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Toughie No. 35 — cryptic crossword

A 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. Last character lurking in wholesome gambling (5)
  2. Nut in a stew “A cad I am, Ma!” (9)
  3. Frog jumps right out of the mist (3)
  4. Stand-in from Amsterdam, say, is all gibberish (6,5)
  5. Lion in the north-east is money in Freetown (5)
  6. Normal ante shuffled — purely decorative (10)
  7. Flower one knight brought back (4)
  8. Marine troubled by an ace coin (7)
  9. Deb Rose, in a state, grew serious (7)
  10. About to work out with determination (7)
  11. Quandary over the detective’s proposition (7)
  12. What both the model and the examiner do (4)
  13. Bar pianist, jamming, is backed by both sides (10)
  14. Steer crashing into the pines, say (5)
  15. Rachel, irate, lets rip to dispel the tension (5,3,3)
  16. Independent, Nationalist, Socialist leaders — those in power (3)
  17. Cooked bad second, then ran off (9)
  18. Novice signs for the golf course (5)

Down

  1. Below par, and a shade indelicate (3,6)
  2. Wangles a serene gin cocktail (9)
  3. Gut-related mayhem in mad Albion (9)
  4. Grieve at daybreak, we hear (5)
  5. Went to pieces when pass expired (9)
  6. Commando doctor keeps a bird that's long gone (4)
  7. Old boy's mum at the heart of climate research (5)
  8. Pains one to chase around (5)
  9. Slippery type raised in shelter (3)
  10. United, having lost the day, come together (5)
  11. Prized Cheshire, developed with daughter (9)
  12. Involving both sides, two make a sideways pass (9)
  13. Concerning a task: time off for good behaviour (9)
  14. Doctor's verdict when aiding SOS in a panic (9)
  15. Work of an age — Carmen, say (5)
  16. Dad’s tea for an Ottoman grandee (5)
  17. Ship taking the police back stops the flow (5)
  18. Backing English turf, primarily! (3)
  19. Give conflict a place in the commercial (5)
  20. Therefore the monster’s turned up (4)

More: Toughie cryptic crosswords.

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