The Times - Cryptic - December 19, 2014

 The Times - Cryptic - Times Cryptic 25974 - December 19, 2014

Clue	Answer
Battle-toughened and perhaps prepared for shelling	HARDBOILED
Break plant container off the wall	CRACKPOT
Bring about losing weight for the time of one's life	SPAN
Candidate's final, frantic late bid for revision?	EDITABLE
College officer finding answer in study	DEAN
Copper lines to select for terminations	CULL
Delicate nature of head after good French brandy	FINENESS
Dish in city known for hard cheese adds revolutionary stuff to mould	PAPIERMACHE
Early signs of Greek bank having nothing raised	LINEARB
Exceed ripening without end, curiously being still green	INEXPERIENCED
Foodstuff with surplus energy and nitrogen	GLUTEN
Friend put up with support of university in very satisfactory artificial language	VOLAPUK
Harsh criticism is dashed antagonistic when a name's not provided	CASTIGATION
I successfully promoted English operatic role	ISOLDE
Israelite king taking up religion almost totally	AHAB

Clue	Answer
Large bird identified by middle section of leg bone	EMU
Male donkey provided for group of mounts	MASSIF
Mineral? Masses perhaps found on borders of Paraguay	PYRITES
Move up in class if in good intake	GENTRIFY
Ne plus ultra being far from still undecided?	NEUTRAL
Nearly was successful in America after backing extreme lottery	RAFFLE
Old army vehicles carrying German master soldiers	OTHERRANKS
Perhaps Hudson river bed is very far down	ROCKBOTTOM
Promotion coming before excitement	PREFERMENT
Run key article for author	GOETHE
Runs a fiddle discounting new fare from Italy	RAVIOLI
Settling on name outside the family	TAKING
Sticks up favourite news item	SNIPPET
Tool separating beluga's head from blubber	AWL
Visit chain of millions for ordering? One would want something more exclusive	FASHIONVICTIM