Solution to Missing Letters by Conto

 Solution to Missing by Conto

‘Missing Letters’ by Conto – Solutions/Explanations – Definitions underlined

For each clue, the correlating letter from the alphabet is absent from the wordplay. Such respective letters are indicated below in bold.

4. A mature saying (5) A + AGE = ADAGE
25. Fruit beer distributed with obscure packaging (9) BLU{(BEER)*distributed}R = BLUEBERRY
12. East of Switzerland, old queen makes trench (7) CH + ANNE = CHANNEL
15. Situation in court – ten playing against ten (7) C{(TEN)*playing+X}T = CONTEXT
9. One committed to assasinate the King in state capital of Eswatini (7) F[r]ANCE + E[swatini] = FIANCEE
6. Fish used to provide these, cryptically – roe upon sea’s surface (9) ORECAST + S = FORECASTS / ORE CAST = (ORE)*cast = roe
1. Father nude…Nude? That’s a crime! (5) FR + [n]UD[e] = FRAUD
11. Come to be cuddling a special seal (6) G{AS}ET = GASKET
5. How mum passes buck to a guy for shark wrestling (2,3,4,6) (TOAGUYFORSHARKWRESTLING)*wrestling = GO ASK YOUR FATHER
7. Attic smell (5) REEK = GREEK
8. Bill and Dorothy’s dog eaten by eagle – filleted or whole? (4-2-3) E[agl]{AD+TOTO}E = HEAD TO TOE
19. That man sung songs (5) HYMN (homophone, ‘sung’, of ‘him’) = HYMNS
22. One key number that is imaginary or unknown (5) I + OR + Y = IVORY
10. Young person (that’s posh) by the banks of Venice river (8) U + V[enic]E + NILE = JUVENILE
24. City leaders in advance talks with Conto’s waste disposal facility! (8) LA + A[dvance] T[alks] + I’VE = LAXATIVE
17. Starts to lay out utensils and to serve oriental fruit (7) L[ay] O[ut] U[tensils] A[nd] T[o] S[erve] = LOQUATS
18. Mother with large boy getting the train? (7) MA + L + LAD = MALLARD
20. Meals regularly dispatched by one very loud dog (7) M[e]A[l]S + I + FF = MASTIFF
13. Standard or dairy-free Galaxy? (2,3) [milk]Y WAY = MY WAY
16. Dog and Duck football team (7) O + INTER = POINTER
14. Broken toy, buckets, bottles and locks one’s gathered (9) P{(TOY)*broken}AILS = PONYTAILS
3. Socialist’s repeatedly taken drugs, thus declines (7) RE{E}D{E}S = RECEDES
2. Misguidedly met up with her online, i.e. exchanged contact (9,6) (METUPHERONL[I>E]NE)*misguidedly = TELEPHONE NUMBER
21. Turnover of three-hundred dairies containing teats (5) Reverse hidden = UDDER
22. Heated with heat (6) ARMED = WARMED
26. ‘Bungle Bear’ is an animal (5) (BEAR)*bungle = ZEBRA