The solved grid
1R
E
2P
A
3Y
4S
C
5A
R
6L
E
7T
A
U
U
F
I
E
8C
O
L
O
R
9M
A
G
E
N
T
A
K
L
T
I
H
K
R
10E
G
O
I
S
T
S
11A
S
S
A
Y
T
U
G
N
S
12T
U
13R
Q
U
O
I
S
14E
15B
E
I
T
E
16S
T
17I
F
F
18D
I
19G
R
A
P
H
W
T
R
E
A
T
E
20E
M
E
R
A
L
D
21P
A
I
R
S
E
M
C
E
S
T
22P
E
S
E
T
A
S
23D
U
M
A
S
Across
1 Across A prey, shaken, settles debt (5) → REPAY Anagram
Anagram of “a prey”.
4 Across Oscar letter conceals vivid red (7) → SCARLET Hidden word
Hidden inside “Oscar letter”.
8 Across Mountain pass followed by gold, a shade (5) → COLOR Charade
COL + OR.
9 Across Manta ray gripping germanium, purplish-red (7) → MAGENTA Container
GE inside MANTA.
10 Across Self-absorbed people from shuffled stogies (7) → EGOISTS Anagram
Anagram of “stogies”.
11 Across As reported, test metal content (5) → ASSAY Charade
AS + SAY.
12 Across Bright greenish-blue tone from quiet, sour reworked (9) → TURQUOISE Anagram
Anagram of “quiet sour”.
16 Across Ends of circus pilot sushi chef staff, rigid (5) → STIFF Initialism
Last letters of: circus, pilot, sushi, chef, staff.
18 Across Two plus chart forms sound-symbol pair (7) → DIGRAPH Charade
DI + GRAPH.
20 Across Bright green stone buried backwards in medlar emerging (7) → EMERALD Hidden backwards
Hidden backwards inside “medlar emerging”.
21 Across Chimp airstrip hides couples (5) → PAIRS Hidden word
Hidden inside “chimp airstrip”.
22 Across Old Spanish coins, sea pets rearranged (7) → PESETAS Anagram
Anagram of “sea pets”.
23 Across Centres of adder, cruel human, cat, posts, novelist (5) → DUMAS Middle letters
Middle letters of: adder, cruel, human, cat, posts.
Down
1 Down Crack Etsy hides sports gear (7) → RACKETS Hidden word
Hidden inside “crack Etsy”.
2 Down Coin, troublemaker, a withdrawal (4,3) → PULL OUT Charade
PUL + LOUT.
3 Down Reshaped, rusty nomad tents (5) → YURTS Anagram
Anagram of “rusty”.
5 Down Kabul money for a drunk Haig fan (7) → AFGHANI Anagram
Anagram of “Haig fan”.
6 Down Slinks headlessly onto golf course (5) → LINKS Deletion
SLINKS without its initial S.
7 Down Weepy leaders of tired, elderly aunts rarely yawning (5) → TEARY Initialism
First letters of: tired, elderly, aunts, rarely, yawning.
9 Down Dim guides confused, ill-advised (9) → MISGUIDED Anagram
Anagram of “dim guides”.
13 Down Respond, catching France, and bend light (7) → REFRACT Container
FR inside REACT.
14 Down State control from I'm a test, arranged (7) → ETATISM Anagram
Anagram of “I'm a test”.
15 Down Living as him along streets yields orders (7) → BEHESTS Charade
BE + HE + STS.
16 Down Tiny, wrapped by South and Piano, is chimney cleaner (5) → SWEEP Container
WEE inside SP.
17 Down Small, met one, going back, are articles (5) → ITEMS Reversal
S MET I reversed.
19 Down Paged unusually, stared open-mouthed (5) → GAPED Anagram
Anagram of “paged”.
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.
