The thing is, if you’re going to do a puzzle marking your tenth creation, it might be best to check it isn’t the eleventh. It was only in setting up the pages on this site that I discovered that I only had paper copies of the very first puzzle, so my quick count of the annually dated folders on my computer was – um – wrong. But it’s still a good puzzle, I think, even if it’s a year late.
There were ten words that could be extended by the inclusion or addition of the word TEN. Seven were clued by a mix of wordplay for one and definition for the other. The other three were clued with misprints, the correct letters of which, in order, also spelled TEN.
Clues could be to one of (TEN)SILE, AN(TEN)NA or SHOR(TEN)ED.
ACROSS
1 THOUGH(TEN); H in tough
5 DESORB; deso(late) + BR (rev.)
9 EPRISE; EP rise
10 THORA; h in a rot (rev.)
12 SLEAZY; EAZ in sly
13 COLON; Col on
14 SILE; is (rev.) l e; sTrain
15 HEAR(TEN)ING; anag.
16 ACTUAL; ‘t in a Cu al(l)
19 ROUNDELS; round Els
21 FLOODLIT; loo d in flit
28 MERMAN; me r ma(I)n
29 CHAS(TEN)ING; Chas in g
30 ANNA; hidden; damE
31 HARIM; I in harm
32 ZAGREB; ZA + berg (rev.)
33 MEINT; e in mint
34 OCTUOR; rout Co (all rev.)
35 OS(TEN)SORY; OS + anag.
36 DIPLO(TEN)E; plot in diene
DOWN
1 TUSSAH; SA in tush
2 HELICAL; ICA in hell
3 URAEUS; e in Ura(n)us
4 GIZZARDS; izzard in G S
5 DETENU; Det + une (rev.)
6 SHORED; OR in shed; warNed
7 OOLITES; it in anag.
8 BAN(TEN)GS; n in bags
11 RONG; (w)rong
17 ANTENATI; ant e nati(on)
18 JOWARIS; jow aris
20 LLANERO; Ore(go)n all (all rev.)
22 ORSINO; or sin 0
23 LENVOY; v in no in ley
24 DRAG UP; rag in pud (rev.)
25 UN(TEN)ABLE; nab in ule
26 SCHMO; Sch mo
27 THAE; tha(n)e
Winning clues (as it happens, all to SHOR(TEN)ED)
1st Thematic answers are entered thus, otherwise parts discarded (Roger Phillips)
2nd Concise abandoned OED’s earliest items of historical rarity (Jonathan Crowther)
2nd “The Beach: Director’s Cut” (Ross Beresford)
3rd Putting five hundred on skittish horse lowered its odds (Kevin McDermid)
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