Puzzle 1 Formula foretaste I—Anagram

Hint: Look for the signpost in each clue, that signal to skew adjacent letters.

ACROSS

1 Harry, Ned—a boy’s name (4)

3 So shut off (4)

7 I peter out, spoiling spin (9)

8 It decreases Mortein, as sprayed? (5,4)

9 Stir their mash, needing more water (9)

10 Enid arranged feast (4)

11 Spent fraudulent dues (4)

DOWN

1 Edits OpEd, roughly put in (9)

2 1-across neighbour wearing no threads (9)

4 Most Irish plays haphazard (3-2-4)

5 Greenside Complex erupting (6,3)

6 Guess turned mussier (7)

Puzzle 2 Formula foretaste II—Hidden

Hint: Each clue hides its solution in plain sight.

ACROSS

4 French writer contributes to Gitmo lie readily (7)

5 Stupid basin in empty passage (7)

6 China’s potential partly stuck (2,1,4)

DOWN

1 Agree to lexicon’s entire excerpt (7)

2 ‘Big cat’ in Swahili, one’s supposing (7)

3 Club ran so noisily, stuffing entrepreneur (7)

Puzzle 3 Formula foretaste III—Double definition

Hint: No signposts are required in this formula, where two definitions for the one solution sit hand-in-hand.

ACROSS

3 Contemporary ocean motion (7)

5 Warmer Princess Di, once upon a time? (7)

6 Decreed in sequence (7)

DOWN

1 Field athletes’ guernseys (7)

2 Catalogued like a hand? (7)

4 Stove set (5)

Puzzle 4 Formula foretaste IV—Charade

Hint: NUMBAT is NUMB plus AT in this habitat, no scrambling needed. That’s why charades lack signposts, although they may carry their share of linking words. You’ll find this puzzle the hardest so far.

ACROSS

1 Rate parliament’s foremost expert (4)

3 English male needs mother to get Austen novel (4)

7 Withdrew on pay for singer Sheeran (9)

8 Shop’s interior making meal, plus one movie (4,5)

9 Awful eastern golfer, Norman, acquired debts (9)

10 Brownish potassium vat (4)

11 Gather the girl’s diamonds (4)

DOWN

1 Ancient paper published first by crafty men on time (9)

2 Whip a blemish on a new twin-hulled boat (9)

4 Timekeeper met director Howard to ring me (9)

5 Dealt with a daughter in clothing (9)

6 Muddle me with NZ’s ex-PM, David (7)

Puzzle 5 Formula foretaste V—Container

Hint: MACRAME can be RAM surrounded by MACE, or MACE swamping RAM—or even A CRAM squashing into ME. Because in this recipe, X holds Y, or Y disrupts X.

ACROSS

4 Height gauge to change across duration (9)

6 Expert covered nephew’s first zits (4)

7 Crazy to hug one servant (4)

8 Bump torpedo’s head aboard Nautilus? (4)

10 Bloke interrupts morning: ‘Excuse me!’ (4)

11 Napoleon has a role, cutting fillet (9)

DOWN

1 Fib about new wrinkle (4)

2 Masterpiece infected by radical microbe (4)

3 US money injected into broadcast dregs (8)

5 Place to find calcium-laced cream? (8)

9 Craft Club hemming zip? (4)

10 US city, as circumscribed sadly (4)

Puzzle 6 Formula foretaste VI—Homophone

Hint: While homophone clues are easy to ‘sea’, thanks to their audio cue, they do call on two steps: find the wordplay’s word, then say that word aloud. (Beware: one clue entails a double homophone, where two words need vocalising to sound out the solution.)

ACROSS

4 Painter’s need a sense of taste, we hear (7)

5 Impressive AFL marks aircraft sheds, say (7)

6 Audited fringe lodger (7)

DOWN

1 Bullfighter issue opening under discussion? (7)

2 Report shelves account books (7)

3 Levels quoted in accounts (7)