Guardian Cryptic 26320 with Picture Quiz

(Please post comments on ONLY the picture quiz hereinbelow.  To post comments on the crossword puzzle, please click here.)   There’s a nina in the grid, which helped me in solving the last couple of ones in. Thanks to Puck. Definitions are underlined in the clues.

Across

7    Knocking gets back “Hello, sailor”? Just the opposite (3-1-3)

RAT-A-TAT : Reversal of(back) [ TA-TA!(Just the opposite;converse of”hello!”) + TAR(informal term for a sailor) }.

8    CV a university briefly chewed over without reference to anything else (2,5)

IN VACUO : Anagram of(briefly chewed) [ CV A + UNI(short; for “university”) ] + O(abbrev. for “over” in cricket scores).

9    Amongst friends in Gabon, departs for Sweden (4)

AMID : “amis”(French, the official language of Gabon, for “friends”) with “d”(abbrev. for “departs”) replacing “S”(International Vehicle Registration code for Sweden).

10    King argued with a prince’s backing for preparatory drudgery (9)

SPADEWORK : Reversal of(… backing) [ K(abbrev. for “king” in chess) + ROWED(argued) plus(with) A + P(abbrev. for “prince”)‘S ] .

12    Quiet and noble type, one of great worth (5)

PEARL : P(abbrev. for “piano”, musical direction to play quietly) plus(and) EARL(a noble title).

13    “Dangerous women” are words often repeated by priests on vacation (8)

MANTRAPS : MANTRA(words often repeated while meditating) plus(by) “priests ” minus its all inner letters(… on vacation).

15    Something armour-plated and brown looking, essentially (4)

TANK : TAN(coloured brown) + the middle letter of(…, essentially) “looking “.

16    Day at Georgia golf club (5)

WEDGE : WED(abbrev. for Wednesday) plus(at) GE(the ISO country code for Georgia).

17    Kind of snout, extremely yellow on the inside (4)

SORT : The 1st and last letters of(…, extremely) “snout ” containing(… on the inside) OR(the colour yellow, in heraldry).

18    Hope lad’s working in plant (8)

ASPHODEL : Anagram of(… working i) HOPE LAD’S.

20    Sailor with alias in Asian city (5)

OSAKA : OS(abbrev. for “ordinary seaman”;a sailor) plus(with) AKA(abbrev. for “also known as”, introducing an alias).

21    Remove impurity in trifle? (6,3)

FILTER OUT : A reverse clue: Anagram of(… OUT) FILTER = “trifle“.

22    Stops goals (4)

ENDS : Double defn.

24    Resistance level once 80% below 500? That’s approximate (7)

ROUNDED : R(symbol for electrical resistance in physics) + O(-Level, once the secondary school leaving exams in England, now replaced by the GCSE) + 4 out of 5 letters of(80%) “under”(below) + D(Roman numeral for 500).

Defn: Describing a number that’s expressed less precisely than it really is.

25    Fungal growth left by old cherry (7)

MORELLO : MOREL(an edible mushroom, a genus of the fungi kingdom of organisms ) + L(abbrev. for “left”) plus(by) O(abbrev. for “old”).

Answer: A variety of small, very dark sour cherry.

Down

1    Old woman this setter’s hurt (4)

MAIM : MA(mother;sometimes refered to as one’s old woman) + I’M(self-referencing “setter is” or “setter’s” = “I am” or “I’m”).

2    Rescuers on the way to see rescue ship find one of first pair listed for saving? (8)

AARDVARK : AA(sort of rescuers when you’re having car trouble) placed above(on, in a down clue) RD(abbrev. for “road”;way) + V(abbrev. for the Latin for “see”, when citing references in text) + ARK(sort of rescue ship, during the biblical Flood).

Defn: I think this refers to the pair of animals in the grid which are or might become endangered species.  And I see that today’s FT crossword setter is Aardvark – is this just coincidence or another connection?

3    Mothers the Spanish lady who’s in distress (6)

DAMSEL : DAMS(mothers; especially of livestock) + EL(Spanish for “the”).

Defn: The stock character in distress, requiring a hero to rescue her.

4    Painter needlessly includes one in confinement … (8)

INTERNEE : Hidden in(… includes) “Painter needlessly “.

5    … for this work? (6)

LABOUR : Cryptic defn: From the previous clue(…), one in confinement might;? be doing hard labour.

6    Hide fortune, making run for Cuba (4)

LURK : “luck”(fortune;your lot) with “r”(abbrev. for “run” in cricket scores) replacing(making … for) C( code for Cuba).

11    A right crazy one? LOL! Crazy one of a number hiding around here (9)

ARMADILLO :  A + R(abbrev. for “right”) + MAD(crazy) + I(Roman numeral for “one”) + anagram of(…! Crazy) LOL.

Answer: There are 2 more of this answer hidden round the grid perimeter. And a tail-less one in the lower half of the grid’s 14th column – it has been 24 off?

12    Those carrying babies in pregnancy, reminded as morning sickness starts (5)

PRAMS : The 1st letters, respectively, of(… starts) “pregnancy, reminded as morning sickness “.

14    Source of prosciutto supplied by mail, say? (5)

PARMA : The 1st letter of(Source of) “prosciutto ” plus(supplied by) homophone of(…, say) “armour”(mail;body protection worn by the knights of old).

Defn: The Italian city where the famous ham;prosciutto comes from. A WIWD (wordplay intertwined with definition) clue.

16    Showing great surprise on hearing reason for death (4-4)

WIDE-EYED : Homophone of(on hearing) “why died”(query as to the reason for a death).

17    Ben’s height is measured relative to this Cork daredevil biker (3,5)

SEA LEVEL : SEAL(which could be accomplished with a cork, cf. wine in bottles) + EVEL(Knievel, American daredevil biker and stuntman).

Defn: The datum above which the height of a mountain, including any Scottish ben, is measured.

19    Spartan/Trojan adult female (6)

HELENA : HELEN(in Greek mythology, originally from Sparta, then abducted to Troy) + A(abbrev. for “adult”).

Defn: A feminine name.

20    Month before French king gets tax on goods brought into town (6)

OCTROI : OCT(abbrev. for the month of October) placed above(before, in a down clue) ROI(French for “king”).

21    Beginning at the start of false memory (4)

FROM : The 1st letter of(the start of) “false ” + ROM(abbrev. for “read-only memory” in a computer).

23    Lecturer to top up pickle ingredient (4)

DILL : Reversal of(… up, in a down clue) [ L(abbrev. for “lecturer”) plus(to) LID(the top of, say, a container) ].

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The following pictures have unidentified links to the puzzle.  (For pic7, besides Parmesan).

       

(Please post comments on ONLY the picture quiz hereinbelow. To post comments on the crossword puzzle, please click here.)