Cryptic clues — 30 September 2026

Answers & explanations

1. PRICE (5)

   Antique dealer wincing as the packing straw settles. Within lifts PRICE from priceless — damage, the cost sense of the knock. Soft cloths, insurance forms and a pale sticker turn the hide into shop mishap rather than a bare money word.

2. EMOTION (7)

   Dockside hush when the mailbag thumps down. In finds EMOTION inside emotional — sentiment, feeling laid bare. Salt spray, a bent stamp and gulls overhead turn the hide into parting weather, not a dictionary peel.

3. POUR (4)

   Plumber's aside on a stubborn kitchen tap. To begin with opens panel, often, upset, regard spelling POUR — stream. Spanners and wet floors turn the initials into one continuous flow, not a list.

4. PUNK (4)

   Take junk, turn its J into P, and out comes PUNK — "Ruffian" in the everyday sense. A natural-sounding use of junk does the covering here.

5. SONG (4)

   Choir loft when the organ still hums. Word maps to SON; gram supplies G — SON+G makes SONG. Call is the sung piece sense, a carol by another name. Soft hymnals and lukewarm tea dress the additive join as vestry chatter.

6. URGENT (6)

   Sail talk: the gunter yard is in a flap. 'Agitated' scrambles GUNTER to URGENT, and pressing is the definition — urgent business.

7. TANGO (5)

   TANGO, the dance, sits one letter away from mango: only M has to become T. The clue makes mango sound like part of the scene rather than the raw material.

8. PATTY (5)

   PATTY means cake. The clue's first letters, taken from its word list, spell PATTY.

9. LENT (4)

   Fasting time as the church season; lent as given for a while. Pew leaflet still creased.

10. ROARING (7)

    Forge yard when the bellows still wheeze. Blade maps to OAR; around slots it into gang (RING) — R(OAR)ING. Bellow is the roaring sense. Soft ash and a scratched apron cloak the container as smithy weather.