guardian 25,197

[debarri]

15 down Insolvent macho male dropped mutually first and disposed of without mischief on its own (4,5;8)
Assume 'on its own' = isolated, leaving e-c- o-h-r, which maybe is 'each other'? Why?

22 across/20 down Letters came first or should get slower. Must be Little Dorrit, but why?

20/22 across Where do the letters of the anagram for 'Vernon God Little' come from?

[turnerjmw]

Fisrt = I, disposed of = SOLD, without = on the outside of ATE = goddess of mischief, i.e. ISOLATED.
Macho male dropped = ACHO in solvent (ETHER) = E(ACHO)THER

[turnerjmw]

Obviously meant First not First.

Letters = LITT (as in Litt B, Bachelor of letters) Came first = LED + OR + RIT = abbreviation for Ritardando or Ritenuto, slowing down

[dzug2]

grandnoveltitle with an O instead of the A

[turnerjmw]

Grand novel title with O substituted for A, i.e. Grond novel title

[debarri]

Thanks you both for your replies.

15 down I'd assumed 'on its own' was the whole clue for 'isolated', but I don't think I'd have worked out either of the word plays (Ate = goddess of mischief!?) even if I's split the clues correctly.

Ritardando or Ritenuto, completely beyond my musical erudition.

'O for a' - IC doh!

[turnerjmw]

No problem. Ate is a regular in thematic crosswords, (and I've seen Rit a few times) but that was certainly one of the toughest clues in the puzzle. The "insolvent" bit certainly had me stumped for a while, though running together words like that just to confuse is becoming a more common device