| Answers and Clues | Explanations | |
| ADVENT | ||
| Commercial made by outlet is coming (6) | AD + VENT | |
| BIOLOGISTS | ||
| Old part of tree is cut into bits for life scientists (10) | (O + LOG + IS) inside BITS | |
| COVER DRIVE | ||
| Offside play by one positioned in the centre? (5,5) | Cryptic definition | |
| DESERT | ||
| Leave high and dry wasteland (6) | Double Definition | |
| EMISSION | ||
| Pass over one featured in extensive Time issue (8) | (MISS + I) inside EON | |
| FESTIVE | ||
| It’s about Victor being in charge and happy (7) | (ITS reversed + V) inside FEE | |
| GREEN TEA | ||
| Drunken teenager leaves drink (5,3) | Anagram of TEENAGER | |
| HOLIDAYED | ||
| Brick carrier taking cover certainly had a break (9) | HOD outside (LID + AYE) | |
| IDEA | ||
| I Pick out nucleus of neat plan (4) | ID + EA | |
| JOLLY | ||
| Ecstasy plugged by all except a drunk to some degree (5) | JOY outside (ALL minus A) | |
| KNOT | ||
| Boss’s number replacing one in kit (4) | K(i)T replaced by NO | |
| LOSE IT | ||
| Blow up centre of enclosed site in a state of disrepair (4,2) | enc(LO)sed + anagram of SITE | |
| MAGISTRATES | ||
| Gift-givers, right, restricted by governments and judges? (11) | MAGI + R inside STATES | |
| NATIVITY SCENE | ||
| Events in a city disrupted Yuletide display (8,5) | Anagram of EVENTS IN A CITY | |
| OLD STYLE | ||
| Set oddly replaced with type from the past (3,5) | Anagram of SET ODDLY | |
| PUDDING | ||
| Sweet thing turned up damaged at the front by accident (7) | UP reversed + (D)amaged + DING | |
| QUIRE | ||
| Group of carollers, say, vocalised part of book (5) | Sounds like CHOIR | |
| ROADSIDE | ||
| Promotion is not going forward in travelled area, by the way (8) | [AD + (IS reversed)] inside RODE | |
| STOCKING | ||
| Gift collection from St Nick got greatly distributed (8) | Anagram of (ST NICK GO)t | |
| TOSSPOTS | ||
| They take alcohol regularly to small locations (8) | TO + S + SPOTS | |
| UNIMPEDED | ||
| Open university attended by politician and senior journalists? (9) | UNI + MP + ED + ED | |
| VESPER | ||
| Unravelling of verse inspired by quiet prayer (6) | Anagram of VERSE outside P | |
| WEIRDLY | ||
| Some of us idly moved across river in an odd way (7) | WE + (IDLY outside R) | |
| XMAS | ||
| Crazy Mexicans giving up nice holiday (4) | Anagram of MEXICANS minus NICE | |
| YEAR | ||
| Period pieces collected by wealthy earl (4) | wealthY EARl | |
| ZILLION | ||
| A great number suffering in holy land (7) | ILL inside ZION |
Hi David
I’d like to let you know that your Crosswords page in the last AFR was very much appreciated as a welcome, pleasurable, gratifying and mentally ‘satisfying’ contribution to my Christmas activities. It was a delight. Thank you very much.
Compliments of the Season and all the very best to you and your family for the New Year.
Charmaine
Is “OLD STYLE” really an anagram of “SET ODDLY”? D -> L? D’oh!
Ahh, yes, you are right Rob. Looking back, I wanted an easy anagram for an unusual term and misread “set oldly” for “set oddly”. “oldly” doesn’t look right so my brain did an auto-correct. Should’ve gone to SpecSavers! I’ve been working on another clue. How about:
Type to sell dye mostly abroad (3,5)
Thanks
Stickler
Not sure that ‘Type” is a definition for OLD STYLE (but it might be?), but at least the anagram is sound.