| Across 1 Spooner’s incompetent yells: “They keep us in our places!” (9) 6 The site of an unforgettable engagement, though not quite fashionable (5) 9 Pick out odd letters from strange signature (3) 10 Groans came from here as Goth sang R.E.M. composition (11) 11 He had a plum job once, in more ways than one (6) 12 Steam whistles from duck pie simmering on ring (8) 14 Sound, unreserved currency (5) 16 Scientist shortly to obtain computers; always exploitative type (9) 18 Lairds puzzled; ask why horse is stuck in front of huge tree (9) 20 Head grower found amongst the hydrangeas (5) 22 First part of bunkum heartlessly frivolous, in a frail sort of way (8) 24 Virginia is unable to be as a lot may be (6) 27 A perennial, like “Old man river” ? (11) 28 Head away from this place before a certain time (3) 29 Deal with loose ends? That is occupying mate (3,2) 30 Begin to fish by seaside for a pair of joined shells (9) |
Down 1 A flapper causing a stir in faraway places? (9,6) 2 One last letter turned up after publication, leading to thin material (7) 3 Amazing image, nice with edges trimmed (5) 4 Appropriate funds, lose employment, escalate fraud (4) 5 Haggard woman qualified for Royal residence (5) 6 Showy swimmer spread his fan: rich girl dives in (9) 7 Shell donated by shipwrecked sailor? (7) 8 Like ragged trousers? (2,5,4,4) 13 Work guy with hands everywhere taking part at end of month (4) 15 Sweetener offered by company to sailors with hairpiece (4,5) 17 Airport featured in the Inspector Lynley mysteries (4) 19 Solve good puzzle to obtain metal plate (7) 21 Accurate lead projector from US agency looked back (7) 23 Diamond lady has type of power plant (5) 25 Vessel one should speak of? (5) 26 Poetic precursor to Christmas Eve is hit with marginal changes (4) |
Crosswords by Māyā of Auckland 
This one we found the hardest, and there are a couple we couldn’t conquer. A particularly deft bunch of clues in this, we thought – our favourites were 10 across, 11 across (heh heh), 18 across, 27 across,30 across, 7 down and 13 down. And after that we found we were in a tragic state of demayage. (Demayage, n. The massive sulkage consequent on running out of Maya crosswords and having to move on to those of lesser compilers.) So thank you for some extremely entertaining hours! We know we bang on about this repeatedly, but your crosswords are just so much more fun than anybody else’s.
LikeLike
Thank you and please feel free to bang on as much as you like 🙂
There is an “Answers” page (see the top of the blog) which now has solutions for the first 4 crosswords, should you wish to have a peek.
LikeLike