| Comments on the clues |
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| 1. About to look back when love enters in a graceful sliding movement |
| 1. | Works, but not enthused with the surface |
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| 2. After launch of channel, watch retrospective about circle of native Americans? |
| 1. | Using the letters as is, even if reversed, not very desirable | | 2. | Not happy with launch as anagrind. |
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| 3. Alabama native chewing cat chow! (7) |
| 1. | But 'chow' appears in the same order so there's no real need to anagram it technically |
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| 4. American in Switzerland has, in short, 31 days to get a wife |
| 1. | 31 days does not = OCT any more than it does JAN, MAR etc | | 2. | I think no need for 'in short' – makes the clue nicer without it. | | 3. | Cryptic reading isn't English – given the 'in', 'has' should be 'having' | | 4. | Quite apart from being a stretch, should be 'having' instead of 'has' to be grammatically kosher | | 5. | 'American' is a very loose definition. |
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| 5. American Indian tailless dogs surround confused cat |
| 1. | A bit awkward pluralising a noun only to singularise it again! | | 2. | Adding and subtracting the s of 'CHOW[s]' seems rather odd | | 3. | Seems singular to use the plural and then delete the s to make it singular | | 4. | A singular dog could corner or trap a cat and avoid the superfluous wordplay. |
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| 6. Amerinds see first colonials retreating, having gained nothing |
| 1. | I'm not keen on 'first colonials' for C | | 2. | Difficult to accept that 'first colonials' is C. First OF colonials would be better. | | 3. | 'first colonials' is not English for 'first letter of colonials' | | 4. | Nice effort, but 'first colonials' doesn't signify first letter C for me | | 5. | Shame, would have been a good clue with 'first of colonials' | | 6. | I can't see how 'first colonials' = watch. |
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| 7. Around zero Celsius, watch out for step becoming an ice rink |
| 1. | Neat, I like the use of 'becoming'. Top clue for me. | | 2. | Nice misleading surface reading and definition | | 3. | 'become' in this sense can only be used of a person (certainly not an ice rink!) – pity, as excellent otherwise | | 4. | Nice, but surface doesn't convey anything very plausible |
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| 8. At western, 'Cochise' mostly destroyed Indians. |
| 1. | How does 'Cochise mostly' become just Coch? |
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| 10. Brave cat rips into dog |
| 1. | Neatest of the cat / dog clues. | | 2. | This would be more convincing if the anagrind were 'ripped' | | 3. | Not convinced about rips as anag. ind. | | 4. | 'Dog and cat' elements somewhat obvious and may have done the rounds |
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| 11. Brave to pick up job around this time of year (7) |
| 1. | Why brave? | | 2. | Where is the indicator for "sounds like" |
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| 12. Burying the hatchet with cow rustling Native American |
| 1. | Clever cryptic reading. I'll buy the US sense of 'rustle'. | | 2. | Really nice idea and construction. A topper for me |
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| 13. Camels have occupied countries throughout Asia, whilst originally being native to North America |
| 1. | Different, nice use of 'being' – I had to check that fact and it's true! | | 2. | A little obvious and rather long (though apparently true!) | | 3. | Merit for being factually correct; problem is this just reads like a sentence and not a clue to which an answer is required | | 4. | I like the history lesson! |
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| 14. chow {chow} del + act/ ion reverse 1st word minus 2nd word |
| 1. | Did you mistakenly put your random ramblings in the wrong place? | | 2. | I'm all for challenging clue-writing conventions, but this takes it too far | | 3. | A most odd surface reading | | 4. | Seems this blueprint wouldn't have worked anyway – CTA is not a reversal of ACT | | 5. | Didn't figure this one out at all | | 6. | Complicated and incomplete. | | 7. | Erm? | | 8. | I shall let everyone else comment. | | 9. | The wordplay is supposed to be an encoded form of the explanation, not a restatement of it. Also where is the definition? |
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| 15. Cold – zero Celsius – what affected movement on ice. |
| 1. | Best of the movement clues. |
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| 16. Conservative party, leaderless and dividing, see regressive motion put on ice |
| 1. | Not keen on a two-letter word being leaderless. | | 2. | 17 does this idea better |
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| 17. Conservative Whip keeps this move on ice |
| 1. | I'd prefer an indicator of the Latin in here. Merit for a nice idea. | | 2. | Neat and misleading. Very good clue. | | 3. | Neat and worth points |
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| 18. Dog biting wild cat is perhaps brave |
| 1. | 'Dog and cat' elements somewhat obvious and may have done the rounds |
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| 19. Dog's taking on angry cat? That's brave! |
| 1. | 'Brave' as def needs a 'perhaps'. | | 2. | My favourite of the dog/cat versions |
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| 20. Ginger cat trapped by dog sliding around |
| 1. | Don't get ginger as anag. ind. and definition not precise |
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| 21. Hard to understand, unsettling, chaotic, no one gets the point (7) |
| 1. | I do not understand the definition. | | 2. | Def. is far too loose | | 3. | Choctaw not generally a synonym for hard to understand | | 4. | A different take and nice surface, though one might take issue with the definitive 'the' before point |
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| 23. Indian catnip in food (7) |
| 1. | Don't think catnip can possibly indicate anag. of cat | | 2. | Anagram indicator should not be part of a word. | | 3. | Nip is part of catnip. |
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| 24. Indian curry has only cumin, turmeric – and water to start |
| 1. | Best of the acrostics | | 2. | Not a very appetising curry! | | 3. | I did like this but not 100 per cent happy with 'Indian' as definition. |
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| 26. Indian food is flavoured with cumin, turmeric and asafoetida primarily (7) |
| 1. | 'Flavoured with' as containerind doesn't work for me. 'Contains hints of' would have avoided the clunky 'primarily'. |
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| 27. Indian watch company short-changed |
| 1. | Company is short, and 'watch Co' is changed. Nothing is short-changed. | | 2. | Good one |
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| 28. It takes a brave man to make a Crow cry about the state of Pawnees' stock, they say. |
| 1. | Unconventional but too clever to pass over | | 2. | Rather a lot of redundant words here. | | 3. | Crow/Pawnee is a tremendous spot – what a pity a more comprehensible surface reading couldn't have been attained. |
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| 29. It's my turn with my shooter after having a sweet. (7) |
| 1. | 'my' is superfluous. | | 2. | Extraneous words are considered a defect – what you really mean is "Turn with shooter after sweet" |
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| 30. Leaders of Cherokee tribe ordered historical co-operation with another displaced tribe |
| 1. | It works, but surface needs to be more entertaining with a device like this. |
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| 31. Mississippi band member’s good turn |
| 1. | The 'turn' definition is yoo vague and 'good' doesn't really help. | | 2. | Nice surface from the double definition | | 3. | Decapitalisation (of Band) generally considered a no-no, and why "good"? | | 4. | Just 'good turn' without some reference to skating makes it too generalised |
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| 32. Native American tribe that almost caught cow butcher. |
| 1. | The anagram indication is grammatically unsound | | 2. | Anag. ind. needs to work grammatically: butchers/butchering before the fodder, or butchered after it | | 3. | Surface isn't very convincing | | 4. | Pretty nice and makes perfect sense! |
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| 33. Native American wild cat bitten by dog |
| 1. | Best of the dog-bites-cat clues |
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| 34. Native American's chat with OC reviewed (7) |
| 1. | Who or what is OC? What has it got to do with a Native American? |
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| 36. New watch company briefly put a change of direction on ice (7) |
| 1. | Nice smooth construction | | 2. | Good effort, but change of direction from a new company doesn't seem convincing on the surface. Something like 'struggling' perhaps? |
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| 37. No ordinary Aussie squaddie – marbles used to baffle Bosche |
| 1. | In the Australian army choco (short for chocolate soldier) is a derogatory term used by regulars and only applies to reservists. | | 2. | You can lose your marbles/wits, but I don't think marbles=wits generally |
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| 39. Original American candy cane? |
| 1. | Lovely spot, even if 'cane?' for the very obscure 'taw' is asking a lot of the solver |
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| 40. Potential hunter returned having caught nothing following cold turn on the ice. |
| 1. | Not sure 'potential' is fair indication (potentially, possibly, perhaps would be fairer) | | 2. | Ingenious |
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| 42. Skating manoeuvre for certain native Americans (7) |
| 1. | Rather dull double def. | | 2. | Since the skating move is named after the tribe, this is not much more than a GK clue | | 3. | Not uniquely pointing to answer, could be Mohawk for example |
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| 43. Skating movement watched on ice perhaps – I need to go. |
| 1. | INEED needs its own anag. ind. since the letters do not appear in that order in WATCHEDONICE (unlike clue 12) | | 2. | Faulty: it's an ANAGRAM (not indicated) that must go (anag – anag. needs 2 indicators) |
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| 44. The Indian Watch Co. is going bust. |
| 1. | 'The' spoils both the definition and the wordplay, since it plays no part in either | | 2. | Straightforward clue with a good surface reading. | | 3. | Def. should be 'An Indian' | | 4. | Leading 'the' seems irrelevant. Of the few clues in this vein, 27 does it the best |
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| 45. This tenor's taken by sound of Crow Indian |
| 1. | Neat and fair – in the points for me |
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| 46. Trump:"What a cock-up. Khan's not even a proper American" (7) |
| 1. | Good try, but the cryptic reading has been sacrificed for the surface I think | | 2. | Ingenious but not very solver-friendly to say the least |
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| 48. Watch out outside when it's freezing – you'll get movement on the ice |
| 1. | 'When it's freezing' is a bit too indirect | | 2. | Not bad but 7 does it better | | 3. | "when it's freezing" for "0C" is a bit vague. |
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| 49. We have reservations about crackpot who's cradling mutant cat |
| 1. | Bizarre story but well constructed and would be a fun solve |
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| 50. What, round about middle of ice, turns? |
| 1. | Nice attempt at & lit, but surface reading a bit clumsy. | | 2. | But it's the skater who turns |
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| 51. What some Native Americans would get at Cadbury World, by the sound of it. |
| 1. | That's a pretty stretched homophone |
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| 52. What the forward edge of Cousins and Co. may finish off? |
| 1. | I get why it's needed in the surface, but 'may finish off' is a strange anag. ind. Definition is also very technical! | | 2. | Best of the skating & lits. | | 3. | 'Finish off' is not intransitive so 'what' must be doing double duty here. | | 4. | Good idea, but the surface does seem to perplex and anagramming indication not so clear | | 5. | Nice try but let down by the superfluous "may finish" |
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