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Toughie No. 46 — 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. Ass making a rough noise with nothing on (5)
  2. Sip creamy cocktail to get the upper hand (9)
  3. Bend seen in Loch Ness (3)
  4. Snap polish for a result too close to call (5,6)
  5. Man of clay concealed by a Mongol emperor (5)
  6. Abduction of a young goat, dozing (10)
  7. Car seizure? A sore point, in part (4)
  8. Advantage stripped of promotion is a commanding position (7)
  9. Padres at sea with son produce magazine features (7)
  10. Where young are raised, prompt provision for old age (4,3)
  11. Lady of Verona, say, is soaring wildly (7)
  12. Crocodile cut short! (4)
  13. Cotton hues blended give the benchmark (10)
  14. Better half with son weds (5)
  15. Secret agent exposed in the limelight (6,5)
  16. Buried in kitbags used by tattooists! (3)
  17. Split among the more confident gives capitulation (9)
  18. Polish? Illegal bar to be shut out! (5)

Down

  1. Holiday flat? Just cover costs (5,4)
  2. Objects to papers slipped inside by people living there (9)
  3. Sadly no harp for an age in this children's home (9)
  4. Second pen gets the exclusive (5)
  5. Expert in mystical knowledge gives a forecast (9)
  6. Sin to live the wrong way round (4)
  7. Animation of a sort raised in a poem in Ankara (5)
  8. Cheer for a boor (5)
  9. Frog losing right in the murk (3)
  10. Bottle never spilt (5)
  11. Rapt, with dress gone to pieces (9)
  12. Greets Sir awkwardly and signs in (9)
  13. One game of polo with American soldiers, note, and say sorry (9)
  14. Adders, say, with family make material for smart shoes (9)
  15. Attic conversion left unspoken (5)
  16. Firm lettuce from islands in the Indian Ocean (5)
  17. Admit, er, the proprietor (5)
  18. Drink, reportedly, where the drive begins (3)
  19. Cleaner takes one in to preside (5)
  20. Set at liberty for nothing (4)

More: Toughie cryptic crosswords.

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