Herald Crossword

[rich47]

Really struggling today on two16d ...
14d in utility vehicle, bell was pressed with force.... (9) e???l?e??
....bell (extremely tiresome), it was used to diminish (8) ???i?t??
All assistance gratefully received

[Euphemia]

2 belittle

[bibblebub]

14d ebullient = anagram of in+ute+bell

[rich47]

Many thanks Euphemia and bibblebub
I now have got two wrong
17a ....Derek super-sized his starters! (8) ??e?u?e? and
25a time to sleep, having worked on kitchen tool (6) ?e?t?e
Please have a go.

[bibblebub]

25a pestle = anagram of t+sleep

[bibblebub]

having no luck with 17a - what's the answer to the clue immediately before it?

[rich47]

I think 17d is pipe

[bibblebub]

I meant the across clue 16a, 15a, 14a... whatever the previous number is before 17a.

[rich47]

16d is belittle which gives the final e in 17a
15a is devoured which has no connection

[rich47]

Hi bibblebub are you still stuck on 17a? Not like you.

[bibblebub]

preludes ??? is a synonym for 'starters' but can't yet see how it fits with the rest of the clue

The reason why I was asking for the previous answer is that sometimes, but not always, the ellipsis (...) at the beginning of a clue means that you include the immediately previous answer as part of the clue, so that in this case it would become 'devoured derek super-sized his starters'. Apologies if you know this already.

[Oldred]

17a preludes - anag super + del

[bibblebub]

d'oh (one can look at a clue for toooo long)

[Euphemia]

But you got there in the end!

[rich47]

well done oldred! many thanks
I agree with you bibblebub