OW!

Exhibitors in the rain (7)

Admitted none were debt-free (7)

Make noise like a cow, and it's vulgar (3)

Pitchers or shepherds? (5)

Drink for a young child (3)

Partition makes noise of pain and revels (7)

Will make a noise of pain, but it's superficial (7)

Thoroughly lubricate one that gushes in a slick way (3, 4)

Almost get 10 across's core product in court (3)

They're only happy when they're hurting (7)

Behold! Allows in the middle (2)

Small to middling UK cereal (5)

Line of argument? (3)

The Great Vowel Shift is the gift that never stops giving for crossword compilers, as it's resulted in all sorts of spelling vagaries that can be exploited for punning purposes. OW for example can be pronounced as in COW, but it can also be pronounced as in SLOW. So, is a TOWER a tall building, or is it a person tugging something along? And is a SOWER somebody who plants seeds, or is it a pigherd? The -ER ending is also nice and tricksy, and I've exploited that a bit here, but I'll save the full explanation for another crossword. If you enjoy my crosswords, you'll LOVE the Cryptic Mystic's fantastic YouTube channel, which has been kind enough to feature a couple of my crosswords and is THE best resource for cryptic beginners: https://www.youtube.com/@The_Cryptic_Mystic

Fun and educational as always! Instructive to see how you clued even the very short entries. Thank you!

Thank you for yet another lovely comment. I really appreciate it x

Brilliant stuff, Melanie! I've used this puzzle in my latest video about homographs :) It'll be on the channel Tuesday 1st April at 12pm - https://youtu.be/gIOAyRO7pi8 Thanks for the shoutout too :)

That is wonderful news, Martin, Thank you so, so much. I love what you do x

Very nice Melanie! A perfect level of challenging for me this morning

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