Test your cryptic crossword skills with our latest puzzle featuring 26 across clues and 22 down clues. This mental exercise challenges your ability to decipher hints and find the right words.
Across Clues
1. Church located at the back of Newcastle United’s stadium (6 letters)
5. Disorderly city supporters who might be without sin (8 letters)
9. South American nation captures a doctor and, in brief, children (8 letters)
10. Team members chant on an overturned vessel (6 letters)
11. Very much like the big spectacle of the Two Ronnies in base (12 letters)
13. Southern French town excludes one leading to legal defense (4 letters)
14. Delightfully wicked, favoured, mature banter (8 letters)
17. Highest month, initially tucked into a dish such as ragu (8 letters)
18. Working to remove any international medals (4 letters)
20. Elegant garment for a teenager is split (12 letters)
23. Edge of the doorstep is missing its material tail (6 letters)
24. Large French grocery lacks an opening exterior (8 letters)
25. Ruled anew is open to Conservative recruitment, but relaxed (8 letters)
26. Rocky bay accommodates our needy African population (6 letters)
Down Clues
2. Actually a feature of a Hampshire country estate (2-2 letters)
3. Disheartened person from Birmingham utters ‘Good health!’ (9 letters)
4. Strength gets you finally equipped (6 letters)
5. Classic film appears first with Sesame Street left unestablished inside (6, 9 letters)
6. Intended to alter a few lines for an earthworm (8 letters)
7. Snug garment is reduced in loops (5 letters)
8. Capable of quenching flames of desire – for instance, with nine movements (4, 6 letters)
12. Vague image of cold, noticeable, southern headland (10 letters)
15. Teddy potentially getting furious and erupting (9 letters)
16. A metaphor for thousands of pounds before starting work – completely familial (8 letters)
19. Fairy monarch enters through part of a tower (6 letters)
21. Get caught up with a political gathering on the left (5 letters)
22. A subsequent vehicle offers injury shielding (4 letters)
Reporting based on coverage first published by theguardian.com.