Sunday Express 'The Squire's Clues'

[bill15489]

10a. Means or standard of judging (9)
C?????I?N

2d. Soviet (7)
X?S////

3d. Absolve from blame or suspicion (9)
D?O?????E

7d. Printing (7)
E?I?I?N

12a. Ordinary, boring (7)
M?????E

Have either got some clues wrong or my brain has given up.

[MarkRae]

7d EDITION

[MarkRae]

10a Could be (almost) anything - CONDITION, maybe...?

[MarkRae]

12a MUNDANE

[MarkRae]

3d (Almost) certainly EXONORATE

[MarkRae]

2d What precisely does "X?S////" mean? Are the slashes meant to represent missing letters? If so, are you looking for a seven-letter word which means 'Soviet'? If so, how about 'RUSSIAN'?

[Arksided]

10a Champion, possibly maybe but not sure

[MarkRae]

> 10a Champion, possibly maybe but not sure

How, precisely, can 'champion' mean a 'means or standard of judging'...???

[bill15489]

Thanks - I had gone a bit wrong. The only one that doesn't fit is 10a. I now have
C?I?O?I?N (9)
Means or standard of judging

The i in Russian changes it.
Thanks for the others.

The / was by mistake instead of ?

I am really tired, can't sleep.

[Arksided]

most judges are champion. do you not see that ! it was a far better guess than Condition ........could be etc...

[MarkRae]

10a CRITERION

[MarkRae]

> most judges are champion

Utter garbage.

[Arksided]

not enough spaces anyway to fit the clues... sorry bill, one but tries.

[bill15489]

Can't be CHAMPION
as I have C ? i ? o ? i ? n

[MarkRae]

The answer is CRITERION.

[Arksided]

Markrae, love THE WAY YOU SHOUT THE ANSWERS...

[MarkRae]

Virtually everyone fills in crosswords in upper case - don't worry about it...

[bill15489]

At last, it all falls together. The answer is CRITERION.
After putting an E in exonerate instead of exonorate, criterion now fits.
Thanks a lot for all your help, very much appreciated. Now I may be able to sleep.

[Arksided]

well you do learn a little criteria about users every day don't you.