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Here are ten cryptic clues in the "charade" style, meaning that that's the only wordplay involved. That's a big hint for a cryptic clue! — so I'm not giving you letter counts.

  • Second-rate wafer material is bitter
  • Hurry up! Leave us, heretic
  • Top student from a southern port
  • Glass engraving is offensive
  • Duke's state: sober
  • Check flower for return to life
  • Cleveland site was erected near jelly, perhaps
  • "Facial hair is a necessity" —a Fidel supporter
  • Belted girls to obtain a form of protection
  • Nixon and Carter backer

(These don't combine into one master puzzle or anything like that. They're just ten separate clues. Oh, and I'll provide letter counts if needed after a time.)

Hint added later: The respective letter counts (in order) are

6; 7; 10; 9; 9; 13; 9,7; 8; 10; and 6.

Hint added even later:

"Top" is perhaps slightly unfair. Better would be "Max, a student from a southern port".

Hint added even later: The respective first letters of the answers (in order) are

B, R, C, P, L, R, R, M, S, and P.

Hint added even later: The respective definition halves of the clues are at (in order) their

end, end, end, end, start, end, start, start, end, and end.

Hint added even later: Only three clues remain unsolved. Hints for them are:

Second-rate wafer material is bitter: The attempted answer had the right sense of "bitter".

Top student from a southern port: The definition half is "from a southern port".

Cleveland site was erected near jelly, perhaps: Not Ohio.

msh210
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  • Would you like to clarify whether "charade-style" means only that the top-level construction is a charade, or whether it means that that's the only wordplay? E.g., "Be impressed by promotion of mixed-up rime (6)", solution ADMIRE, is charade-style in the first sense but not the second because one of the components in the charade is an anagram. (Also, it's a terrible clue, but it's just an example.) – Gareth McCaughan Jun 11 '20 at 16:00

1 Answers1

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A quick perusal over morning coffee can provide one small contribution:

Check flower for return to life - REINCARNATION [REIN + CARNATION]
"Facial hair is a necessity" —a Fidel supporter - MUSTACHE [MUST + A + CHE]

And a couple more over dinner

Belted girls to obtain a form of protection - SUNGLASSES [SUNG + LASSES]
Nixon and Carter backer - PATRON [PAT + RON]. How long did I spend trying combinations of Richard and Jimmy!?

Looks like I'm needing those clues, but another one solved over morning coffee

Hurry up! Leave us, heretic - RUSHDIE [RUSH + DIE]

Starting to be a little less confident now.....

Duke's state: sober - LANDGRAVE [LAND + GRAVE]

And now clutching at straws I think, unless more clues are on the horizon......

Glass engraving is offensive - PHILIPPIC [PHILIP + PIC?] not sure how pic fits in here
Second-rate wafer material is bitter - BRUMAL [B + RUMAL?] not sure how wafer would fit in here

Tidying these up and combining the contributions from the comments below...thanks to JeremyDover, El-Guest and Tom combining for a great community effort. A really nice puzzle that kept me far too busy not doing what I should have been doing for a week.

Final answers we know are correct

1. Second-rate wafer material is bitter - BALTIC [B + AlTiC] (thanks Tom)
2. Hurry up! Leave us, heretic - RUSHDIE [RUSH + DIE]
3. Top student from a southern port - CAPETONIAN [CAP + ETONIAN] (thanks El-Guest)
4. Glass engraving is offensive - PHILIPPIC [PHILIP + PIC]
5. Duke's state: sober - LANDGRAVE [LAND + GRAVE]
6. Check flower for return to life - REINCARNATION [REIN + CARNATION]
7. Cleveland site was erected near jelly, perhaps - ROSEBERRY TOPPING [ROSE + BERRY TOPPING] (thanks JeremyDover)
8. "Facial hair is a necessity" —a Fidel supporter - MUSTACHE [MUST + A + CHE]
9. Belted girls to obtain a form of protection - SUNGLASSES [SUNG + LASSES]
10. Nixon and Carter backer - PATRON [PAT + RON].

long
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  • @Tom, yes, indeed! – msh210 Jun 18 '20 at 10:48