Agent to slow insect devouring pitch

The answer to “Agent to slow insect devouring pitch” in the The Times Cryptic crossword is RETARDANT — a 9-letter word. It most recently appeared in the The Times Cryptic crossword on August 24, 2026, a Monday puzzle, at 15-Down. Below you'll find why that fill fits, every other answer we've recorded for this clue, and links into the puzzle it came from.

“Agent to slow insect devouring pitch” answer

RETARDANT (9 letters)

Reveal the solution one letter at a time with the tiles above if you'd rather nudge yourself toward it than see the whole word at once. Just want it outright? The answer is RETARDANT.

What does RETARDANT mean?

Reading the plain dictionary sense of RETARDANT is often the fastest way to see why it answers this clue.

When else has “Agent to slow insect devouring pitch” appeared?

The Times Cryptic reuses clues across dates, sometimes with a different answer depending on the grid. Here's where this exact clue has shown up, and what the answer was each time — handy when you're checking whether today's fill is the only one.

August 24, 2026 (most recent) → RETARDANT. We haven't indexed another appearance of this exact clue yet.

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