i newspaper cryptic crossword No. 179 by MONK, Weds 7 Sept 2011

[FamilyGuyBrian]

Could someone please help me with the following clues from i's Weds cryptic:

25A Half of what's left with one can be unlucky (?H?R???N)
Possibly THIRTEEN (with it being considered an unlucky number by some), but the rest of the clue has me at a loss.

5D Mummy's boy raised detailed thought in work (OED?P?S)
I presume this is O-EDI-PUS (couldn't be anything else I would've thought with the letters I have already), although I can't account for the EDI.
I presume that "raised" is a reversal indicator, but I don't see how IDE can mean "detailed thought".

23D Shabby as a pretty boy's pad? (S???Y)
Well "seedy" can mean "shabby", but I don't see how the rest of the clue works, which makes me think the answer's something other than "seedy".
This clue's got me stumped.

I was doing well, but couldn't complete the crossword because of these clues - infuriating!

Also regarding 12A (XYLOCARP), it's not in my New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, Encarta World English Dictionary or Merriam-Webster. Does anyone have an e-dictionary or printed dictionary that contains this term? Could you let me know its name and ISBN?

Thank you.
FamilyGuyBrian

[bibblebub]

5d detailed thought = ide(a), raised mean put that backwards

[boxtops]

Xylocarp is in dictionary.com http://dictionary.ref...e.com/browse/xylocarp

[bibblebub]

12a http://www.thefreedictionary.com/XYLOCARP

[bibblebub]

25a what is to the physical left of this clue?

[bibblebub]

23d something to do with a budgerigar cage?

[FamilyGuyBrian]

Thanks for your quick replies.

25A - this clue is on the far left of the grid, so there's nothing physically to the left of the clue - still don't get this clue.

5D Mummy's boy raised detailed thought in work - O-EDI-PUS - still don't get why "detailed" is in the clue, plus if IDEA needs to be shortened to IDE, there's no word indicating this (unless "detailed" is meant to indicate that, although I don't see how that could be the case)

23D SEEDY - oh I get it - "seedy" referring to the bottom of a bird's cage covered in seeds, plus people often say to a pet bird "Who's a pretty boy then?". I groaned when I finally understood this clue!

As for the dictionary, thanks for the links to the online dicts, although I should have specified I meant installable electronic dicts that you install on your hard drive.

[bibblebub]

'detailed' is used in cryptic clues to indicate that the tail/last letter of a word should be discarded

[bibblebub]

the number 25 is to the left of the words of the clue, so add one to that and half it to get 13

[FamilyGuyBrian]

Oh thanks! I feel so stupid!
detailed = de-tailed, i.e. remove the tail/last letter
25 + 1 = 26, 26/2 = 13 -- so obious now you explain it!
Pleased now because the crossword's finished and I understand all the clues now.

[bibblebub]

jolly good