Thanks Izetti - I had thought that after 5 years of these I'd got the measure of you, but you put me right today, and long may it continue.
Definitions underlined.
| Across | |
| 1 | Jacob rashly holding something poisonous (5) |
| COBRA - hidden in jaCOB RAshly. I have the idea, from sometime back at school/uni, that when it comes to flora and fauna there is a distinction between poisonous (toxic to consume) and venomous (having the power to deliver toxin). | |
| 4 | Good queen eating fish as well (7) |
| BESIDES - BESS (good queen) containing (eating) IDE (fish). I did not know this moniker for Elizabeth I, so was looking to include g/pi and er/q. Thankfully, I knew the fish from crosswords! | |
| 8 | Fellow outside prison about to get mechanical restriction (7) |
| MANACLE - MALE (fellow) surrounding (outside) a reversal of (about) CAN (prison). Lifting and separating 'about to get' was my problem here. | |
| 9 | Male is having hesitation — he doesn't like spending money (5) |
| MISER - M (male), IS, and ER (hesitation). | |
| 10 | Greatly diminished army officer meets very large girl (10) |
| COLOSSALLY - COL (abbreviation of (diminished) Colonel (army officer)), with (meets) OS (outsize, very large) and SALLY (girl). Lift and separate 'greatly diminished', indicated abbreviation, unusual crosword-ese, random girl's name - doubly devious! | |
| 14 | Duplicate material to demolish? (6) |
| REPEAT - REP (material) and EAT (demolish). We've seen rep=material many times before, so I was annoyed with myself for not thinking of it sooner. | |
| 15 | Agreement boy should go to HE institution (6) |
| UNISON - SON (boy) next to UNI (HE institution). | |
| 17 | Men in a group try fine art for a change (10) |
| FRATERNITY - anagram of (for a change) TRY FINE ART. | |
| 20 | State of uncertainty with member gaining nothing (5) |
| LIMBO - LIMB (member) with O (nothing). I couldn't get past leg/arm. | |
| 22 | Something sticky? Food course is quite nice! (7) |
| GOODISH - GOO (something sticky) and DISH (food course). | |
| 23 | One hanging around is left in peril (7) |
| DANGLER - L (left) inside DANGER (peril). | |
| 24 | Game one of four card players has left (5) |
| SPORT - S (south, one of the four card players in Bridge) and PORT (left). My LOI. I've only just parsed this now, and I think it's a corker. Reads like a cryptic definition or deletion, distracts with I, IV, N, S, E, W, and L, turns out to be much simpler. My COD. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Take care of the old woman showing sign of severe illness? (4) |
| COMA - the answer comes from (take) C/O (care of) and MA (mother, the old woman). | |
| 2 | Aim to follow bishop and crook (4) |
| BEND - END (aim) after (to follow) B (bishop). | |
| 3 | A new unexciting job collecting silver as a source of security (9) |
| ANCHORAGE - A, N (new), and CHORE (unexiting job) containing (collecting) AG (silver). | |
| 4 | Language that's bent or contorted (6) |
| BRETON - anagram of (contorted) BENT OR. I did see how this worked early on, but was very slow to find the answer. | |
| 5 | Tot in poor area, beginning to lose out (3) |
| SUM - S{L}UM (poor area) with the first letter of (beginning to) Lose deleted (out). | |
| 6 | Reveal record waste? (8) |
| DISCLOSE - DISC (record) and LOSE (waste). Another that beat me. Of course, I was looking for LP/EP/CD at first, but also didn't get waste=lose. Are we to think of 'waste away' = 'lose weight'? | |
| 7 | It's smart catching fish that's drifting (8) |
| STRAYING - the answer is (it's) STING (smart) containing (catching) RAY (fish). | |
| 11 | Authorises second performances to get any number in (9) |
| SANCTIONS - S (second) and ACTIONS (performances) containing (to get... in) N (any number). | |
| 12 | Portrayed someone academic and terribly idle (8) |
| PROFILED - PROF (someone academic) and an anagram of (terribly) IDLE. | |
| 13 | Soldier and mare crashing into bridge (8) |
| SPEARMAN - anagram of (crashing) MARE inside (into) SPAN (bridge). | |
| 16 | Wild animal that could be orange (6) |
| ONAGER - anagram of (that could be) ORANGE. | |
| 18 | Around home see floor covering (4) |
| LINO - LO (see, as in 'lo and behold') surounding (around) IN (home). | |
| 19 | Talk with heartless person disobeying rules (4) |
| CHAT - remove the middle letter from (heartless) CHeAT (person disobeying rules). | |
| 21 | Fuel in ground, first to come out (3) |
| OIL - sOIL (ground) with the first letter removed (first to come out). | |
