Swindle young and vulnerable competitor

The answer to “Swindle young and vulnerable competitor” in the The Times Quick Cryptic crossword is CONTENDER — a 9-letter word. It most recently appeared in the The Times Quick Cryptic crossword on September 10, 2026, a Thursday puzzle, at 14-Across. 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.

“Swindle young and vulnerable competitor” answer

CONTENDER (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 CONTENDER.

What does CONTENDER mean?

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

When else has “Swindle young and vulnerable competitor” appeared?

The Times Quick 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.

September 10, 2026 (most recent) → CONTENDER. We haven't indexed another appearance of this exact clue yet.

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