The solved grid
1S
I
2C
K
3O
4B
O
5O
M
6B
O
7X
A
R
V
A
E
E
8R
E
E
L
O
F
9F
10T
E
N
O
N
D
D
I
O
H
E
O
11I
N
O
R
D
E
R
12S
T
A
I
N
N
A
S
T
E
13J
E
L
L
Y
F
14I
S
H
15D
U
T
M
O
16B
A
N
E
17S
18H
O
P
E
19F
U
L
I
I
U
I
L
A
P
20R
O
P
E
S
21A
B
O
L
I
S
H
T
E
H
R
N
I
22H
E
R
R
I
N
G
23E
A
T
E
N
Across
1 Across Ski Co, in a muddle, is a deviant (5) → SICKO Anagram
Anagram of “ski co”.
4 Across Portable stereo held within kaboom boxes (7) → BOOMBOX Hidden word
Hidden inside “kaboom boxes”.
8 Across Flee for safety, twisted, means to rattle through a list (4,3) → REEL OFF Anagram
Anagram of “flee for”.
10 Across Woodworking peg is a weight holding a printer's spacing unit (5) → TENON Container
EN inside TON.
11 Across Diner or somewhere else, mixed up, is properly arranged (2,5) → IN ORDER Anagram
Anagram of “diner or”.
12 Across Support, missing its middle, leaves a blemish (5) → STAIN Deletion
SUSTAIN without US from the middle.
13 Across Wobbly dessert going after information is a stinging sea creature (9) → JELLYFISH Charade
JELLY + FISH.
16 Across Ruinous influences, as bad apples never earn sympathy at first (5) → BANES Initialism
First letters of: bad, apples, never, earn, sympathy.
18 Across Confident, part of hope fulfilled (7) → HOPEFUL Hidden word
Hidden inside “hope fulfilled”.
20 Across Cords from a fungal spore, jumbled (5) → ROPES Anagram
Anagram of “spore”.
21 Across Scrap muddled basil, oh! (7) → ABOLISH Anagram
Anagram of “basil oh”.
22 Across Smoked fish, a woman's call (7) → HERRING Charade
HER + RING.
23 Across Devoured, having dined within a print space (5) → EATEN Container
ATE inside EN.
Down
1 Down Turned back, Enid and an Ethiopian ruler become a fish (7) → SARDINE Reversal
ENID RAS reversed.
2 Down Musical climax, missing its centre, is a belief (5) → CREDO Deletion
CRESCENDO without SCEN from the middle.
3 Down Confused, avoid zero and litre, egg-shaped (7) → OVOIDAL Anagram
Anagram of “avoid o l”.
5 Down Only athletes train hard sometimes initially, promises (5) → OATHS Initialism
First letters of: Only, athletes, train, hard, sometimes.
6 Down Under a table, hen beat wildly (7) → BENEATH Anagram
Anagram of “hen beat”.
7 Down Muddled neon, plus Roman ten, is a noble gas (5) → XENON Anagram
Anagram of “neon x”.
9 Down Fairy shot, arranged, is a flowering shrub (9) → FORSYTHIA Anagram
Anagram of “fairy shot”.
13 Down Evergreen shrub from June's start, one, for each (7) → JUNIPER Charade
JUN + I + PER.
14 Down An imp's ore hiding fifty, to plead (7) → IMPLORE Container
L inside IMPORE.
15 Down Marine mammal built from a pain measure, a Greek letter and north (7) → DOLPHIN Charade
DOL + PHI + N.
16 Down Entitlement, dropping what is correct, is a coming into life (5) → BIRTH Deletion
BIRTHRIGHT without its final RIGHT.
17 Down Some unhappy surfers hide inland, initially a raw fish dish (5) → SUSHI Initialism
First letters of: Some, Unhappy, Surfers, Hide, Inland.
19 Down Weak and dizzy, we hear, as in a boxing feint (5) → FAINT Homophone
Sounds like “feint”.
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
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corrections policy.
