Cryptic clues — 1 October 2026

Answers & explanations

1. BEND (4)

   Basket-maker's tip before the weave starts. Some of takes BEND from bending — curve, crook the green wood. Shavings, wet bark and a low stool sell the hide as craft talk, not a yoga instruction on a card.

2. DIRT (4)

   Scullery sink when the brush still scrapes. Nearly trims the final Y from dirty, leaving DIRT. Grime is that dirt sense — soil, smear, filth. Soft steam and a lukewarm flannel cloak the dock as kitchen aside, letters shortening without fuss.

3. TREY (4)

   Serving platter mistyped into a three. Playing-card three is a trey; tray after one letter change turns A into E, giving TREY.

4. TROT (4)

   Chambers humour: smash the civil wrong, then take exercise. Broken anagrams tort into TROT; jog is the definition, shared with its cousin lope but here the four-beat pace. Lawyers who overthink the pleading miss the bridle path.

5. BACKUP (6)

   IT cupboard when the drives still hum. Support yields BACK; upward UP — BACKUP, relief copy. Warm plastic and a sticky label wrap support-then-up as server-room weather.

6. SPINE (5)

   Clinic pause when the chart still rustles. Backbone is the spine; spite with a change of heart replaces T with N — SPITE to SPINE. Soft antiseptic and a cold cuff sell the heart-swap as ward aside, not a labelled grudge.

7. PUNISH (6)

   Discipline is the definition; the first letters of the listed words spell PUNISH.

8. BURP (4)

   Canteen farce: slab menu, dinner gulp. Closing letters of slab menu dinner gulp, tipped by 'in conclusion', make BURP. Bubble is the air that escapes — a burp — so the blunt surface earns a grin.

9. VACATION (8)

   Airport aside when the tickets still flutter. Leisure is vacation as holiday time; spend abroad nods to vacation as leaving a post or place. Double definition. Soft cases wrap break and departure as one American eight.

10. MOLDY (5)

    Cellar step when the crates still sweat. Musty is that fusty, mildewed reading. For the ear cues a spoken mouldy, which yields the American-spelled MOLDY. Soft cobwebs and a bent torch cloak the spelling shift as storeroom mutter while the ear does the work.