Guardian

[Lavender77]

"State in Us behind judge imprisoning the first lady" -s-e-e-a--
"Running around university fellows needing answer for unknowable things" n-----a
"Perhaps crawl right to the bottom" s---e-
"Performing dutyslip in an embarrassing maner" s---I-L-

Thanks!

[scorpiojo]

1 Asseverate

[scorpiojo]

4 stupidly

[dannyk13]

1.Asseverate

[mallyh]

4 stupidly

[diogenes44]

Performing dutyslip in an embarrassing maner" s---I-L- . Stupidly ( anagram of dutyslip )

[Lavender77]

Please can you explain? - I got both as possibilities but can't parse them

[Lavender77]

Thank you - I get the eve in asseverate and state - but why the rest?

[mallyh]

duty slip anagram

[scorpiojo]

Asseverate - state
Assert + Eve

Duty slip anagram of stupidly

[dannyk13]

us behind=ass
judge= rate
first lady =eve

[elliemay1]

anagram of dutyslip

[scorpiojo]

That's better, danny ;-)

[jim360]

Asseverate is Eve in Ass (= bottom in the US)+ rate.

Stupidly is anagram of dutyslip.

The running one is NOUMENA (ON reversed + U[niversity] + Men + Answer)

crawl = stroke (in swimming), move r to the bottom to get Stoker.

[factor-fiction]

I thought of Stoker for those reasons, jim- but I couldn't see the definition.
Is there a theme /undefined solutions?

[elliemay1]

Well done, jim!

[mallyh]

3 iffy seabed

[jim360]

Thanks ellie!

I just checked and it says that "nine clues lead to 7 29, not further defined", so perhaps the definition is indeed missing deliberately, but I've not solved the crossword myself so no idea. Still, I suppose I now have four answers so I might get cracking!

[factor-fiction]

Another thread suggests a theme of writers whose centenary it is this month. Maybe Stoker is a reference to Brad Stoker

[factor-fiction]

Bram not Brad. It's not the centenary of any of his works though as he died 102 years ago