Easier than Wednesday's Juno puzzle, I thought (I generally only do these quick cryptics if I'm blogging them); no exotic GK needed except for a town in Nottinghamshire.
| Across | |
| 1 | CHOW - Double def; breed of dog, and slang word for food. |
| 4 | OFFSHORE - OFF (rotten), SHORE (sounds like 'SURE', = firm); def. operating abroad. |
| 8 | MAINLINE - MAINE (US State) with L (lake) IN (popular) inserted; def. situated on a major route. |
| 9 | LATE - L (50) ATE (had meal); def. long delayed. |
| 10 | STRIKE - S (small) TRIKE (three-wheeler); def. collide with. |
| 11 | SEESAW - SEES (watches) A, W (wife); def. yo-yo. A loose definition, but I guess acceptable as a verb meaning oscillate? |
| 12 | TONGUE TWISTER - TONGUE (point of land), TWISTER (tornado); def. it's hard to say. |
| 16 | BEETLE - BEET (crop plant), LE (French 'the'); def. insect. |
| 17 | SWEDEN - S(candinavia), WE, DEN (study); def. country. |
| 19 | FACE - F(emale), ACE (expert); def. confront. |
| 20 | ABATTOIR - A BAT (a racket), RIOT reversed; def. where animals are slaughtered. |
| 21 | WORKSHOP - WORKSOP (town in Notts) with H (held initially) inserted; def. intensive course. Worksop (pop. approx. 45,000) existed before 1066, and was referred to as Werchesope in the Domesday Book. |
| 22 | REEL - Sounds like REAL (authentic); Scottish dance. |
| Down | |
| 2 | HEART - HEAR (listen to), T(rombone); def. organ. |
| 3 | WINNING STREAK - Double definition? |
| 4 | OPINE - Def. express a point of view, hidden in sh(OP IN E)dinburgh. |
| 5 | FRETSAW - FRET (fog, as in sea fret), SAW (spotted); def. cutter. |
| 6 | HELTER-SKELTER - Another double definition. |
| 7 | RAT RACE - RA (artist), TRACE (suspicion); def. fiercely competitive struggle. |
| 10 | SET - Another double definition. |
| 13 | OREGANO - (O ORANGE)*; def. seasoning; for the anagram O = duck. |
| 14 | EYEWASH - E(lm), YEW, ASH (two other types of tree); def. rot. |
| 15 | RUN - RUN(G) = step (of ladder), short; def. ladder, as in a stocking. |
| 17 | SWAMP - SWAP (exchange), with M (millions) inserted; def. inundate. |
| 18 | ELITE - E(nglish), LITE (as in Miller Lite, Coors Lite); def. best. |