The clues in this crossword are cryptic. If you wish to work on the interactive version or download a pdf., you must click on this link which will take you to the Crossword Compiler website.

Seven unclued lights have something in common.

Across

    1  Unclued light (4)

    3  Unclued light (8)

    8  Dish of composer with middle of taties for seconds (9)

  10  Regularly urge on to go fast once (3)

  11  Unclued light (5)

  12  Unclued light (6)

  14  Bullfighter nonsense in women’s trousers (8,5)

  17  Unclued light (6)

  19  Stock farm with no recipe for Chili pepper (5)

  22  Unit and grade essentially (3)

  23  Unclued light (9)

  25  Roots lie abnormally in hormone (8)

  26  Unclued light (4)

Down

    1  Furiously I object; a supporter of Scottish kings! (8)

    2  Spirit or US hearsay (5)

    4  African form of pop music’s warped air (3)

    5  Element right in the middle of a gift (5)

    6  In Scotland not ploughed up twisted run vine (7)

    7  French glove producing Scots yawn (4)

    9  Conclusion – a type of fatty acid (5)

  12  Superficial appearance of a deceptive explanation (5)

  13     Determined in the past, I lassoed inappropriately (8)

  15  Mangled burs had a rodlike sponge spicule (7)

  16  Vegetable and Chinese fruit (5)

  18  Owner initially changed machine for removing bristles from barley (5)

  20  Old peasant endlessly produced short surplice (5)

  21  Pasta in chorizo but not Chinese or Italian (4)

  24  In Italy one popular game (3)

Here is last week’s solution:

If you wish to work on the interactive version, click on this LINK that will take you to the Crossword Compiler website.

Across

7  A man who has sex with and is supported by a woman (6)

8  An informal term for a youth or man (6)

9  This month in short (4)

10  Pontianac, a substitute for gutta-percha (8)

11  A piece of soft absorbent paper used as a disposable handkerchief (7)

13  The conventions that embody the fundamental values of a group (5)

15  A constellation on the equator to the east of Taurus; contains Betelgeuse and Rigel (5)

16 Fundamental principles or practices (7)

18  Rock that is collapsing or unstable (3-5)

19  The piece of land on which something is located (4)

21  Ill once (6)

22  A heavy creamy-coloured paper resembling parchment (6)

Down

1  Scots iron (4)

2  A tray for passing a decanter round the table (6-7)

3  Starched with rice or millet gruel (7)

4  Pulse (5)

5  Unmoved by feeling (13)

6  A dissident in France (8)

12  Strips of bacon used as trimmings (8)

14 Trondheim’s river (7)

17  Everything that exists anywhere (5)

 20 A journey or route all the way around a particular place or area (4)

Here is last week’s solution (unclued lights were novels by Jane Austen and the Author herself):

I have been a Kate Atkinson fan since her very first novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum, and found her Jackson Brodie ‘crime novels’ intriguing and different. I thought they were going to be a trilogy, so it was a surprise to find this new Jackson Brodie novel, all 494 pages of it, featured in the bookshop.

Jackson Brodie is back in his native Yorkshire, behaving like a tourist and recalling those wives and partners of the past that we have already encountered. He rescues a dog that is being maltreated. Meanwhile, in a parallel incident, Tracy Waterhouse, a retired police detective who is working in security in the Leeds Merrion Centre, ‘rescues’ a maltreated child, Courtney, by ‘buying’ her from a skinny prostitute, Kelly Cross.

We are led through a clutter of memories – of the Yorkshire ripper, of disappearing children, of a murdered prostitute and of an inexplicable adoption where no papers or records surface – so that for the readers, the central issue is as clouded as it is for Jackson Brodie, until the resolution of the mystery ties together the threads and we understand, for instance, why we have been entering the mind of senile Tilly, who, with us, witnessed the incident in the shopping centre.

This is a novel to take with you when you have a long journey to fill.

Ten unclued lights (one of two words) form a group (two single words, two of two words and two of three words with one word doing double duty). The eleventh unclued light was responsible for the others.

Across

    1  Unclued light (10)

    7  Unclued light (3)

    9  A religious leader keeping old company and clipping the ends of words (7)

  11  British (English) deli mixed substance that can be eaten (6)

  12  Unclued light (5)

  13  Teenager transformed into turncoat (8)

  14  Swan feather (3)

  15  Unclued light (9)

  17  Unclued light (11)

  21  In the past grievous US tractor magnate (5)

  23  One kid’s tattered soft leather (7)

  26  Unclued light (9,4)

  28  I have been told it’s European spaces (7, 2 words)

  29  Shelter first class hog rat (5)

  31  A deacon gets quite different collections of short tales (11)

  34  Shells unfortunately fluster us (9)

  38  Put back notes (3)

  39  Unusual combat op in recruit training centre (8, 2 words)

  40  Exclamation of surprise – a myth put another way (5, 2 words)

  41  Sufficiently English name of unknown German husband (6)

  42  Meat dish lab returned in time (7)

  43  Mythical Himalayan creature with tail chopped besides (3)

  44  Unclued light (10)

Down

    1  Seized and took a casual sleep (6)

    2  Poet’s rumble in guts of gastro intestines (4)

    3  Fantastic hero – one who does the weeding (4)

    4  After personal assistant returns, brief research (5)

    5  Charge nurse wrapping knee (4)

    6  One girl converted into star (5)

    7  Nomogram carried back in a US shopping bag (4)

    8  Active, abounding with offspring, beginning with daughter rather than son (5)

  10  Warm up in advance a one time favourite, holding her back (7)

  15  Essentially bluish grey (5)

  16  No longer used, lost heart and stopped working (4)

  17  Unclued light (5)

  18  Mid month before the end of August, that is (5, 2 words)

  19  American fellow lines cotton seed (4)

  20  One task creating tie-died fabrics (5)

  22  See! I’m inside a large car (4)

  24  Special areas of land in Orkney, not right old marshy spots (5)

  25  One island alder, running wild, belonging to a family of plants (7)

  27  US law officers fostered sleaze primarily (4)

  30  Unclued light (6)

  31  Unclued light (5)

  32  Manner of fashioning regular quips for US joker (5, hyphen)

  33  At most in Italy, confusion of Pauli or Paul I (5, 2 words)

  35  Support foundation (4)

  36  Goat-like animal, a backward rodent possessing head of a hamster (4)

  37  Unclued light (4)

  38  Asian from Haiti endlessly in confusion (4)

Here is last week’s solution:

Nick was working in Moscow when he was ‘picked up’ by the enigmatic Masha and her ‘sister’/'cousin’ Katya. He is seduced by Masha and believes himself to be in love with her as she shares the Russia of nightclubs, restaurants and dachas with him. He is a lawyer and willingly assists Masha and Katya in their plans to help their ‘aunt’, Tatiana Vladimirovna, to sell her relatively comfortable Moscow apartment and move out to a new flat in Butovo. Nick even invests his savings in the plans.

From the beginning of the story, we, the readers, are suspicious of the situation, especially as the story begins with one of Moscow’s ‘snowdrops’ appearing when the spring snows melt – ‘that’s what the Russians call them – the bodies that float up into the light in the thaw -’

A.D.Miller’s book is a psychological thriller. There is a villain in Nick’s legal transactions at work, too. We are told on almost every page about Russian corruption, that everyone is involved in using forged documents and taking a financial cut from any transaction. The Cossack convinces Nick and his colleague, Paolo, that the oil they are investing is real, but we, the readers again suspect from the start that this is a shady situation.

A.D.Miller’s Snowdrops is packed with Russain flavour, – we feel that we are with the rather naive and honest Nick as he loses his innocence. We anticipate the final pages of this novel, ‘longlisted for the Man Bookeer Prize 2011, with dread.

Here is the first General knowledge crossword of the year. Unclued lights contain an exhortation and a greeting. If you prefer to work on the interactive version, click on this LINK.

Across

1  A laundry service in which only basic washing is done (7)

5  Any of many long-legged birds that walk in water in search of food (5)

8  Place in a grave or tomb (5) 

9  Demure (7)

13  In a disobedient or naughty way (13)

15  A double pronged piece of metal used to hold women’s hair in place (7)

16  Scandinavian punch made of claret and aquavit with spices and raisins and orange peel and sugar (5)

17  A home-made firework – a cone of damp gunpowder (5)

Down

1  A thorny stem or twig (5)

2  To start making an effort (3,2,4,4)

3  Derived by logic, without observed facts (1,6)

4  The lowest string of the lyre or its tone (6)

5  To be oppressive or burdensome (5)

6  A sales outlet offering goods at a reduced price (8,5)

7  Present a settlement for a second time (2-5)

10  Place to buy intoxicating drink (3,4)

11  Slang for a jail (7)

12  Steeple hat with a veil hanging from it worn by French women in the 15c (6)

14  A German huntsman (5)

Here is last week’s solution:

Ignazio Silone was an exile in Switzerland when Bread and Wine first appeared in print in a German version. He completed this work and his classic Fontamara in exile, from which he only returned in 1944.

The novel is a deeply moving revelation of the way the fascist state dominated the minds of its people and brutally suppressed opposition. Pietro Spina has returned from self-imposed exile and, masquerading as a priest, aims to help the peasants resist the evil regime. Silone, with Orwell and Camus, was regarded as one of the great political writers of the period.

I loved this novel when I first read it, years ago – not because of its underlying political message but because of the gripping story, the wonderful Italian colour (when, for example, the young donkey is being christened ‘Garibaldi’, and is beaten until it recognises its name) and the flashes of humour and gentle love stories that underly the harsh political satire.

Silone was a superb writer and one can but wonder what he would have produced had he lived in a different and more liberal society.

Here is a cryptic crossword, the last of the year. If you wish to work on the interactive version or download a pdf, click on this LINK that will take you to the Crossword Compiler website.

Across

 1  Space age introducing new measurement of series of characters (6)

4  Boast in Australia of a Scottish spree (5)

8  Unhappily see agonising development of blood vesssels in a tumor (12)

9  Proclaim reformed zealot so pi (10)

12  Child’s young fish dropping tail for good (5)

14  Member of lowest Japanese class returned worried (3)

15  Plant professing to be religious (3)

17  Neo-creationist holding sheath (5)

20  Later compact disc echo brought back figure of speech (10)

21  Flag fastener redeployed in group assigned to assist in planning military policy (7,5)

22  Heavens! English getting into winter sports equipment! (5)

23  Old confused tales relating to skeleton (6)

Down

 1  Exceptionally I lease oil palms (6)

2  Cargo boat bringing back bit of cloth and weapon (6)

3  Google in charge strangely of the science relating to the structure of the Earth’s crust (8)

5  Char kelp differently in dumplings served in soup (8)

6  Turn in time to pass pleasantly including sound of snoring (7)

7  Incorrectly enter annual income (5)

10  Steak – Eastern special, consumed by the sailor man (5,3)

11  Absurd to Scots, accepting unknown ear swellings (8)

13  Peculiar keypads, place where customer checks out (7 hyphen)

16  Increase then cut down antelope (5)

18  Tell about deceased (6)

19  Cunning contrived fault with a bit of reason incorporated (6)

Here is last week’s solution:

General Knowledge again this week. If you prefer to work on the interactive version, click on this LINK that will take you to the Crossword Compiler website.

Across

    1  Remove by erasing or crossing out or as if by drawing a line (7)

    5  Money or property brought by a woman to her husband at marriage (5)

    8  Little helpers (6,7)

    9  Unit of length of thread or yarn (3)

  10  Annual festival (9)

  12  The central area in a building; open to the sky (6)

  13  Pants for casual wear (6)

  15  Acknowledgments or expressions of good will (9)

  16  Continuous portion of a circle (3)

  18  Warship intended for combat (4,2,3,4)

  20  Irish poet and playwright whose plays are based on rural Irish life (1871-1909) (5)

  21  Chooses not to consume (7)

Down

    1  An upright tripod for displaying something (5)

    2  Burlesque ironical buffoonery as a cover for serious satire (13)

    3  Worthless in the US (2-7)

    4  Put up with something or somebody unpleasant (6)

    5  Long linear polymer found in the nucleus of a cell and formed from nucleotides and shaped like a double helix (3)

    6  The modern form of quantum theory; an extension of quantum mechanics based on Schrödinger’s equation (4,9)

    7  Eludes, especially in a baffling way (7)

  11  Protective coverings over or beside a wheel to protect the upper part of a vehicle from mud (9)

  12  Armour plates that protect the chest; the front parts of a cuirass (7)

  14  Of or relating to two people who are married to each other (6)

  17  Any of various plants of the family Cruciferae with edible leaves that have a pungent taste (5)

  19  Used of a single unit or thing; not two or more (3)

Here is last week’s solution, bringing you Christmas Greetings from GenevaLunch:

Most of us are probably familiar with Desmond Morris‘s The Naked Ape and The Human Zoo as well as some of his ‘Watching‘ series. It was a friend who was enjoying his Christmas Watching who told me of its existence. I was able to obtain my Amazon copy through a supplier for 1p (plus the postage, of course, but I do wonder about the economics of that service!).

Like Scrooge, I am tempted to say ‘Bah, humbug’ about many of the aspects of Christmas – the endless eating and drinking, the shrieking plastic toys and the blatant commercialism of the whole thing. Desmond Morris was, therefore, a very refreshing read.

His book is composed of very short chapters (53 of them) that answer questions all prefaced with ‘Why’. Most of us are aware that many of the Christmas customs are related to pagan rites and celebrations that originally had nothing to do with the birth of Christ. Morris gives the background of these (mince pies, the yule log, the tree etc.) in easily digestible format.

Some of the facts are surprising. Who would have guessed that the red Santa Claus outfit was introduced by the Coca Cola company as late as 1933! There are intriguing anecdotes too, like the explanation of the stockings children hang up.

This is an entertaining read for the Christmas skeptic!