Cryptic Crossword #1
The clues in this puzzler are in the "Cryptic" style, which means that each one contains a definition and an additional hint about the construction of the answer. You can find very nice introductions to this sort of clue in Crossword Clue Solver or The Guardian.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |||||
| 7 | 8 | |||||||||
| 9 | 10 | |||||||||
| 11 | ||||||||||
| 12 | 13 | |||||||||
| 14 | ||||||||||
| 15 | 16 | |||||||||
| 17 |
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1. | Stab a large cacti arrangement throughout the Milky Way (11) |
| 7. | Mirth amid slaughter (5) |
| 8. | Inca melodrama features Bedouin bearer (5) |
| 9. | Beowulf's foe ends progress (6) |
| 10. | Warning rouses Nemo! (4) |
| 12. | Electrified radicals are half-fictions (4) |
| 13. | Utters nothing in depravities (6) |
| 15. | Secretly concoct portal (5) |
| 16. | One follows one in vestment for excuse (5) |
| 17. | G.I. censor can mix hazardous chemicals (11) |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1. | Stone-age father lion illuminated Latin here (11) |
| 2. | Distorted tuner on rat's back - it may emit radio pulses (11) |
| 3. | Ha! Stag party is horrified! (6) |
| 4. | Discharges curves (4) |
| 5. | Need for elimination of progenitors - eject rearward with the speed of sound before born (11) |
| 6. | Seed vessels hit physics loon (11) |
| 11. | Too-apt expression for many-eyed one (6) |
| 14. | Foulard heard in both airports of Siam (4) |
| 1P | A | 2N | G | 3A | L | 4A | C | 5T | I | 6C |
| A | E | G | R | I | O | |||||
| 7L | A | U | G | H | 8C | A | M | E | L | |
| E | T | A | S | E | O | |||||
| 9O | G | R | E | S | S | 10O | M | E | N | |
| L | O | T | 11P | A | Y | |||||
| 12I | O | N | S | 13V | O | I | C | E | S | |
| T | S | 14T | T | H | H | |||||
| 15H | A | T | C | H | 16A | L | I | B | I | |
| I | A | A | T | N | P | |||||
| 17C | A | R | C | I | N | O | G | E | N | S |
Notes for the tougher solutions are provided here for those being introduced to cryptic clues for the first time.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1. | Stab a large cacti arrangement throughout the Milky Way (11) pang + a + l + anagram of cacti |
| 13. | Utters nothing in depravities (6) "o" in "vices" |
| 15. | Secretly concoct portal (5) double definition |
| 16. | One follows one in vestment for excuse (5) "i" follows ("i" in "alb") |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1. | Stone-age father lion illuminated Latin here (11) pa + leo + lit + hic |
| 2. | Distorted tuner on rat's back - it may emit radio pulses (11) anagram of tuner above reversed rats |
| 5. | Need for elimination of progenitors - eject rearward with the
speed of sound before born (11) "emit" backwards + mach i + né |
