Guardian Cryptic #28930

2022-12-02

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Across

9a

Mike and Heather enthralled by an advanced style of country music? (9)

Generating...

I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:

[ M(letter represented by “Mike” in the phonetic alphabet) plus ( and ) ERICA(the genus of shrubs, including heather) ] contained in ( enthralled by ) [ AN + A(abbrev. for “advanced”) ].

10a

Fast vehicle ditched by Shell? (5)

Generating...

I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:

“car”(a motorised vehicle) deleted from ( ditched by ) “carapace”(the hard upper shell of, say, a tortoise).

11a

Knitter knitted knick-knack (7)

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12a

Excel is almost certain to change (7)

Generating...

I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:

Last letter deleted from ( almost ) “sure”(certain/doubtless) + PASS(to change from one state to another, as in “he can pass from being docile to being disobedient in a moment”).

13a

Force trainee to execute 'duck and cover', primarily when retreating (5)

Generating...

I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:

Reversal of ( … when retreating ) 1st letters, respectively, of ( …, primarily ) “ to execute ‘duck and cover’ “.

14a

Old New Zealand admiral on manoeuvres (9)

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16a

Literary adventurer disturbed lingerer grabbing tool for opening letter (9,6)

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19a

Condition may seem poor around edges of pitch (9)

Generating...

I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:

Anagram of ( … poor ) MAY SEEM containing ( around ) 1st and last letters of ( edges of ) “ pitch “.

21a

Nine divine females married pursuers off and on (5)

Generating...

I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:

M(abbrev. for “married”) + 2nd, 4th, 6th and 8th letters of ( … off and on ) “ pursuers “.

22a

Notice call to work (5-2)

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23a

Handcuff a salt arrested by setter (7)

Generating...

I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:

[ A + NACL(the symbol for the chemical compound, sodium chloride, a salt formed from sodium hydroxide and hydrochloric acid) ] contained in ( arrested by ) ME(self-referential pronoun for the setter of this crossword).

24a

Wrestler returned inside box-like zone (5)

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25a

Mobile meters, sayone way to repay debt (4,5)

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Down

1d

Tiny piece about centrally stripped grammatical form (10)

Generating...

I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:

PARTICLE(a tiny piece/a very small portion of matter) containing ( about ) middle 2 letters of ( centrally ) “ stripped “.

2d

Confuse order to let one's hair down? (8)

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3d

Mostly wonderful, tense batter's innings (6)

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4d

Engineer, eh? So it's said (4)

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5d

Character in Othello reported noble group of stars (10)

Generating...

I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:

CASSIO(a character in the Shakespearean tragedy, “Othello”) + homophone of ( reported ) “peer”(a nobleman).

6d

Damn shower beginning to irritate Gulf national (8)

Generating...

I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:

BAH!(like “damn!”, an expression of annoyance) + RAIN(a shower/a large quantity of things that fall or descend) + 1st letter of ( beginning to ) “ irritate “.

7d

Covering of slate on a dam (6)

Generating...

I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:

PAN(to slate/to criticise severely) placed above ( on , in a down clue) A + MA(a familiar term for “mother”/a female parent/a dam, in reference to an animal).

8d

Extremely fickle twin sons own up (4)

Generating...

I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:

1st and last letters of ( Extremely ) “ fickle ” + 2x ( twin ) S(abbrev. for “son”).

14d

Spell in which nobody gets the runs (6,4)

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15d

Style doctor introducing several points (5,5)

Generating...

I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:

DR(abbrev. for “doctor”) + 1st letters, retrospectively, of ( introducing ) “east, south, south, south, east, north, south, east”(several compass points).

17d

Alcohol clergy bottled at home (8)

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18d

Lock web address after X linked to copyright (4-4)

Generating...

I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:

URL(abbrev. for “Uniform Resource Locator”, the address of a webpage on the Internet) placed below ( after , in a down clue) [ KISS(in written form, represented by “X”) plus ( linked to ) C(abbrev. for “copyright”, as in ©) ].

20d

Beggar's right to stop one who'll cough up (6)

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21d

Tiny setter's amphibian is caught (6)

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22d

Catch punch (4)

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23d

Bible book briefly picked up before end of religious service (4)

Generating...

I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:

Reversal of ( … picked up , in a down clue) SAM(abbrev. for /briefly “Samuel”, a book in the Hebrew Bible) plus ( before ) last letter of ( end of ) “ religious “.