Cryptic across
1 Was Jesus called thus after a dodgy healing tale? (3,8)
8 In Nevada, east of 17Dn, small number meet the Pope (6,1)
9 Concerning the First Lady, it’s official (5)
10 Council of Rome, without hesitation, rejected the former S African contingent (5)
11 Don somehow escaped from an oddball long-haired tobacco importer (7)
12 Outlaw bringing into kibbutz a pet that’s following outside (13)
15 He forecast, after sounding, comfortable passage to Baltic port (7)
17 Perfume found local to Italian city… (5)
18 …Rhode Island Red’s made a comeback as a corollary (5)
19 One from Canaan needs a doctor to act (7)
20 Transepts to be scoured for Reformationists… (11)
Cryptic down
2 …Eric the Unorthodox, for example? (7)
3 Give the third degree to the stream’s top in German (5)
4 Prunella, Sid, Vi – combustible Northerners (13)
5 Mythical rock, one which adorns Hawaiian superior folk tales (7)
6 Being trapped in maze ridiculed, belittled, this Asian (5)
7 Take tube, not Circle, to Barnet to understand Matthew’s perfidious plot here (10)
8 Country singer Matt, for instance, is after a double figure split (10)
13 Detective’s tailing of Garbo is abandoned after a month in France (7)
14 Greek tense about Frenchman, being a lover of women (7)
16 Admiral’s contracted to overturn witch’s place (5)
17 In Athens, the place to buy Jag or Aston parts (5)
Quick across
1 One of Sennacherib’s two sons who would murder him (11)
8 Grandson of Esau (7)
9 Island in the Bay of Naples renowned for its beauty (5)
10 Sage and psalmist whose wisdom only Solomon surpassed (5)
11 Largest of the Balearic Islands (7)
12 Aldous Huxley’s vision of a future dystopian society (1932) (5,3,5)
15 Ancient country, part of modern Ukraine, whose natives are mentioned in Colossians (7)
17 Bishop of Caesarea, a saint and Doctor of the Church (329-379): name of a local Moscow saint (5)
18 Island in New York Bay, former USA immigration station (5)
19 By test tube; under glass (2,5)
20 Spongy, jelly-like sweet, originally from plant root, now from sugar, egg white, gelatin, etc (11)
Quick down
2 European currency replaced by the euro in 2002 (7)
3 Saint, died c 350, Egyptian hermit, a near-contemporary of St Antony (5)
4 Formal, perhaps outmoded, name for Islam (13)
5 Old-fashioned word for tetanus (7)
6 Pickled flower-bud: gambol (5)
7 Luigi ———-, Italian dramatist and novelist, Nobel Prize for Literature, 1934 (10)
8 In a gradual manner; one thing at a time (4,2,4)
13 Site of the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the World (7)
14 Rice-based Italian dish (7)
16 Crimean WWII conference site for Truman, Churchill and Stalin (1945) (5)
17 Oblique; cut at an angle (5)
Entries to Crossword 0624, The Catholic Herald, Herald House, Lamb’s Passage, Bunhill Row, London EC1Y 8TQ or email [email protected] (Answers in by December 27)
Cryptic answers to No 0623 Across: 1 Bellerophon, 8 Good Samaritan, 10 Piaui, 11 Rub-a-dub, 12 Ticket, 14 Fat cat, 16 Sea carp, 17 Seine, 19 In all creation, 20 All Souls’ Day. Down: 2 Evora, 3 Les Miserables, 4 Remark, 5 Part brass rags, 6 Octadic, 7 Agapetus II, 9 Nabataeans, 13 Chagall, 15 Aperçu, 18 Ibiza.
Quick answers to No 0623 Across: 1 Barack Obama, 8 Par excellence, 10 Ionia, 11 Dowager, 12 Goethe, 14 St Paul, 16 Octopus, 17 Extol, 19 Little Big Horn, 20 Sea elephant. Down: 2 Aaron, 3 Aix-la-Chapelle, 4 Kneads, 5 Below strength, 6 Managua, 7 Spring roll, 9 Errol Flynn, 1. Entitle, 15 Usable, 18 Thorn.
Winners (0622 Cryptic) Margaret MacMillan, Millport, Isle of Cumbrae; Fr A Dearman, Prestwich, Greater Manchester. Winners (0622 Quick) Ian Dawson, Chelmsford, Essex; PD Templeton, Manchester.
Areas of Catholic Herald business are still recovering post-pandemic.
However, we are reaching out to the Catholic community and readership, that has been so loyal to the Catholic Herald. Please join us on our 135 year mission by supporting us.
We are raising £250,000 to safeguard the Herald as a world-leading voice in Catholic journalism and teaching.
We have been a bold and influential voice in the church since 1888, standing up for traditional Catholic culture and values. Please consider donating.