A touch harder than the previous puzzles this week, but not by too much. I was slowed down by the Hampshire town and the Russian house (but not the noisy party or wine from castile… honest).
A belated commendation to Brnchn for covering the slot while I was away - thank you! It was my first trip to Japan, and it helped with 15ac!
Definitions underlined
A belated commendation to Brnchn for covering the slot while I was away - thank you! It was my first trip to Japan, and it helped with 15ac!
Definitions underlined
| Across | |
| 8 | Mostly noisy party after a dip of sorts (7) |
| AVOCADO - all but the last letter of (mostly) VOCAl (noisy) then DO (party), all after A. | |
| 9 | Store and small house at side of a road (5) |
| HOARD - HO (abbreviation for (small) house), A and RD (road). | |
| 10 | Fund for young Tom? (5) |
| KITTY - perhaps a juvenile tom cat. | |
| 11 | Go back over caterer's revised order (7) |
| RETRACE - anagram of (revised order) CATERER. | |
| 12 | A priest converted wrongdoers in the main (7) |
| PIRATES - anagram of (converted) A PRIEST. ‘The main’ in the clue refers to the sea/ | |
| 14 | Large Italian male, agile (5) |
| LITHE - L (large), IT (italian) and HE (male). | |
| 15 | Hangman in jail grabbing fighter from the east (5) |
| NINJA - hidden in (grabbed by) hangmaN IN JAil. | |
| 17 | Ham a cleric sent back during autumn month (7) |
| OVERACT - A REV (a cleric) reversed (sent back) inside OCT (autumn month). | |
| 19 | Show approval of a piano duet attracting praise (7) |
| APPLAUD - A, P (softly in musical notation, piano), with another P (making a duet), and LAUD (praise). | |
| 20 | Rogue rejected hotel, wanting a house in the country (5) |
| DACHA - CAD (rogue) backwards (rejected), with H (hotel) and A. | |
| 22 | Voter is volatile, it's obvious (5) |
| OVERT - anagram of (is volatile) VOTER. | |
| 23 | New, like coin making initial appearance (7) |
| NASCENT - N (new), AS (like), and CENT (coin). | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Group of cubs raising hat in front of king (4) |
| PACK - CAP (hat) reversed (raising), then K (king). | |
| 2 | Look after neglected forest (6) |
| FOSTER - anagram of (neglected) FOREST. | |
| 3 | Path round valley, initially far from straight (4) |
| WAVY - WAY (path) around first letter of (initially) Valley. | |
| 4 | Journalist redrafted second report around middle of evening (13) |
| CORRESPONDENT - anagram of (redrafted) SECOND REPORT around the middle letter of eveNing. | |
| 5 | We relax, consuming punch and a mini pork pie? (5,3) |
| WHITE LIE - WE and LIE (relax), surrounding (consuming) HIT (punch). | |
| 6 | Commercial vehicle going through Derby, perhaps, and Hampshire town (6) |
| HAVANT - VAN (commercial vehicle) inside (going through) HAT (Derby, perhaps). | |
| 7 | A small depression gripping female member (8) |
| ADHERENT - A, then DENT (small depression) around (gripping) HER (female). | |
| 12 | Shape of writing implement with label attached (8) |
| PENTAGON - PEN (writing implement) with TAG (label) ON (attached). | |
| 13 | Mad hatter's event in Boston? (3,5) |
| TEA PARTY - cryptic definition referring to an event in Alice’s Adventures and one in 1773. | |
| 16 | Small drink for each child (6) |
| NIPPER - NIP (small drink) and PER (for each). | |
| 18 | More playfulAmbridge resident (6) |
| ARCHER - double definition. | |
| 20 | Regularly drowsy, having little energy? Medicine provided (4) |
| DOSE - every other letter from (regularly) DrOwSy, then E (little energy). | |
| 21 | Wine from Castile (4) |
| ASTI - hidden in (from) cASTIle. | |