Decryptic

Decryptic #41 - 7th August 2026

Solution & wordplay explained · Published 7 August 2026

Ghost theme: Flowers PETUNIA · JASMINE · CARNATION · TULIP

The solved grid and a clue-by-clue explanation of every piece of wordplay in this Decryptic daily. Browse every past solution, or get the app to play the older crosswords yourself. Today's crossword is always free to play.

The solved grid

Across

1 Across Financier Fisk oddly failed with an F, producing a small boat (5)SKIFF Anagram Anagram of “FISKF”.
4 Across Contest hidden in mismatch up north (7)MATCHUP Hidden word Hidden inside “mismatch up”.
8 Across Mountain followed by laugh gives first Greek letter (5)ALPHA Charade ALP + HA.
9 Across An EU petal, rearranged, is a shoulder decoration (7)EPAULET Anagram Anagram of “EU PETAL”.
10 Across Musical note before toddler, turned around, means everything (5)TOTAL Reversal LA TOT reversed.
11 Across Flat shape hidden in a monopoly gone sour (7)POLYGON Hidden word Hidden inside “monopoly gone”.
13 Across Vehicle's homeland yields a fragrant bloom (9)CARNATION Charade CAR + NATION.
15 Across Some of deposit in one, auditing (3,2,2)SIT IN ON Hidden word Hidden inside “deposit in one”.
17 Across Suggest we please offer some ideas today, initially (5)POSIT Initialism First letters of: Please, Offer, Some, Ideas, Today.
20 Across Oddly fined us, ending up steeped (7)INFUSED Anagram Anagram of “FINED US”.
21 Across Perfect example harbours guide alone (5)IDEAL Hidden word Hidden inside “guide alone”.
22 Across Print unit and metric system guided fodder preserved (7)ENSILED Charade EN + SI + LED.
23 Across Species holding courtship makes a sudden dive (5)SWOOP Container WOO inside SP.

Down

1 Down Tesla and rats sent back to begin (5)START Reversal T RATS reversed.
2 Down What's fed to a computer, found in cabin putty (5)INPUT Hidden word Hidden inside “cabin putty”.
3 Down Real fir, chopped up, seems weaker (7)FRAILER Anagram Anagram of “real fir”.
5 Down Tigers roam Africa with lions initially, searching thoroughly (5)TRAWL Initialism First letters of: Tigers, Roam, Africa, With, Lions.
6 Down Ring of light plus a general yields chemical family (7)HALOGEN Charade HALO + GEN.
7 Down Confused, unite Pa to plant a garden flower (7)PETUNIA Anagram Anagram of “unite pa”.
9 Down Pale index, scrambled, made clear (9)EXPLAINED Anagram Anagram of “pale index”.
12 Down Flower made from German yes, small size, then coal pit (7)JASMINE Charade JA + S + MINE.
13 Down Reductions hugging a power outage produce denim shorts (7)CUTOFFS Container OFF inside CUTS.
14 Down Devilish youngster's melodies undermine (7)IMPAIRS Charade IMP + AIRS.
16 Down Found in banana salad, relating to the nose (5)NASAL Hidden word Hidden inside “banana salad”.
18 Down Shorthand, in brief, as secretaries type every notice officially, initially (5)STENO Initialism First letters of: Secretaries, Type, Every, Notice, Officially.
19 Down Flower, lit up unusually (5)TULIP Anagram Anagram of “lit up”.

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.

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