The solved grid
1R
H
2E
A
S
3E
X
4C
L
5A
I
6M
E
W
I
V
U
7N
I
E
C
8E
9R
E
R
E
A
D
S
E
L
F
E
C
N
I
10W
H
A
R
F
11A
Q
U
A
T
I
C
M
I
S
L
A
12B
13B
A
C
K
S
L
A
P
14S
L
E
A
U
T
C
15R
A
16C
E
C
A
R
17I
C
H
O
18R
E
A
I
E
N
M
E
19T
A
B
L
O
I
D
20G
E
E
S
E
T
I
U
E
V
21A
M
N
E
S
T
Y
22B
A
R
G
E
Across
1 Across Stomach upsets, losing their opening four letters, produce flightless birds (5) → RHEAS Deletion
Remove 4 letters from the start of a longer word.
3 Across Old flame's demand prompts a sudden cry (7) → EXCLAIM Charade
Join two pieces end to end, 2 and 5 letters long.
7 Across A sister's daughter sounds like a French city (5) → NIECE Homophone
The answer sounds like “Nice”.
9 Across Browses a report again, taking another look through it (7) → REREADS Charade
Join two pieces end to end, 2 and 5 letters long.
10 Across Workers haul all raw fish, initially, forming a quay (5) → WHARF Initialism
Take the first letter of each: workers, haul, all, raw, fish.
11 Across After taking on H2O, a nervous twitch turns marine (7) → AQUATIC Charade
Join two pieces end to end, 4 and 3 letters long.
13 Across Slab packs, rearranged, are congratulatory gestures (9) → BACKSLAPS Anagram
Rearrange the letters of “SLAB PACKS”.
15 Across Acre and arc, mixed up, make a fast track vehicle (4,3) → RACE CAR Anagram
Rearrange the letters of “ACRE ARC”.
17 Across Initially, insects cause havoc on ruins, exuding divine fluid (5) → ICHOR Initialism
Take the first letter of each: insects, cause, havoc, on, ruins.
19 Across Tiny animals bring loads of interesting discoveries, initially, forming the gutter press (7) → TABLOID Initialism
Take the first letter of each: tiny, animals, bring, loads, of, interesting, discoveries.
20 Across Wow, going southeast, farmyard birds (5) → GEESE Charade
Join two pieces end to end, 3 and 2 letters long.
21 Across Early hours in a bird's home, plus an unknown, secure a pardon (7) → AMNESTY Charade
Join three pieces end to end, 2, 4 and 1 letters long.
22 Across Argentina housed within being, a canal boat (5) → BARGE Container
Put a 3-letter run inside a 2-letter word.
Down
1 Down Cyst and pause, reversed, extend (5) → RENEW Reversal
Reverse a run of letters to build the answer, which begins with “R”.
2 Down Wildly, we blame a young female sheep (3,4) → EWE LAMB Anagram
Rearrange the letters of “we blame”.
4 Down Critical gun, redesigned, doing the rounds (11) → CIRCULATING Anagram
Rearrange the letters of “CRITICAL GUN”.
5 Down Angry visitors are naturally tense at first, ahead (5) → AVANT Initialism
Take the first letter of each: Angry, visitors, are, naturally, tense.
6 Down A note, a chemical isomer, and a stammer's sound, all reversed, are tuneful (7) → MUSICAL Reversal
Reverse a run of letters to build the answer, which begins with “M”.
8 Down A ficus, a face and I/O ports scrambled prove effective (11) → EFFICACIOUS Anagram
Rearrange the letters of “FICUS FACE IO”.
9 Down Put at ease, hidden in tales told once more assuredly (9) → REASSURED Hidden word
The answer is hidden inside “more assuredly”.
12 Down Italian pistol needs a hat with thanks (7) → BERETTA Charade
Join two pieces end to end, 5 and 2 letters long.
14 Down Prophet holding a chairman briefly, cream cheese spread (7) → SCHMEER Container
Put a 3-letter run inside a 4-letter word.
16 Down Current after a pen tip, turned around, is a hut (5) → CABIN Reversal
Reverse a run of letters to build the answer, which begins with “C”.
18 Down Manor official, concerning the evening before (5) → REEVE Charade
Join two pieces end to end, 2 and 3 letters long.
How this puzzle was checked
Every clue in this crossword was verified against its own wordplay by
software, then the finished puzzle was read and edited by hand before
publication: definitions, indicators, enumerations and surface readings
all get looked at, and clues that don't hold up are rewritten. The
editorial standards set out what that
covers.
Spotted something wrong here? Email
badclues@decryptic.app and
this page will be corrected. See the
corrections policy.
