Six unclued lights, the sixth spelt in its original way, are members of a team proclaimed dramatically at a venue given by the remaining pair. The proclaimer and team leader appears diagonally in the completed grid and must be shaded. Elsewhere, ignore an accent.
Across
1 Minister and unknown independent in conflict (5)
9 Eyelid injured fixing jerk’s wheel (10, two words)
11 God cardinal had cheered (5)
14 Treacherous Scots not wearing blue (5)
15 Fine leapers must clear tops of houses (5)
16 Stick in this place east of Hoosier State (6)
21 Being from Iceland with mobile home? (8)
22 Skittish Catherine with large number of yen (7)
24 Aged Aberdonian lord is after gold (4)
28 Frugal fellow splits 30 bananas (7)
30 European sonatas composed to correspond in sound (8)
35 Drug taken by poorer messenger (6)
36 Continue to lay concrete (5)
37 It’s well worth having hound baron let go (5)
39 Groups of flapping touracos are lost (7)
40 American goosefoot’s no ordinary antipyretic (5)
41 Somite rather more unusual (10)
42 Where eggs could be sent when varying buffets (9, two words)
43 Female cat painter captured (5)
Down
2 French lawyer and female adviser buzz off (6)
3 Fish crossing river departs with plans (6)
4 Fisherman less loopy in conversation (6)
5 Pacific port apparently in Australia (4)
6 Ancient region badly windy northwards (7)
7 British earl snubbed a certain slummock (5)
8 Bond’s forte (getting hugged by birds) (8, two words)
10 Fake monarch was examined in Zambia (6)
13 A long poem Greek characters start to knock (7, two words)
15 Obliteration gunners guaranteed (6)
17 Play around, spiking water, producing intoxicant (6)
20 Stop about one in pub (6, two words)
23 Method of payment popular type has shunned (8, two words)
27 Aviation system Amerind runs in (7)
29 Ridge in English garden is topping (7)
31 Girders with 200 great faults (6, hyphened)
32 Active Kurd not wholly absorbed by knockout puzzle (6)
33 Lady cleric cut bread (6)
38 Pet’s sound trainer? (4)
A first prize of £30 for the first correct solution opened on 27 June. There are two runners-up prizes of £20. (UK solvers can choose to receive the latest edition of the Chambers dictionary instead of cash— ring the word ‘dictionary’.) Entries to: Crossword 2264, The Spectator, 22 Old Queen Street, London SW1H 9HP. Please allow six weeks for prize delivery.
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