Weekend Quick Cryptic 78 - by Sawbill

Click here to read about the origin of this series of crosswords.

A brief history of the origins of these crosswords for those who are new to them. As a blogger of the Times Quick Cryptic Crossword on Times for The Times every other Friday, I often had comments on the blog bemoaning that The Times only provides a Quick Cryptic on Mondays to Fridays. When I finally gave up work at the end of February 2020, I decided that I would try my hand at compiling crosswords. It was with some trepidation that I published, in May 2020, the first of these Weekend Quick Cryptics to fill the gap. Well it seemed to go down well so I did another. And then my fellow crossword solver and commenter on Times for the Times, Phil Jordan, volunteered to produce some too. And then, more recently, so did Sawbill. So now the three of us take turns, publishing each new crossword via my Friday Quick Crossword blog. 

This time it is Sawbill's turn to provide the fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic crossword, Number 78 in the series.

You can try and solve the crossword interactively here on MyCrossword or here on crossword.info.  As usual you can download a PDF to print which you can find here. Alternatively you can copy and print the image below. Comments and queries are welcome with the solution post (which also gives tips on some of the clues).  I will react to any comments or queries there as soon as I can. You can find an index to the complete series of crosswords here.

LONDON MEETING.. We are having another London get together on Saturday 24th June from 11:30 at The George, Borough High Street, Southwark, Greater London, SE1 1NH. All are welcome. Your Weekend Quick Cryptic Compilers and several TfTT bloggers and regular commenters will be there. We are also expecting Mick Hodgkin, the Times Puzzles Editor, Richard Rogan, Times Crossword Editor and Pete Biddlecombe, Sundays Times Crossword Editor and founder of Times for The Times to drop in. The George no longer allows tables outside to be booked so some of us will arrive earlier at 11:30 to bag a couple of tables. There should be about 20 of us in total. Do come along if you can.

You can find some hints for the perplexed and the solution here, and an index to the complete series of crosswords here.