Guardian Cryptic #29187

2023-09-28

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Across

1a

Flipping anxious old monarch failing to provide items for scoffing fools? (7-7)

Generating...
8a

Say butter's rejected, getting this instead? (5)

Generating...

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

Reverse of E.G. RAM (one that butts)

9a

Reliable staff one's hired to work in TV or film (8)

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11a

Opera company led by Latin American revolutionary (7)

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12a

Condemn point put in plain language (7)

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13a

Vacuous twerps without intelligence? (5)

Generating...

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

WIT (intelligence) in T[werp]S, with the whole clue as both wordplay and definition (“&lit”)

15a

As far as US leader's concerned, getting invaded by Germany is ruled out (9)

Generating...

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

D (Germany) in FOR BIDEN

17a

eg McCartney, Boy George at first, and a member of Morrissey's group? (9)

Generating...

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

SON (boy) + G[eorge] + SMITH (i.e. one of The Smiths)

20a

Green vehicle reversing into rural settlement (5)

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21a

Called for managed fund to save mobile phone company pounds (7)

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23a

Whence two gentlemen came and left to get sedative (7)

Generating...

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

VERONA (as in Shakespeare’s The Two Gentlemen of Verona ) + L – Veronal (later Barbital or Barbitone) was an early barbiturate, often used as a poison in the books of Agatha Christie

25a

Sweet soldier brought in kind of battery for defence (8)

Generating...

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

POLO (mint, a type of sweet) + GI (soldier) in AA (battery)

26a

Blithe Spirit's leading character back in the country (5)

Generating...

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

Reverse of AIRY S[pirit]

27a

Novelist pens mad, inauthentic and pedestrian advice (5,5,4)

Generating...

Down

1d

Making valueless nude? Monet is in Giverny framing it (12)

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2d

Maybe Holly Hunter wants filling in sandwich (5)

Generating...

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

H[unte]R in SUB (sandwich)

3d

Train strike's beginning, which creates worries (9)

Generating...

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

EXERCISE (train) + S[trike]

4d

Bosses regularly filling bigwig's drink quickly (4,3)

Generating...

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

Alternate letters of bOsSeS in TOFF (bigwig)

5d

Country's financial district gets universal love, almost (7)

Generating...

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

EC (City of London) + U[niversal) + ADOR[e]

6d

Very brief rule of old Indian scripture (5)

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7d

Said why tucking into crab dish could be a danger, in the main (9)

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10d

Fun for eg young Boris, having surprisingly low mental age (4,4,4)

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14d

Banks perhaps following current news host (9)

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16d

Terrible triteness has the capacity to fascinate (9)

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18d

Invalid thinking 'I'm going to smoke last of tobacco up' (7)

Generating...

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

I’LL + reverse of CIG (cigarette, a smoke) + [tobacc]O

19d

Try lots of port and case of amontillado, guzzling gallons (4,1,2)

Generating...

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

HAVE[n] + G in A[montillad]O

22d

River Seine's banks not straight (5)

Generating...

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

FAL (river in Cornwall) + S[ein]E

24d

Refusal to accommodate crooked car dealer who breaks the law (5)

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