Pabulum

Dectet

issue 18 December 2021

Ten pairs of unclued lights give the names of people whose 89 was ‘50D/2A’ (six words in total). They include one 37, two singers, a prolific 34, a colourful writer, an outré TV star, an expert at ‘16/6/38’ (six words in total), a film producer, a mathematician who also watched ‘128/103/10’ (five words in total) and a 93A/79. Elsewhere, ignore two accents. Thirty-three special clues include a definition and a hidden letter mixture of the light.

 

Across

8 Trap ex-con swivelling musket (6)

17 Old region in isle one visits (5)

18 Mind minor rash (8)

19 Last of stingrays he-men rashly net (6)

20 Nail bad rogue (4)

21 Crane chewed shellfish (5)

23 One bosky wood (4)

24 Look round very fast (6)

27 Secure tenant’s flat (4)

28 Clementine’s home some know about (6)

29 Vulgar bloke swallows tablet (5)

30 Godless fellow mouths woman’s name (5)

31 Islands like Skye (4)

36 Some women talk of curtains of tissue (7)

41 Orange Laura and Morag peeled (6)

42 End of sonnet 46 in anthology (6)

45 Grand bar in music book (5)

46 Tense TV programme (3)

50 Vast quantity of earth bog absorbs (5)

52 Stunned chiefs start to tremble (5)

54 Proton in element London uni splits (7)

56 Refugee from vile regime? (6)

58 Honest fellow recorder (8)

59 Until now crowd backed riveting reformer (7, two words)

60 Head on beer (3)

64 Any gum tree (4)

65 Completely black whales may do this (5)

68 Force enlisting private made a choice (5)

70 Lax notation’s minus a note in bass part (8)

72 Maybe Nell painted seaquarium Arab neglected (8)

74 Osiris’s wife’s pentad...

Comments

Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.

Already a subscriber? Log in