Crossword 550

A prize of ten pounds will be awarded for the first correct solution opened on 13 April. Entries to: Crossword 550, The Spectator, 56 Doughty Street, London WCIN 2LL.

MI

11 la 1

•

Ma° 9 4 5 6 10 ll 11 12 13 14 ■ 16

iiiill

18 19 21 illiiii

WEN

25 23

■

13 26 27 611 •

III

31 32 • rnliLl1111111 Wm II

iiii

34 35

■

37

The unelued I ghts (one hyphened) comprise four pairings whose Common link-word must be named by solvers.

Name

Address ACROSS 1 It suited plain fools to offer humdrum opinions (13) 8 Foreign character from a pit in rebellious North (7) 10 Dull tardy goose (7) 11 Young Scotties swigging fifty mashes? (5) 13 Furnishing with plates — Arabic style of pottery (6) 15 Catch, about Hobbes's third in the field that was (5) 16 Heat atomic plant (4) 19 A pipit in name only, but not quite, about acceptable, class- wise (7) 20 Cut out resonance in speech and UN vote (7) 23 Tasso's ruined porticos (5)

24 Opening of Youth Club? The op- posite — as this might signify? (5)

26 Brute's back, and its rump, pro- vide layers of bone (7) 29 Quaint tale holds this Latin moral (7) 30 Porn wandering into swinging flower shops (7) 34 A back support (4)

36 Sally's piqued about Italian, re- jected (6)

37 Bond has a flair for concealirig a cipher (5)

38 Train as engineering mechanic (7)

39 Complaint from gyte's severe Head (7) DOWN 1 Clean out a feature of por- nographic press (5) 3 A slayer scalped, to make it worse (5) 4 Lacking confidence and former interest around .North (6) 5 Sea-snails rise with net, entangl- ed (7) 6 Slightly servile Liberal gets in (6) 9 Ancient language with modern form — either way it's the same (10) 10 Yank's made out: with enter- prise, profit's risen (6) 17 Vessels, containers crammed with spice blend (10) 18 Duck in pool completely exposed (8, two words) 21 Wild goat around palm played excitedly (7) 25 Bowl out one good man, a loser at Bosworth? (7) 27 A new bairn shows essential feature of gum (6) 28 Rings left in place (6) 29 With ex-PM in charge, it's like paradise (6) 31 Unskilled workman beginning to produce a part (5) 32 Ayr's sluggish cluttered sewer (5) 33 Plant from Isle gather in by one on Skye (5)