This one was fun, and a pangram no less, which helped when I was staring at 2dn and realised I still needed a Q. A good range of difficulty, 11 min for me.
Across |
7 |
Copper outside, look, to employ a bungling inspector (8) |
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CLOUSEAU - Copper is CU, outside LO + USE. |
8 |
Polish face of yellow gemstone (4) |
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RUBY - RUB + Y |
9 |
Some withdrawing support sacked old world leader (6) |
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CASTRO - Looked at this for ages before spotting it was a reversed hidden word, despite the universal trigger word 'some'. suppORT SACked |
10 |
Drab and dull old woman depresses you, first of all (5) |
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DOWDY - first letters of Dull Old Woman Depresses You |
11 |
A sign of pride? (3) |
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LEO - whimsical definition. 'Sign' very often means astrological house |
12 |
FBI agent backed objective to protect (6) |
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DEFEND - FED backwards + END |
14 |
Classes rise to welcome king and son (6) |
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GROUPS - GO UP with R inside, then S |
16 |
Trembling like a fish (6) |
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ASHAKE - AS HAKE |
18 |
Insect that buzzes around girl in the country (6) |
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BELIZE - BEE round LIZ |
19 |
Fix something to eat with bread (3) |
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JAM - double definition |
20 |
Second rate garden tool that will slow you down (5) |
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BRAKE - B-RAKE, as opposed to the presumably higher quality A-rake |
21 |
Warning sign about endless trouble for well owners? (6) |
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OILMEN - OMEN outside IL (i.e. ILL shortened) |
23 |
This boy has turned a shade of green (4) |
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EMIL - LIME backwards |
24 |
I rate inn poorly lots of years (8) |
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TRIENNIA - anagram ('poorly') of I RATE INN |