The solved grid
1A
C
2H
O
O
3S
E
4E
K
5I
N
6G
M
A
N
N
A
7P
A
I
N
8S
9D
U
T
I
F
U
L
L
R
C
E
I
E
L
E
10C
H
A
R
C
U
T
E
R
I
E
U
R
A
L
Y
11D
12T
R
E
A
T
W
E
L
13L
S
E
D
H
M
A
14B
E
15S
T
S
E
L
L
E
R
S
16C
T
N
T
O
N
T
O
17O
R
A
T
I
O
N
18T
R
I
A
L
R
F
F
N
O
19S
C
U
F
F
L
E
20V
I
G
O
R
Across
1 Across Coo, ha, jumbled, sneeze sound (5) → ACHOO Anagram
Anagram of “coo ha”.
3 Across Hidden in Tennessee kingdom, in pursuit of (7) → SEEKING Hidden word
Hidden inside “Tennessee kingdom”.
7 Across Twinges, one held inside cooking pots (5) → PAINS Container
I inside PANS.
9 Across Fluid ut, mixed, conscientious (7) → DUTIFUL Anagram
Anagram of “fluid ut”.
10 Across Chi creature, scrambled, cured meats (11) → CHARCUTERIE Anagram
Anagram of “chi creature”.
12 Across Water and tell, jumbled, pamper (5,4) → TREAT WELL Anagram
Anagram of “water tell”.
14 Across Popular books from finest traders (11) → BESTSELLERS Charade
BEST + SELLERS.
17 Across Formal speech, ornamentation without month (7) → ORATION Deletion
DECORATION without its initial DEC.
18 Across Leaders of turtles race in autumn, lazily, court case (5) → TRIAL Initialism
First letters of: Turtles, race, in, autumn, lazily.
19 Across Brief skirmish, also shuffle along (7) → SCUFFLE Double definition
Two separate definitions of the same word.
20 Across Bookie's cut, golden, vitality (5) → VIGOR Charade
VIG + OR.
Down
1 Down Maple, shuffled, generous (5) → AMPLE Anagram
Anagram of “maple”.
2 Down Locks, snip, new crop (7) → HAIRCUT Charade
HAIR + CUT.
4 Down Legal right: mettle in ten, reorganised (11) → ENTITLEMENT Anagram
Anagram of “mettle in ten”.
5 Down Deduce, even imply (5) → INFER Double definition
Two separate definitions of the same word.
6 Down Casual girl, fallow fields, kitchens on ships (7) → GALLEYS Charade
GAL + LEYS.
8 Down Faces drifts in disorder, utterly terrified (6,5) → SCARED STIFF Anagram
Anagram of “faces drifts”.
9 Down Rearranged dole and chant make a ten-event contest (9) → DECATHLON Anagram
Anagram of “dole chant”.
11 Down Borrowers, south, rot, bed turned (7) → DEBTORS Reversal
S ROT BED reversed.
13 Down Explosion, beheaded, enduring (7) → LASTING Deletion
BLASTING without its initial B.
15 Down Chaos, alternately, a sandal foul (5) → SNAFU Alternate letters
Every other letter of “sandal foul”, starting with the first.
16 Down Hue, hearts of ace, top, old dog, arm (5) → COLOR Middle letters
Middle letters of: ace, top, old, dog, arm.
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.
