No 14124, Saturday 16 Mar 2024, Pixie Dust

Welcome to our new setter Pixie Dust. Bouquets and Brickbats welcome.

ACROSS

7   Alexander Randall's hidden mission (6) ERRAND [T]

8   Strip financial assistance to obtain dangerous rifle (8) AIRFIELD {AI{RIFLE*}D}

9   Unelevated in audition? Ignore (8) UNDERSEA (~ under see) Not sure if this is ok?

10 Send able Docs (without borders) all at once (2,4) EN BLOC {sENd}{aBLe}{dOCs}

11 Incorrigible rebel! He dared go around naked, basically (8) HARDENED {HE+DARED}* over {Na..d}

12 Horse for a child picked up in Lucknow? Yes! Yes! (3-3) GEE-GEE (~ji-ji) 

13 Say, rough janitor moving ahead, oddly missing one trick (6,5) TROJAN HORSE {(~hoarse)HORSE} <=>{JANiTOR}*

18 Heart wraps around small piece of trifle and stays (6) CORSET {COR{S}E}{Tr...e}

20 Take controversial tale inside! This can be found on top of a news article (8) DATELINE {D{TALE*}INE}

22 Sow the seeds in soil, it's nice all around (6) INSTIL [T<=]

23 Oh, Roy's fantastic boxing record! It's about time (8) HOROLOGY {OH+ROY}* over {LOG}

24 Kind of paper crown for clown, perhaps? (8) FOOLSCAP {FOOLS}{CAP}

25 Cutter's fed up with loose ends (6) SICKLE {SICK}{LoosE}

DOWN

1   Leading industrialist escaped with man from Scotland and a native of Tehran (7) IRANIAN {In...t}{RAN}{IAN}

2   The French retailer has no love for oriental plant (8) LAVENDER {LA}{VEND(-o+e)ER}

3   No side rejected one who had a light-bulb moment? (6) EDISON<=

4   Broken chord affected opera gig (8) ARPEGGIO*

5   Eat nachos, Italian bruschetta, buttery lamb enchiladas for starters (6) NIBBLE Acrostic

6   Miserable old man! Sent away daughter to meet Queen's official distributor (7) ALMONER {OLd+MAN}*{ER}

8   Say, Hulk's hips? (9,4) ABANDONED SHIP {HIPS}* [RA]

14 Judges's new table (check edges), deep dark in colour (3-5) JET-BLACK {J}{TABLE*}{ChecK}

15 Corrupt act kills a place where animals go for supplements, perhaps (4,4) SALT LICK*

16 Average man Spooner refers to as Professor Joseph? (4,3) JOHN DOE (~don joe to john doe)

17 Make yourself small and spirit away man around noon (7) SNUGGLE {Sm{N}UGGLE}

19 City without a square (6) SETTLE SEaTTLE

21 Force husband into custody (6) THRUST {T{H}RUST}

Reference List

Small = S, The in French = LA, Oriental = E, Daughter = D, Queen = ER, Judge = J, Man = M, Noon = N, Husband = H