Independent Cryptic #12274

2026-02-09

Solve on Independent →

Across

1a

Member meets elderly fellow in final showdown (10)

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6a

Fervent low wail (4)

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10a

Scorer taken aback by rapid review (5)

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11a

Russian plotters essentially bungled - they get exposed (9)

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12a

Frenchman with brogue's half Welsh (7)

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13a

Language using play on words: setter's on strike (7)

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14a

Behind vehicle I caught 11 stripped off for illustrator (12)

Generating...

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

CAR + I + C (behind car I caught) + [n] ATURIST [s] (solution to 11ac minus its outer letters)

18a

Putin's puppets perhaps being full of themselves (12)

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21a

Frightfully posh eat here (7)

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23a

Time locks guarding home into which one could disappear? (7)

Generating...

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

T (time) + HAIR (locks) around (guarding) IN (at home)

24a

Rogue landscapers stripping borders of plants: their days are numbered! (9)

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25a

Story going round about parent could be spam? (5)

Generating...

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

Reversal (going round) of LIE (story) around MA

26a

Rich Liberal leading force wanting power (4)

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27a

Result of getting rash possibly from confounded pests - fleas! (10)

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Down

1d

This might determine how things are done - here or there? (6)

Generating...

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

‘Here’ and ‘there’ can both function as adverbs of place, so are definitions by example, hence the question mark

2d

Making grubby writer's group read aloud (6)

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3d

Conducting supplication bareheaded? (14)

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4d

So-called smart creature - it tells the time to kids in the garden! (9)

Generating...

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

Soundalike (so-called) of ‘dandy lion’ (smart creature)

5d

Handy over prising out Australia's tail and leading (5)

Generating...

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

ON T [a] P (handy) with the A replaced by an O (Over prising out AustraliA’s tail)

7d

Sent English Commander-in-Chief to engage immediately (8)

Generating...

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

Envelope of E C – I – C around (to engage) STAT (immediately, in medical contexts)

8d

Less than perfect devious sons aren't commonly taken in (8)

Generating...

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

Insertion (taken in) of AIN’T (aren’t commonly) inside an anagram (devious) of SONS

9d

Terribly ill in quarters squaddie initially gets drugs (14)

Generating...

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

Anagram (terribly) of ILL IN QUARTERS S [quaddie]

15d

Writes off what's surrounding opening in wood (9)

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16d

Expert heading to officer convention (8)

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17d

When sailors adopting uniform indicates hostilities (8)

Generating...

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

AS (when) + SALTS (sailors) around (adopting) U

19d

Show collection of jumbos? (6)

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20d

Rehearses riddles (6)

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22d

Old man stifles fire discovered in shopping centre (5)

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