A special Christmas offering from Quixote, the main theme being the use of a well-known Christmas item in its role as an anagram indicator. Once seen, solving was very fast. Solving time: 14 mins.
Notes on some clues below – happy to explain others if asked.
* = anagram
ACROSS
18 CONCERTI (One critic less i)* A less common plural of concerto than concertos. Excellent surface reading.
23 DI (woman) VANS (vehicles for transporting)
24 ALBERTAN (let a barn)* Prairies in Alberta, Canada
DOWN
1 PAR (R O) T r = runs (cricket) O = round
17 CONTRA ST
22 C HANTS
I thought this was an excellent puzzle for Christmas though once the theme was out it fell very quickly. Who’d have thought there were so many pairs of words from the letters CHRISTMAS?