Sharp and intelligent offering from the Don today
ACROSS
7 RAILLERY banter ILL ER in RAY light
8 INDIGO colour INDI[a] GO vitality
11 NANCY female FANCY imagine with F changed to N
12 POISONING one boy one I SON I in PONG bad smell
13 ONEROUS heavy individual ONE ROUS[E] stir up minus E
14 ELATION high spirits [r]ELATION first letter off
15 ANYONE FOR TENNIS (YEN IN AFTERNOONS)*
18 ROOSTER chicken duck O in ROSTER list
20 SALUTED given tribute LUTE clay in SAD grave (not sure why wet and cast)
22 STAGNATED stood still A G[u]N in reported STATED
23 ROWER sportsperson line ROW ER queen
24 SERMON hidden clue wiSER MONday
25 INTERCOM company CO in IN TERM
DOWN
1 BRONTOSAURUSES (SABOTEURS RUN SO)*
2 FIANCE one looking forward to wedding FRANCE R swapped to I
3 PLAY DOWN gloss over reference to County Down in Northern Ireland
4 GRAPES OF WRATH John Steinbeck (SOFTWARE)* in GRAPH
5 ANGOLA a new AN GOAL 2nd half twisted
6 DIVISION triple definition
9 ORGANISED CRIME taking things systematically! (RECONSIDER MAGI)*
10 VICE-PRESIDENT CE church in bigwig VIP RESIDENT guest
16 YEOMANRY estate workers the old YE O fellow MAN YR<
17 ENLARGED puffed out (LAGER)* in END finish
19 TANNOY speaker parliamenT ANNOY irritate
21 THWACK strike hospital women HW in change of policy TACK
( )* = anagram < = reverse [ ] = omit
Thanks Jed.
20ac: LUTE
One of my dictionaries (the ODE) gives ‘liquid clay or cement used to seal a joint,
coat a crucible, or protect a graft’ and “cast into” = “thrown into”.