Choosing the date somewhat at random, I was surprised and pleased to find it was something of a rarity – a Church Times puzzle with a preamble… The preamble has been slightly adjusted
2 down, 29 across , 21 down had an anniversary close to the date of the puzzle (27 November 1998). Six of his many books (though not a more famous seventh) appear in this puzzle. The six italicised clues lead to answers which are one word of a title, but another word (or words) from that title must be entered in the grid. So if ROMEO were a clue answer, JULIET would be entered in the grid. But Shakespeare didn’t have an anniversary just then…
ACROSS
1 Fruit company acquired by dodgy Count (7)
5 Helps to catch very old ducks (6)
9 Some Italian boxer (3)
10 Long trip gave out around outskirts of Oswestry (11)
11 Creature laying eggs beside grass, on reflection (3-4)
12 Rear of men in charge? That’s where you’ll find royalty! (7)
13 Unexcited about argument originating with someone else? (8)
16 Continue at the rear (6)
18 Trickster, raving maniac, imprisoning US soldier (6)
19 What politicians want with the economy? It leaves one in the dark (5,3)
20 Optical scientist cut free optical device, making reflection (7)
22 Renounces one’s beliefs about Church’s first workers (7)
26 What could make Carey glum now – non-U female minister (11)
27 Hero’s unruly beast (3)
28 Position works of art with no end of trouble (6)
DOWN
1 Precious metal associated with fictional pirate (5)
3 Gentle touch from naked person around middle of night (5)
4 Prevented skin blemish appearing in the dermis initially (8)
5 Some latticework displayed in upper room (5)
6 Exaggerate position of an autocrat? (9)
7 End of third act (I said wrongly) is like surrealism (9)
8 Time flew by – month taken to build part of church (8)
13 Living? To live’s pleasant, when receiving sources of enough funds (8)
14 Mean salesman with grudge (9)
15 Time to follow hovering bats: between dusk and dawn (9)
17 It’s not odd, private secretary making a bid (2-6)
23 Study American state dance (5)
24 Uprising in Middle East country, ousting an old inventor (5)
25 Holy man certainly identifies obstacles to seeing clearly (5)
Solution
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
