Cryptic No. 1 — cryptic crossword

A cryptic puzzle: 36 clues on a 13×13 grid. Solve it online — check your answers as you go, ask for a hint, and read how each clue works once it is solved.

Across

1. Standard drops opener and falls behind (3)
3. Duck died and was adored (5)
6. Molten rock, part of naval retreat (4)
9. Russian range, taking in the fashionable, is a convenience (6)
10. Test a fool? Yes! (5)
11. Soak clutching the queen, a type (4)
12. Embrace Spain and be enormous (4)
13. Where nothing is black or white (4,4)
15. Fathers losing energy, gentlemen (4)
17. Copper, terrible, in a cheap thriller (5,8)
21. Rule, so we hear, comes down (4)
22. Boring it out somehow, going round (8)
25. Cry from part of valley, going back (4)
27. Riot organised by the three musicians (4)
28. Sent a mile off in seconds! (5)
29. Prague folk, by the sound of it, are young birds (6)
30. Swarm going back to a gathering (4)
31. Broadcasting a sitcom in colour, initially rudimentary (5)
32. Cheer found in the console (3)

Down

1. Left stake with the senior service for a light (7)
2. Soviet camp where a glug is stirred (5)
3. Early ape reconstructed as one in four (4,4)
4. Caller losing it gets a face guard (5)
5. Parched Humpty's perch is plasterboard (7)
6. Green drunk (4)
7. Got up, taking in university, to excite (6)
8. Sixth form king with spirit is unspoilt (6)
14. Show again, concerning the campaign (5)
16. Sly stoic somehow at maximum pressure (8)
17. Expert on the doing word gives a saying (7)
18. May diet badly when the sun is up (7)
19. Savage ice ref sent off (6)
20. Different from one such as this (6)
23. Cheek of the top people (5)
24. Good Coke, shaken, reveals a lizard (5)
26. Beaten, or unable to find the way (4)

More: Cryptic cryptic crosswords.

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