Take It Away! 2

Conservative leaves territory for girl (5)

Reimburse no engineers, no king, no son - just invest (5)

The French second to desert guillemot, leading to remorse (5)

Remove corrosion from thrusting object (5)

Religious leader with no time for Bunny (5)

Intercept after English Roman Catholic's departure with no time to become incompetent (5)

Clues will often ask you to take a word (or a letter or a letter combo) away from another word, to leave another. For example, "Californian blokes leave lamentable furniture (5)" , where "Californian" = LA (i.e. Los Angeles), "blokes = MEN, so if they leave LAMENTABLE, they leave you with TABLE - a piece of FURNITURE. Another example: "Dog abandons swearing to make music (4)" , where "swearing" = CURSING and "dog" = CUR, so when CUR leaves, you're left with SING = make music. A third example: "A marine departs heated to get married (3)" where "heated" = WARMED, "a marine" = A RM (a Royal Marine) and when they leave WARMED, you're ;eft with WED = get married. If you like my crosswords, then you'll LOVE the Cryptic Mystic's YouTube channel, which is a brilliant resource for cryptic newbies and has been kind enough to feature a few of my puzzles https://www.youtube.com/@The_Cryptic_Mystic

I solved it! And even better, I think I understand all but two of the clues (eventually)! My questions:

4A: I get the overall drift but not the details. What letters or pairs do “engineers” and “king” and “son” signify?

5A: How does “French second” become “lemo” (or does it)?

4A: "Engineers", as discussed in a previous crossword, clues the letter combo RE in British cryptic puzzles (Royal Engineers of the British Army, in which my grandfather served in the First World War), "king" = R (for REX, as in CHARLES REX or CAROLUS REX), "son" = S

5A: "THE French second" becomes LEMO, because "the" in French is LE and MO (short for MOMENT) is a synonym for "second", as in "Hang on a mo!"

Take It Away! 2

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