F M C CHRISTMAS CROSSWORD

ACROSS
  1 Diverting chimes upset church worship celebrating Christmas (8,7)
  8 Very special birth almost vital in retrospect - it follows in the outskirts of Newbury (8)
  9 Ethereal beings sang unusually about the beginnings of extraordinary life (6)
11 Teetotal soiree organised - one's gone with flower-shaped badge (7)
12 Chimney travelled by air (by ear) (4)
14 Odd sauce flavouring for Christmas pudding (3)
16 Illumination's of little weight (5)
18 A gift here at hand (7)
21 Transport - second class - entered by you and me (3)
22 From a Christmas story, miser returning in for example our Scottish Civil Service (7)
24 Reindeer's relative makes a noise like a cow before a bit of exercise (5)
25 Bow - part of solar corona (3)
27 State of untidiness where officers eat (4)
29 Nags - first of colts with others running amok (7)
32 Sort of hammer pulled by huskies? (6)
33 More scented or less pleasant to the nose? (8)
34 Miscreant's rind is distributed round hospital in seasonal repast (9,6)

DOWN
  1 Chocolate-covered cakes found in small ultra-posh car? (4-5)
  2 Goes out with tropical fruit? (5)
  3 Lacking energy, novitiate in order getting request to attend party (10)
  4 "Bring me pine logs ____" (6)
  5 Phone circle (4)
  6 What the one with the cards might say? That's just the job (5)
  7 Follow what Norma Susan might be called in short? (5)
10 They may throw light on what's left on current units (5)
13 Eric's mate, we hear - dispenser of tea (3)
15 Pasta usually used in soup making half rats, etc., with mice, ill - upset (10)
17 Fish found in Tonga river (3)
19 Self-esteem for example - zero (3)
20 Showing this on map, X marks the spot, right? And he handles the money (9)
21 Feature of Santa Claus to carry over the first of December (5)
23 Prompter supplies this - there's a tip at the end (3)
26 Jingles bells in sequence (6)
27 What the conductor reads to sum up in charge (5)
28 Guide a young ox (5)
30 Sage's pungent companion (5)
31 Wise men initially set out for a long time (4)

Compiled by Gordon Cuthbert.

Previously printed in the Christmas 2004 Fulwood magazine.

Many thanks to Dorothy Cuthbert for allowing us to use it again.

Check the Easter 2020 issue for the solution.