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1.Ministers staff embracing sexually ambiguous Tory leader(7) ca(bi)ne-T

2.Sweet extremes of cruelty(5) c-and-y

3.What Ivor did....delighted!(7) chuffed

4.He wrote nonsense in the loo with church blessing(9) cLEARan-ce

5.In agreement. Y(?)/N(yes)(9) consonant(Y is sometimes classified as a vowel)

6.Advocate in group playing squash(9) co(urge)tte

7.Sugar free?(7) Croesus(anag of sucrose,Lord Sugar)



A.Broken hearts not belonging or in fashion(7) f(or)eign

B.Frayed ends of litmus paper(3,4) dye test -an afterthought(was only going to be one link clue)sorry, bit of a dodgy definition

Great fun ixion – well crafted with some flashes of genius. I particularly liked 4 and A. Not so keen on the indirect anagrams in 6 and 7 - would never have got 7 without your nudges.

Look forward to next week.

Thanks very much, ixion. 6 and 7 were too advanced for me despite nudges so didn't get A either. Perhaps aristophanes will get up early next week and have a go.

I really enjoyed having a go, and am reasonably happy to have solved 5 answers, (In addition, I did guess courgette simply because of the squash, but could not get the wordplay) Looking forward to the next one.

I really didn't like 7 - am sure you were fully expecting this and similar comments!

I think 7 works much better with the longer (by one word) clue that you originally had in mind.

I got a few of them, mog. I don't think I would have solved courgette, however. I thought you Brits called them vegetable marrows! In Trollope's thrilling American travelogue, North America, he finds it hilarious that we use the word squash; it's a running joke. He'll be poking fun at someone ordering dinner, say, and can't resist adding to the request: "Oh yes, and some squash."

lol - yes I was Chips....I blame The Wee Stinker(Myops)which until relatively recently was the only cryptic I did.

Thanks for all the feedback guys, I'll try and rein in the indirect anagrams next week.

Though I suppose things can change in a mere hundred and fifty years...

A quote from "A Clue to Our Lives, 80 Years of the Guardian Crossword":

"Indirect anagrams are forbidden. For example, 'Graduate never ordered plant (7)' for VERBENA is illegitimate as you have to first guess that graduate is BA before doing the anagram; but 'east' to put an E into the anagram is OK. Just"