Independent Cryptic #12061

2025-06-05

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Across

1a

Siamese possibly taking after northern European (7)

Generating...

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

Siamese possibly taking after northern European CAT (=Siamese possibly) + À LA (=taking after, in the style of) + N (=northern)

5a

Scared following reprimand (7)

flowerflowerflower
9a

Higher power backing up former leader (5)

flowerflowerflower
10a

Legless type calls briefly having lost at strip poker? (9)

flowerflowerflower
11a

Around Réunion perhaps Vogue wasn't successful (6)

Generating...

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

Around Réunion, Vogue wasn’t successful (ÎLE=Réunion, i.e. French island département in the Indian Ocean) in FAD (=vogue, fashion)

12a

Conflict shown by Islamism at chapel (8)

flowerflowerflower
14a

Young troops use coasts to swim (9)

flowerflowerflower
15a

Network's route curtailed (3)

Generating...

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

Network ’s route curtailed LAN <e> (=route, path; “curtailed” means last letter is dropped); in IT, a LAN is a Local Area Network

18a

Unit of hardness misrepresented at first (3)

flowerflowerflower
20a

Laziness of grant invested in pub these days (9)

Generating...

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

Laziness of grant invested in pub these days DOLE (=grant, i.e. to the unemployed) in [INN (=pub) + CE (=these days, i.e. Common Era)]

23a

Helpless charger accepting African currency for European (8)

Generating...

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

Helpless charger accepting African currency for European ST E ED (=charger, i.e. horse for riding); “accepting African currency (=rand, in South Africa) for European (=E)” means the first letter “e” is replaced by “rand”

24a

Tinker Tailor Soldier - and sure ultimately apt to include - Spy (6)

Generating...

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

Tinker Tailor Soldier – and sure, ultimately apt to include Spy M (=spy, in James Bond films) in *(<soldie> R + <sur> E + APT); “ultimately” means last letters only are used in anagram, indicated by “tailor”

27a

People welcome to accept love god not the first one (9)

Generating...

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

People welcome to accept love god, not the first one [O (=love, i.e. zero score in tennis) in HI (=welcome)] + [<a> POLLO (=god, in Greek mythology; “not the first” means first letter is dropped) + I (=one)]

28a

Vocalists recalled lush Hollywood area (5)

Generating...

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

Vocalists recalled lush Hollywood area SOT (=lush, drunkard) + LA (=Hollywood area, i.e. Los Angeles); “recalled” indicates reversal

29a

Ambush of pressure avoided by what comes before it? (7)

flowerflowerflower
30a

Did bug like pine? (7)

Generating...

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

Did bug like pine? As a coniferous tree, a pine has needles, hence “needled” could be “like pine”, cryptically; to needle is to irk, irritate, hence “bug”

Down

1d

Editor leaving very happy sound on tracks (5)

Generating...

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

Editor leaving very happy sound on tracks CHUFF <ed> (=very happy, delighted; “ editor (=ED) leaving” means letters “ed” are dropped); a chuff is the sound of a steam locomotive, hence “sound on (railway) tracks”

2d

Cut absurd deposit (7)

flowerflowerflower
3d

Generosity of SSE? (8)

Generating...

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

Generosity of SSE? As capital letters are used, SSE could be described as “large sse”!

4d

Average Agatha Christie novel (4)

Generating...

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

Average Agatha Christie novel N or M? (=Agatha Christie detective novel, published in 1941)

5d

Amateur works off tin can I suspect (10)

flowerflowerflower
6d

Suppose Muppet raised aggressive puppet (6)

flowerflowerflower
7d

Geometric shape in walls of former university cut from concrete (7)

Generating...

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

Geometric shape in walls of former university cut from concrete F <orme> R (“walls of” means first and last letters only) + ACT <u> AL (=real; “ university (=U) cut” means letter “u” is dropped); a fractal is an apparently irregular or chaotic geometric entity, much used in computer graphics

8d

Article for Elle say covering hit treatment for old bones? (8)

Generating...

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

Article for Elle, say, covering hit treatment for old bones? LE (=article for elle , i.e. a French word for the ) + [CHIN (=hit, strike on the chin) in E.G. (=say, for example)]; leeching was a treatment prescribed by the doctors of yesteryear, hence “old bones”

13d

Can we remove record from sluggish churchman? (10)

Generating...

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

, leader of the Methodist movement

16d

School engaged in unorthodox use of kitchen assistant (8)

flowerflowerflower
17d

Light turned up in US state (8)

flowerflowerflower
19d

More dark rum with a twist and hint of elderflower in cocktail (7)

Generating...

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

More dark rum with a twist and hint of elderflower in cocktail MUR (RUM; “with a twist” indicates reversal) + [ E <lderflower> (“hint of” means first letter only) in KIR (=cocktail, of white wine and blackcurrant liqueur)]

21d

Nation mostly supporting Cork and Dublin? (7)

flowerflowerflower
22d

Warm out? (6)

Generating...

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

Warm out? Cryptically, un-cool could mean “warm”; something that is uncool is not fashionable, hence “out (of fashion)”

25d

Destroyed and constructed without independence (5)

flowerflowerflower
26d

Notice bad overwhelming good (4)

Generating...

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

Notice bad overwhelming good G (=good) in SIN (=bad, evil, as nouns)