Crosaire No 17118 by Crossheir – Saturday, November 23rd, 2019

Blog explanations available at 10pm on the day of publication

Across:

1 Prove hands are not dirty (CLEAR ONE’S NAME) in Takeaway (take away/remove = CLEAR) with singles (ONE’S) to handle (NAME) (CLEAR ONE’S NAME),

10 Pay tribute to (LIONISE) legionaries dropping gear (‘legionaries’ dropping ‘gear’ = lionies = LIONISE),

11 Lawyer (B-L) admits Rocky (= anagram indicator) Astor (Astor = -ORSTA-) (BORSTAL) has been asked by the judge to watch The Young Offenders (BORSTAL),

12 Reflected (= reversal indicator) in mirror images (in ‘mirroR IMAges’ = rima = AMIR) of Eastern potentate (AMIR),

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13 Tease (FLIRT) Irishmen (Irish for ‘men’ = fir = F-IR-) over losing the head (‘Losing’ the head = -L-) and starting trouble (starting ‘Trouble’  = -T) (FLIRT),

15 Titan from Tahitian’s (‘Titan’ from ‘Tahitians’ = ahis = SHIA) Islamic branch (SHIA),

17 Calvin Klein insider (‘calvIN Klein’ insider = INK) to put pen to paper (INK),

19 English (E-) beers (ales = A-LES), including golf (-G-) (EAGLES), welcomed by the swingers ,of course (EAGLES),

21 Is liable to stick up (BANDIT) for college (Dublin Institute of Technology = -DIT) bar (BAN-), from the start (= position indicator) (BANDIT),

22 Reached the verdict (DECIDED), act (deed = DE -ED) covers police department (-CID-) (DECIDED),

23 In retrospect (= reversal indicator), a fair amount of (half of) memo (half of ‘meMO’ = mo = -OM) covered by diplomacy (tact = tcat = T- CAT) (TOMCAT) relates to one of those on the prowl (TOMCAT),

25 Get on (get on = TONG-E) badly (= anagram indicator) around university (-U-) (TONGUE), in a manner of speaking (TONGUE),

27 Hillary is out of Caerphilly (‘Hillary’ is out of ‘Caerphilly’ = cep = CEP) for the mushroom sauce (CEP),

29 Nobleman (EARL) is not in Israel (‘is’ not in ‘Israel’ = rael = EARL),

30 Direct approach (CLEAR) by all sides today (CLEAR on all sides of today’s grid),

31 Almost (t) catch (‘net’ without ‘t’ = -NE-) in Kildare (KE = K-E) (KNEE) joint (KNEE),

34 It’s popular (IN-) on their (their = -HERIT) travels (= anagram indicator) (INHERIT) to be left something (INHERIT),

35 Family (KINFOLK) from Blood Brothers (KIN-) – the musical type (-FOLK music) (KINFOLK),

36 Removed obstacles (CLEARED THE WAY) to acquit (CLEAR-) writer (-ED) and those people (they = THE -Y) around Washington (WA-) (CLEARED THE WAY).

Down:

2 Directing the eyes (LOOKING) from gents (LOO-) out of The Palace (-KING) (LOOKING),

3 Hippy drug (ACID) turns up (= reversal indicator) in medication (in ‘meDICAtion’ = dica = ACID),

4 In the simple sense, eyes (‘simple eyes’ = OCELLI) old (O-) part of prison (-CELL-) island (-I) (OCELLI),

5 Take a look on the Titanic, for instance (EMBARK), for amber (amber = EMBAR-) fluid (= anagram indicator) found with potassium (-K) (EMBARK),

6 Extremes of north-eastern storm (extremes of ‘NOrth-eastern stoRM’ = NORM) is to be expected? (NORM),

7 Crazy (MA-D) about Trotsky – the first (‘Trotsky’ the first = -T-) revolutionary (-CHE-) (MATCHED) getting married? (MATCHED),

8 Grounded all aircraft (CLEARED THE AIR) as discussed, relieving the tension (CLEARED THE AIR),

9 It’s beyond doubt (CLEAR) most of them (most of ‘them’ = THE) employed by the dealer (DECKS of cards) (CLEAR THE DECKS) prepare for what’s coming (CLEAR THE DECKS),

14 Sought after (IN-) – six (-VI-) heads, two evil eyes (heads ‘Two Evil Eyes’ = -TEE) (INVITEE) and one welcomed by the host (INVITEE),

16 First drink (first ‘Drink’ = -D-) during dinner (ME-AL) (MEDAL) is given to Victor (MEDAL is given to victor/winner),

18 Aim to get off main road (‘aim’ to get off ‘main road’ = nroad = RADON) with dangerous gas (RADON),

20 Served up (= reversal indicator) sample of minute steak (sample of ‘minuTE Steak’ = tes = SET) in a type of menu (SET menu),

21 Risk (BET) backing (= reversal indicator) what’s in state bank (what’s in ‘staTE Bank’ = teb = BET),

24 Bog (MARSH-) area (-A) near central (central/middle of = ‘l’) Ireland (middle of ‘Ireland’ = -L) (MARSHAL) is rank (MARSHAL),

26 Takes travellers around Rialto (GONDOLA around the Rialto, Venice) on a gold (on a gold) train (= anagram indicator) (on a gold = GONDOLA),

27 Dress (CLOTHE) code for top (‘Code’ for top = C-) hotel? (hotel) Changeable! (= anagram indicator) (hotel = -LOTHE) (CLOTHE),

28 Something for the postman to deliver (PACKET) working for the post office overseas? (mail boat = PACKET boat),

32 Song (ARIA) from Avatar I appreciated  (from ‘avatAR I Appreciated’ = ARIA),

33 Notices it’s missing (‘notices’ ‘its’ missing/without ‘its’ = noce = ONCE) on a single occasion  (ONCE).