Each week Crossword Classic dips into the Nation archive for a vintage brain-twisting, British-style cryptic crossword puzzles. Puzzler-in-residence Frank W. Lewis has produced these weekly gems for more than sixty years.
And Frank is still going strong. His puzzles now appear biweekly in the print edition of The Nation. These are available to subscribers only.
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This week’s Crossword Classic , free to all online, was Frank’s first, published in the issue for October 18, 1947 . We hope you enjoy these early crosswords, which vary slightly in format from our current offerings: solutions are written, rather than displayed on a grid. And for instant gratification, the “Click Here for Solutions” link at right reveals the answers to the current week’s Crossword Classic . The solutions can also be hidden.
Sharpen your wits and your pencil, hit the “Print” button, and enjoy the puzzle!
ACROSS
1 34, for example. (7)
5 It isn’t geese who are disturbed by such perils. (7)
9 Do clothes have that hurried look when so tailored ? (7)
10 To leave a cigar with this should give it a rakish look. (7)
11 Decline to do so. (3)
13 Get back in gear. (6)
15 Come naturally to sound like a kind of haircut. (6)
16 Put us in prison when we are possessive. (7)
17 Fizzes, as do all such drinks. (4)
19 It’s sometimes fine to find a seaman without 21 down. (4)
20 There’s a measure of badinage to this bird. (9)
21 Split peas. (4)
23 It’s out of date you are, as a hillbilly might put it. (4)
26 Not hard to get a lick in when getting fed. (7)
28 See 26 down.
29 Sort of dose with a kind of shot in it. (6)
30 Detractors never do. (3)
32 Profession of hotel pages ? (7)
33 Riots to get a meal in Italy. (7)
34 Disturbed, but still angered. (7)
35 Mickey Roow’s diary? (4, 3)
DOWN
1 Am above father’s French, but powerful. (7)
2 Gad! Even this is when you get it! (7)
3 Citrus mixture. (6)
4 Finished the cheese up. (4)
5 Dull poet, in a way. (4)
6 There’s a slight difference here. (6)
7 Blimey, is ‘e the last nag? (7)
8 A sort of bun found in 19 across. (7)
12 Was the Goldilocks villain so featured? (9)
14 Why you can’t do it? Eat, perhaps. (7)
15 Let them be gone, as I suffer them. (7)
16 Even the king sometimes yields to this. (3)
19 Is such a young maiden short? (3)
21 1 across is double-headed by such. (7)
22 No one holds this sacred. (7)
24 A piece is spoken about, in a roundabout way! (7)
25 One criticism of drawn-out conclusions? (7)
25 and 28 across Gear in the air? (6, 6)
27 The fat comes up about a broken bone in back. (6)
30 Not a new conclusion for 34 to come to. (4)
31 Back yard. (4)
