Solution:

Charade clues only

(the cryptic designer's clue of last resort)

Created by Linda Carson (c)2000. To go back to the puzzle, click here.

Across: 5 Fin, 6 Matinee, 8 Stow, 9 Latest, 10 Fudge, 12 Brass, 15 Twined, 17 Coma, 19 Wastage, 20 Mar.

Down: 1 Tilt, 2 Fault, 3 Mint, 4 Census, 7 Swig, 11 Unwrap, 13 Rock, 14 Adage, 16 Nets, 18 Meal.

Why, you ask, are these the answers?

Remember playing charades? Sometimes you could act out, in a single fluent gesture, "The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain." But sometimes you had to resort to the painstaking process of breaking down the answer, word by word, syllable by syllable, or even letter by letter. These are those sorts of clues. I hate 'em as a puzzle solver but as a designer I'm slowly learning that sometimes there just isn't a good five-letter word ending in W...

Here's the reasoning behind each of the solutions:

Across: 5 finally-ally=FIN, 6 MA + TINE + East (point of compass), 8 TO in middle of SW, 9 French for the is LA + TEST, 10 Forte + U + baD + GE, 12 SS after BRA, 15 TWIN + EDitor, 17 CO + MA, 19 A SainT (AST) inside WAGE, 20 MA + Resistance.

Down: 1 Left inside TIT, 2 F is a note, AU is gold, LT is lieutenant, 3 Million + IN + Time, 4 Common Era + NumberS + US, 7 Short + WIG, 11 UN + Western + RAP music, 13 ROC (bird) + Kilo (thousand), 14 Assistant Director (AD) + AGE, 16 TEN up is NET + Shilling(s), 18 ME + AL.