COVENT GARDEN CONUNDRUMS

Puzzle expert John Foley gets the juices flowing

BONUS POINTS: Solve the clues (many of the answers appear in this issue), then unscramble the shaded letters for the location of Nell Gwynne Tavern (4,5,3)

ACROSS
1. Royal performance at Drury Lane (7)
5. Former ‘hospital’ or mayhem (6)
8. Grenadier’s headgear, traditionally (8)
9. Stone fruits – green, purple, black (6)
10. Lillie, Edward VII’s actress paramour (7)
13. Patriotic composer Thomas ____ (4)
14. Rousing national songs (7)
15. Mow this less for biodiversity (4)
16. Once Ecuadorian now handmade by Laird (6)
18. Champion pollinator (3)
19. Former duke, later William IV (8)
20. Less formal than dinner? (5)
22. Secreted by honey kind (7)
23. Platinum celebrates 70 (5)

DOWN
1. Longest reigning UK royal after ER (8)
2. Something to pull from a hat (6)
3. Tooth or cup covering (6)
4. Affirmative? (3)
5. Female personification in work by 13 (9)
6. Archaic term for ‘serious’ theatre (10)
7. Charles II’s nickname (5,7)
11. Unwelcome picnic visitor (4)
12. Shaftesbury Avenue has five (8)
17. Old style hive (4)
18. Second royal box installed after _____ (5)
19. Hansom vehicle (3)
21. Mongrel dog or contemptible man (3)

Puzzle answers
Across: 1. variety; 5. Bedlam; 8. bearskin; 9. olives; 10. Langtry; 13. Arne; 14. anthems; 15. lawn; 16. Panama; 18. bee; 19. Clarence; 20. lunch; 22. beeswax; 23. years

Down: 1. Victoria; 2. rabbit; 3. enamel; 4. yes; 5. Britannia; 6. legitimate; 7. merry monarch; 11. wasp; 12. theatres; 17. skep; 18. Billy; 19. cab; 21. cur