Counting Cryptically Trivia Quiz

Initially indicates that the first letters of the following words spell the answer.
O-ur N-ew E-lement gives us the number one (1) which is the smallest number in this quiz.

One is said to be a lonely number, but some people enjoy being alone. Others enjoy being number one, or the most important.

Sounds tells us to look for homophones, so we have the word too, which can mean 'also', or when used with 'much' can mean excessive. Our number, therefore, is two (2).

Two isn't lonely, and can refer to pairs of things or people, or possibly to twins. It's a funny number in that it looks a bit like a duck, giving it its UK Bingo call of "One little duck", which is extended to "Two little ducks" for the number 22.

Mixed indicates an anagram of the following word or words.

Ether = three (3)

Things that come in threes include blind mice, bears, little pigs and any trio in the field of music. The Apollo space missions were each crewed by three astronauts.

Last indicates using the final letters of the following words, so "oF whO yoU staR" giving us four (4).

Four of anything (especially people) can be described as a quartet, though four babies born together are quadruplets. The Four Corners is a place in the USA where four states all meet.

The word "in" gives a clue that this is a hidden word, so "...amalFI VEer..." gives us the number five (5).

Most people have five fingers on each hand and five toes on each foot. Very few of us will take advantage of a "five finger discount", however, as that would be shoplifting!

Direction indicates (usually) one of the points of the compass. In this case we want south, or S.
Roman hints at the use of Roman numerals.
A "baseball squad" is often nine players, so we want the Roman numeral for nine, or IX.
Put them together and we have "S IX" or six (6).

A six pack can describe either a small pack of beer, or other beverages, or the abdominal muscles of a really, really fit person. A six-shooter was a term for a pistol that fired only six rounds before needing to be reloaded.

"Look" tells us to look for a hidden word.
"...theSE VENdors..."
That they are lucky is an additional clue to lucky number seven (7).

Besides being lucky, seven was the usual size of the crew of a Lancaster bomber during World War II and also of a netball team.

Another word for "consumed" is "ate", which sounds like eight (8).

If you are "behind the eight ball" you are in a sticky situation, as you would be in a game of pool if your ball is similarly unreachable. Because it has eight legs, amongst other things, you can tell that a spider is not an insect.

Like "initially", "first" tells us to look at the beginning letters of the following words.
"Never Instruct New Editors" or nine (9).

A baseball team has nine players in the field for each of the regulation nine innings. If a team forfeits a baseball game the score recorded is 9-0 for the other team.

The reference here is to a "pup tent", and when the tent loses its tail (the second "t") we have ten (10).

If one is a "ten" one is either very popular or very good-looking or both, as was the star of the movie "10" or indeed, almost any movie star. Ten is the basis for the decimal system of counting, as evidence by "deci-" being the prefix denoting that number.

"I see" tells us to look for a hidden word. "...feEL EVEN more" gives us eleven (11).

The word "tween", meaning a youngster between the ages of nine and twelve, is an additional hint.

"Elevensies" are morning tea breaks, while the "eleventh hour" is the very last minute to do something. Cricket teams have eleven players in the field when they are the fielding team.

Like "initially" and "first", "to start" tells us to look at the first letters of the next words.
"Take White Eggs Laid Very Early" gives us twelve (12).

I you have a dozen eggs (no matter what colour, or when laid) you have twelve eggs. Analog clocks have numbers up to twelve for telling the time. Years have twelve months, though the twelfth, December, used to be the tenth, looking at its name.

"Frightened" is used here to indicate an anagram, and as a hint to the number. If you will, the letters are scared into rearranging themselves, into the unlucky (for some) number thirteen (13).

(Nett is a variant spelling.)

Friday the thirteenth is deemed unlucky in many places, but in Spain it is Tuesday the thirteenth that has this connotation. A more lucky use of thirteen is in the term "baker's dozen", when an extra, thirteenth, item is added freely to an order.

"At last" directs us to look at the final letters of the preceding words,
"iF nO menU youR haT bE onE guN" to find fourteen (14). The sentence makes no sense, but it doesn't need to do so.

"Fourteen Hours" (1951) was a thriller movie starring Richard Basehart, as a man who stands on a window ledge of a tall building for that length of time.

"Overturn" indicates an anagram. "Fife net" can be overturned to make fifteen (15).

A Rugby union team is made up of fifteen players. Latin American girls celebrate turning 15 with a quinceañera.