A Tricky Friday Quick Cryptic

Times Quick Cryptic No 1819 by Mara

An enjoyable but tricky test from Mara today to end the week. Some lovely clues with no less than 6 ticks in my copy. Not easy in parts, though, and I suspect some less-experienced solvers may find it a bit tough. It also uses one of those unhelpful grids with the starts of the first 6 down clues all being "unchecked". I found the RHS trickier than the left, but there is nothing unfair, I think. How many of you remember the old coin at 4D? My last two in were 4D and 8A. COD (as it were) to the fish at 18A which took me a while to catch. In all it took me just under 6 1/2 minutes. Thank-you Mara. How did you all get on?

Fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic. This time it is Phil's turn to provide the extra weekend entertainment. You can find the latest crossword here and the answers here. There is one fun clue that is quite biffable, but can you parse it? Enjoy! And if anyone is interested in our previous offerings you can find an index to them here.

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