Inquisitor 1700

[hankir]

A clue may have a letter removed or the answer could be longer than indicated.

21. Corn-coloured? In retrospect, not told about something often portrayed as red (7)

42. Sources of ore without spades pulling in mostly rubbish money (7, 2 words)

25d. Red-coloured egg laid underneath crate perhaps (4)

Thanks.

[hankir]

Just figured out 21.

[Neveracrossword]

25 Thematic. The answer itself has 7 letters. Crate = vehicle, with a four-letter 'egg', bomb. The definition is 'red-coloured'.

[hankir]

Thanks NAC.
Did not connect 4 letter word to egg.

[hankir]

I have a completed grid.

I see the thematically eliminated words have HMS.

I see a 13 letter word to be highlighted.

No idea what goes at the bottom of the grid.
Hint please.

[Neveracrossword]

Take all the HMS away from the puzzle number...

[ProfessorMaisie]

I added the HMS on to the traditional start time (the number of altered thematic answers) to give a time that is a.m. - I assumed the missing elements = the amount of c????-w??????? that has been done up to that point... but who knows?

[hankir]

Thank you NAC and ProfessorM.
Will think bout your suggestions.

[teenieleek]

42. Can’t parse it fully but it’s strip mines.

[ProfessorMaisie]

42 - 'without spades' = SINE S(pades) [around] TRIP(e)+M(oney).

[ProfessorMaisie]

I'd be careful about some of my endgame ideas, hankir - I don't agonize over them (but I sometimes over complicate them).

[hankir]

Thanks teenieleek and ProfessorM.
I am going with subtracting HMS from 1700.