oracle (7)
  4. Scrubbing a singer out (7)
  5. Snorted about rats, for instance (7)
  6. Program telling fibs when seeking a post (8)
  7. Rose oil in hot toddy (4)
  8. Anger keeping very quiet produces a small wave (6)
  9. Held dear, darling in Paris lost (9)
  10. So bird joins the Church (5)
  11. Ely's headgear, time stuck in mud (5)
  12. Neat tramp rehoused in a flat (9)
  13. Round up illegally — result fixed! (6)
  14. Old French coin and penny for bouillabaisse, perhaps (4)
  15. Learner with an odd gauge, Welsh for one (8)
  16. Tempts son to shuffle deuces (7)
  17. Puss, before the King, is a provider of food (7)
  18. Picture Enigma I cracked (7)
  19. Hostess who had her royal guest seen off (4,7)
  20. No votes for Bardolph's feature, by the sound of it (3)

Down

  1. Old-fashioned, sly spooks returning (7)
  2. Old college page for Hydra, maybe (5)
  3. Tipsy better halves, a fat knight's tormentors (5,5)
  4. Hard back (5)
  5. Top flier's daughter sailed through (4)
  6. Troubled Dane becomes head of chapter (4)
  7. Exit scene, redirected, becomes life (9)
  8. Blasted god, rising, has left (7)
  9. Salesman pockets a gain (4)
  10. Pinched fur (5)
  11. One gobbling raw Englishmen, primarily! (4)
  12. Indeed, a regular brainwave (4)
  13. Petty officer hides stolen chart still (10)
  14. Rudest ten reformed when committed (9)
  15. Cure a cad, we hear (4)
  16. Posh in wild claims for Kiss Me, Kate, say (7)
  17. Stirred puree for money in Mumbai (5)
  18. Santos legend seen in chapel entrance (4)
  19. Hippolyta's intended arguments about film (7)
  20. Genuine regret after time (4)
  21. Actors' speech is directed elsewhere, initially! (5)
  22. Of birds found in Belgravia nests (5)
  23. Play curtailed for a nip (4)
  24. Snapper caught mythical bird (4)

More: Shakespeare cryptic crosswords.

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