Unusual crossword in that it said “For ATS, remembering particularly those clued across without definition”
It turned out that every across answer was the first name of a person. I guess ATS refers to All The Saints, or perhaps All The Souls remembered at this time of year. This made it a much harder Quixote puzzle than usual for me at any rate, solving time, 52 mins with the lower half particularly difficult.
* = across < = reversed
ACROSS
5 JE ROME
7 COLUM(n) BA
9 DO MINI C
10 M(ON) ICA on = leg (cricket side)
11 LA (WREN)CE
14 S (tIME)ON
16 THO (MA)Se
19 DAMIAN M in naiad<
22 ANSEL M ‘ansel from Hansel and Gretel found a sweet ‘ouse
23 MATT HI(A)S
25 H ELENA (anele H)<
28 ALD (lad)* HELM
30 PA TRICK
31 UR SU (US)< LA
DOWN
1 FEUD “Few’d”
2 John LENNON NN in NOEL<
3 GLIMPSED (GP smiled)*
4 TALC Hidden &lit
6 OR MER
7 C (ACHE) T
8 MINIMUM Cryptic definition
12 AS HEN
13 ERA hidden in thE RAdio ERA = one “time”
15 OS A K A
17 MA (E WE) ST
18 SEMIARID (mire said)*
20 A NT
21 EM BARK
24 TEDIUM cf TE DEUM
25 HE ELS Part of golf club
27 EXPO Hidden
29 MILL Double definition
Thank you, faithful blogger. It was indeed for all the saints (who from their labour rest …). You can take Quixote out of the Church Times , but you can’t take … !