Crossword 5

PEBBLES and HUNTERS are the longest answers here, with SPLASH, SCENTS, COCOA and APART among the crossings. Thirty-six of the sixty-four answers are three letters, and forty-six black squares cut the grid into short runs: a puzzle of many small steps rather than a few big ones.

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Show the answer key
1T2A3R4S5P6Y7S8H9E10AGO11PIE12C13OCOA14PEB15BLES16APART17EAR18PENS19T20A21PES22SENSE23OWE24H25O26PES27WET28RAN29T30E31N32CENT33S34ORE35A36T37LAS38C39HEAT40PROS41PEA42ARISE43HUNT44E45R46S47POETS48OPT49BOA50END51GAS52BET

What is on this sheet

Grid
13 × 13
Clues
64
Black squares
46
Longest answer
7

Across

  1. 1. Black sticky stuff spread on roads
  2. 4. Somebody who gathers secrets for a country
  3. 7. That girl or woman
  4. 10. In the past, counting back from now
  5. 11. A dish baked with pastry over the top
  6. 12. A warm chocolate drink
  7. 14. Small smooth stones from a beach
  8. 16. Separated, with a space in between
  9. 17. What you hear with
  10. 18. Ballpoints and fountain ones
  11. 19. Long sticky strips off a roll
  12. 22. Good judgement of what to do
  13. 23. To have to pay somebody back
  14. 24. Wishes for good things to come
  15. 27. Covered or soaked with water
  16. 28. Moved fast on foot, yesterday
  17. 29. The number after nine
  18. 32. Small coins, a hundred to the dollar
  19. 34. Rock with metal hidden inside it
  20. 35. A book made of maps
  21. 38. To break the rules on purpose in order to win
  22. 40. Players who make a living from their sport
  23. 41. A small round green vegetable
  24. 42. To get up, or to come about unexpectedly
  25. 43. People who track animals in the wild
  26. 47. The people who write verse
  27. 48. To choose one thing over another
  28. 49. A snake that squeezes what it catches
  29. 50. The point where a thing stops
  30. 51. Fuel that burns with a blue flame
  31. 52. Money staked on the result of a race

Down

  1. 1. To knock lightly with a finger
  2. 2. How many years old somebody is
  3. 3. To take what belongs to somebody else
  4. 4. The sound of something landing in water
  5. 5. A walkway built out over the sea
  6. 6. The opposite of no
  7. 7. Looks over something quickly
  8. 8. A large animal you can ride
  9. 9. To take food into your mouth
  10. 12. Cloaks worn hanging from the shoulders
  11. 13. Not shut
  12. 15. A striped insect that makes honey
  13. 19. To pull a broken vehicle behind another
  14. 20. The feeling of wonder at something huge
  15. 21. An animal kept at home for company
  16. 22. Posted or dispatched, yesterday
  17. 25. Rocks mined for the metal inside them
  18. 26. A shallow metal dish for cooking
  19. 29. One of the five at the end of your foot
  20. 30. A long stretch of history with a name of its own
  21. 31. Knotted mesh for catching fish
  22. 32. Boxes for carrying your things when you travel
  23. 33. Pleasant smells
  24. 35. What you tie on to keep your clothes clean while cooking
  25. 36. Made an effort, yesterday
  26. 37. Not knowing which way to go
  27. 39. What you wear on your head
  28. 41. The stage between a caterpillar and a butterfly
  29. 42. A large primate with no tail
  30. 43. A pig, especially a large one
  31. 44. The tide on its way back out
  32. 45. Fish eggs
  33. 46. Rested on a chair, yesterday

About this puzzle

Thirteen by thirteen, with the black squares in rotational symmetry: turn the sheet upside down and the pattern is the same one. Every white square belongs to an across answer and to a down answer, so every letter can be worked out two ways — which is what separates a crossword from a grid with words dropped into it. The clues were all written by hand, one for each answer, and the filled grid prints on the second page.

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