Ten Words, Cryptically Trivia Quiz

Answer: Tension

Decades = Tens
Charged particle = Ion

Put them together to get the word tension, which can mean that something is under strain, such as a rope that is pulled tight or even a person in a stressful situation.

Answer: Tender

Communist fishing gear is a "red net", which is written backward (returns) to arrive at the word tender.

One meaning of tender is to make an offer, perhaps on a house. Other meanings are gentle, sore and a type of boat.

Answer: Tenants

Half a score = Ten
Workers = Ants (a conventional cryptic use of the word)

The tenants are living here. Well, perhaps not right here, but somewhere, and tenants of apartments or boarding houses are often workers, who might be living away from home to be near their work.

Answer: Pretending

Before = Pre
Looking after = Tending

Children are the best at making believe, often pretending to be royalty or cowboys or superheroes, and allowing their imagination to take them to wonderful places without leaving their back yards.

Answer: Tenor

This clue utilises two definitions of the word tenor.

In a choir the adult male voice with the highest range is the tenor, like the famous threesome of Carreras, Domingo and Pavarotti.

A secondary meaning of the word is the general meaning or content of something, or the prevailing character of something.

Answer: Attendance

The word broken indicates that the following words "can need tat" should be anagrammed to arrive at the word attendance.

Perfect attendance is a school record that some students are able to attain, if they can avoid all of the childhood illnesses like mumps, measles and chicken pox.

Answer: Patent

Short father = Pa
Outdoor home = Tent

If indeed Pa has invented a new form of outdoor home he would be well advised to register it with the appropriate patent-granting authority in his home country, so it can't be stolen by some unscrupulous person.

Answer: Tenfold

"For starters" is the clue to use the first letters of the preceding words to reach the answer, in this case tenfold, a number that is "much more" than that one dog!

The definition of tenfold is ten times the original amount, of anything.

Answer: Stent

In a similar manner, "at last" directs one to use the last letters of the preceding words to define "tube", in this case giving us the word stent.

A stent is a type of tube used by surgeons to repair arteries that have been weakened by disease.

Answer: Tent

"We find" directs us to look for a word hidden in the sentence, thus:

"...mighT ENTertain..."

In this case, for the canvas I envision a large marquee tent on the lawn of some stately home, entertaining the guests to a grand wedding feast. There are many other types of tent, of course, including tiny pup tents and enormous circus "Big Top" tents.