Sunday Times Prize Crossword 4429 Sunday April 17th 2011

[7thStranger]

Stuck on quite a few this week and some I need confirming. Please.

Across
9) Colour question divides both sides in America? Possibly AQUA

11) Red-blooded hack off after six? _i___E

28) Almost noon, not late? _E____

29) USA Struggles to capture leader of terrorists - price paid is steep? Possibly SATURATE

DOWN
3) Middle East national upset in a short time? O____

15) Stars suffer after what sounds like a scrape? Possibly GREAT BEAR

24) Queen almost up for a Republic? Possibly NIGER

26) Reserved parking no longer used by Xerox? C__

Thanks for any help.

[ubasses]

28 nearly

[ubasses]

26b copy

It would help if you gave exact number of letters

[Lie-in King]

9a Aqua - qu(estion) (divides) A(meric)a
11a Virile - VI (Roman 6) + 'rile' (hack off)


Hi 7thStranger - may I ask that you include the number of letters & use a '?' to indicate missing ones - it makes it much easier to read! :-)

[ubasses]

2 omani

[Lie-in King]

24d Yes, 'Niger' - 'Regin(a)' (up)

[Lie-in King]

15d Great Bear looks ok - 'bear' (after) "grate"

[Lie-in King]

Sorry, missed 29a - 'Saturate' (steep) looks ok - t(errorists) (in) anag USA + 'rate' (price)

[remuera]

11a virile

26d coy

[7thStranger]

Thanks for the help. Sorry about not including letter count and will use question marks in future. Good tip. Cheers again.

[sorta]

Across: 9: Yes-qu in AmericA; 11 virile ( hack in sense of harass (rile));28- nearly; 29 yes- 'steep' in sense of submerge. Down: 3 Omani; 15 yes- 'Great' = 'Grate.'; 24- yes - read up it's almost Regina; 26 - coy - copy with no 'p'. SORTA

[FirstUsedBooks]

11A virile, but does hack off mean rile, or could it be a typo for tick off? Another clue (forgot the number) was "Some betting races are ill-conceived." Races? Better would be "games" or "places" or "turns" or "shops".