ATTENTION PUZZLERS! Sharpen your pencils and your wits! In next week’s issue, not two, not three, but five finalists for Nation puzzle master will vie for your vote to be the magazine’s next Frank W. Lewis.
ACROSS
1 It might be the story of a French bed takes time, when the true ending is uncertain. (10)
6 and 26 Is it fair to build up a picture of such a slightly incredulous opening? (4,7)
10 It probably isn’t good for you, but so be it, as you will! It’s on your head! (7)
11 A body of colleagues might be one. (7)
12 Raised loaf, by the sound of it. (4)
13 It seems the question of your fabrication has no end of polite acknowledgment. (3,2,3,2)
15 A basis for rumination about the main part, as a matter of course. (7)
16 Best, if less apparent, but chokes things off inside. (7)
17 Showing excellent shape about the point, meanwhile. (7)
20 Was he famous for shaping an underground political unit in one? (7)
22 Orwellian breeding place? (6,4)
23 Capital C (not the pica sort) representing mineral. (4)
25 An uncouth man, the slippery type, but still stylish. (7)
26 See 6
27 The opposite might be often done. (4)
28 One might set a course for your home. (10)
DOWN
1 If you glare at somebody, you might get one, as you may have read. (4,4,2,5)
2 The things here given to you and me helped the Argonauts. (7)
3 and 24 Not necessarily confined to Spanish plain song. (8)
4 You might find it sort of dry and hot with one in your larynx. (7)
5 Gives up again and goes back? (7)
7 It’s not even what the most jejune quality displays. (7)
8 What one hopes to hear after the
oil spill has been accounted for? (3,5,2,5)
9 Stage money? (It goes to show you what might happen next, as they say.) (9)
14 Reputedly heavenly products. (9)
18 Showing less than 10, but it might make the coat less heavy. (7)
19 Some people carry it as a sort of protection, like a silencer. (7)
20 Hearty type that makes jokes with the CIA organization? (7)
21 Would you find it in any circumstances after getting in? Nonsense! (7)
24 See 3
