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My fourth crossword was produced during lockdown. I found it tough to be in the right mood for clue writing at first but persevered and ended up with this.
Click the blacked out text for answers and reasoning or hit to reveal it all!
Please do give me feedback via @huggie@social.earth.li on mastodon or email if you hate it, like it, dislike a particular clue etc. I'm very interested in what people think so I can try and improve.
| Clue | Answer | Reason | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | Bleach tea? Eliot was troubled (8) | ETIOLATE | (TEA ELIOT)* "troubled" as an anagram indicator |
| 9 | Puff piece in time to publish (5) | PR [puff piece] IN T [time] | |
| 10 | Bacon from butcher’s Pekingese (4) | SPEK | Hidden answer in butcher's Pekingese |
| 11 | Pine over German book on last pair of Schmidt’s machines (10) | TREBUCHETS | An envelope [over] of TREE [pine] around BUCH [Geman for book] with last two letters of Schmidt's for seige machines |
| 14 | Suspension of a Turkish governor losing head at ball (8) | ABEYANCE | Charade of A BEY [Turkish governor] dANCE losing its head (first letter) |
| 15 | Current short story about island (7) | THERMAL | Envelope of TALe without its last letter [short story] around HERM [a channel island] |
| 17 | Team takes lesson about quiet creatures (7) | SPIDERS | SIDE [team] with RS [religious studies; a lesson] about P [quiet] |
| 20, 24d, 12 | Old fellow with firm criticises college before university of life (6,2,4,6) | SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS | O [old] F [Fellow] HARD [firm] KNOCKS [criticises] with SCHOOL [college] before it all |
| 22 | Infer journalist involved with leader in Rome (6) | DEDUCE | ED [crossword's favourite journalist] in [involved with] DUCE [Italian leader e.g. Mussolini] |
| 23 | Amateurs wielded these for first match with scorecard confusingly (10) | CAMCORDERS | (SCORECARD M)* An anagram [confusingly] of M [first match] and SCORECARD |
| 24 | Room delivered loot (4) | HAUL | If you say hall outloud [delivered] it sounds like HAUL |
| 25 | A few trees manage to surround first sycamore (5) | COPSE | COPE [manage] surrounding S [first letter of sycamore] |
| 26 | Hard left keep you near toilet! (3,5) | THE TROTS | Double definition: Hard left could be THE TROTS and diarrohea would keep you near the toilet |
| 1 | In a tight spot put a pin in at church (2,1,5) | AT A PINCH | Charade of A PIN in AT CH [church] |
| 2 | Black’s 20 pitch (4) | ROCK | Jack Black was in school of [20] ROCK |
| 3 | Company down under gives Queen and worker top marks (6) | QANTAS | Charade of Q [Queen] ANT [worker] "As" [top marks] |
| 4 | Interstate: Democrat taken in by price initially rallies against loss (7) | FEDERAL | FEE [price] taking in D [democrat] then first letters of Rallies Against Loss |
| 5 | Tidy tree at university (6,2) | SPRUCE UP | SPRUCE [tree] UP [at university] |
| 6 | Overbearing at bank robbery perhaps? (4-6) | HIGH-HANDED | Cryptic definition: If you're in a bank whilst it's being robbed they might tell you to "Stick 'em up" so you'd be HIGH-HANDED which is also overbearing. (stop groaning in the back there!) |
| 7 | At rest enthusiast missed fantastic explosion (6) | STATIC | fan(TASTIC)* An anagram of TASTIC which is FAN [enthusiast] taken off FANTASTIC |
| 13 | Double vehicle good for French policeman and bobby at last (6,4) | CARBON COPY | CAR [vehicle] BON [good in French] COP [policeman] Y [bobbY's last letter] |
| 16 | Cause of irritation to everyone with right gene therapy (8) | ALLERGEN | ALL [everyone] (R GENE)* An anagram [therapy] of R [right] with GENE |
| 18 | Curate’s mad to take Queen’s equipment for games (8) | RACQUETS | (CURATES Q)* An anagram of CURATE'S with Q [queen] |
| 19 | Performs about very loud piece of exhibition with results (7) | AFFECTS | ACTS [performs] around FF [very loud] and the first letter of Exhibition |
| 21 | Try lane in London without lines (6) | CHANCE | CHANCE[ry] lane without RY [railway; lines] |
| 22 | Served lost woman first (6) | DISHED | DI [woman first] SHED [lost] |