Scottish synonyms and chance currency in the pick of the best of the broadsheets’ cryptic clues
Chancy timing, as they say north of the border, for Crucible this week. On the same day that Nicola Sturgeon declared a “cast-iron mandate” for an independence referendum, his puzzle was published, with a wealth of Caledonian topical material, including ...
5d Scotstrick one of their own, holding a light (10)
[ synonym for ‘trick’ + Scottish name (‘one of their own’), both surrounding (‘holding’) A (‘a’) + abbrev. for a kind of light ]
[ CON + IAN, both surrounding A + LED ]
16ac Euphemistic drama, terribly hot physical test (3,8,4)
[ anagram of HOT PHYSICAL TEST ]
12ac Bank of Scotland over in New York, which is handy (6)
[ Scottish word for ‘bank’, reversed (‘over’) and inside abbrev. for ‘New York’ ]
[ BRAE, reversed inside NY ]
10ac Focus of Detective Frost? (5)
[ middle letter (‘focus’) of DETECTIVE + synonym for ‘frost’ ]
[ C + RIME ]