Weekend Quick Cryptic 77 - Solution

My fellow TimesforTheTimes contributors Phil Jordan, Sawbill and I are continuing to produce Quick Cryptic crosswords to fill the gap left by the Saturday Times not having one. The plan is for us to take turns, publishing one a fortnight, and this week it's my turn. 

You can find a link to the crossword here and the answers below. Feel free to leave any comments or questions here as you would do on TfTT. You can find an index to the complete series of crosswords here. 

COME AND MEET SOME FELLOW CROSSWORD LOVERS. We are planning another London get together on Saturday 24th June from 1200 at The George, Borough High Street, Southwark, Greater London, SE1 1NH. All are welcome. Your Weekend Quick Cryptic Compilers and several TfTT bloggers and regular commenters will be there. We are also expecting Mick Hodgkin, the Times Puzzles Editor, Richard Rogan, Times Crossword Editor and Pete Biddlecombe, Sundays Times Crossword Editor and founder of Times for The Times to drop in. If you intend coming along, please drop me a line to Johninterred's Email, or send me a message via the "Contact Me" box in the sidebar, so we can have some idea of numbers and reserve sufficient table space.

Before looking at the answers, if you would like some additional help, click the label below.

Hints...

Some hints and tips:

• The title should maybe have been "It's raining heavily".
• The ? in 1A indicates "runner" is a definition by example.
• In 2D you need to "lift and separate" timeless.
• Knowing your NATO phonetic alphabet helps with 10D.
• The clue for 7D is a reference to our get together in June. Do come and join us.

And click on this label to get the solution.

Solution and explanation of the answers...

Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc,  {deletions} and [] other indicators.

 

Across
1 Support Eastern European following runner? (8)
BEANPOLE – BEAN (runner; the ? indicates a definition by example) POLE (Eastern European).
5 Musical is badly cast (4)
CATS – (cast)* [badly].
8 We shirk shaving at first accidentally leading to long facial hair (8)
WHISKERS – (we shirk s{having})* [accidentally].
9 Wild animal captured by billionaire (4)
LION – Hidden in bilLIONaire.
11 Row about ending safeguarding of endangered predator (5)
TIGER – TIER (row of seating) about safeguardinG [ending].
12 World's fastest runner is, I hear, an adulterer (7)
CHEETAH – Sounds like CHEATER (adulterer).
13 Has to contain hunger of scavengers (6)
HYENAS – YEN (hunger) in HAS.
15 Provoke commotion at university (4,2)
STIR UP – STIR (commotion) UP (at University).
18 These speakers are barking (7)
WOOFERS – Double definition, the second a cryptic hint.
19 Run across wanderer (5)
ROVER – R (run) OVER (across).
21 Use this to control precipitation, we hear (4)
REIN – Sounds like RAIN (precipitation).
22 Excellent ruby beer coming from here in Yorkshire (8)
AIREDALE – AI (A1; excellent) RED (ruby) ALE (beer).
23 Closely follows the pack (4)
DOGS – Double definition, the second a cryptic hint.
24 Adenoids bizarrely protected by a metal coating (8)
ANODISED – (Adenoids)* [bizarrely].
 
Down
1 Dog swallows English wife's charm (7)
BEWITCH – E (English) W (wife) in BITCH (dog)
2 Abandoning timeless way of raising money (5)
AXING – {t}AXING (way of raising money) without the T (time) [timeless].
3 Impassive when Rod upset some coffee (5-5)
POKER-FACED – POKER (Rod), DECAF (some coffee) [upset] -> FACED.
4 Player, mis-cast, regularly forgot words of the song (6)
LYRICS – Alternate letters [regularly forgot] of pLaYeR mIs-CaSt.
6 Pilot heading for Axminster by way of Glastonbury, perhaps? (7)
AVIATOR – [heading for] Axminster, VIA (by way of) TOR (Glastonbury, perhaps).
7 Come together and, reportedly, down a drink (5)
SYNCH – Sound like SINK (down a drink).
10 Tango ends brief dancing relationship between you and your setter? (4,6)
BEST FRIEND – (T ends brief)* [dancing]. Tango is the NATO alphabet name for T.
14 Sneaking off to an away match (7)
ELOPING – Cryptic definition.
16 Warn of trouble when reaching open sea? (7)
PORTEND – PORT END (when reaching open sea). The ? hints the wordplay is cryptic.
17 Allocate Charlie first gin cocktail (6)
ASSIGN – ASS (Charlie) (gin)* [cocktail].
18 Like some bras making group of women embarrassed (5)
WIRED – WI (Women’s Institute; group of women) RED (embarrassed).
20 Czech national turns up with iodine in medicine bottles (5)
VIALS – SLAV (Czech national) with I (Iodine) in [turns up].