| Comments on the clues |
|---|
| 1. A divine angry woman seen in the pub? On the contrary, it's just a rumour |
| 1. | Surely the cryptic construction clues PFURYH? | | 2. | Very nice, but doesn't this need an Australian indicator? |
|
| 2. A kite made oddly of four ropes – they don't need seven. |
| 1. | Kite is at best an example of furphy, and S for 7 needs some qualification I think. | | 2. | I can't find any reference to kite meaning furphy anywhere. | | 3. | The 'seven' part is clumsy. |
|
| 3. A scandal is, for example, King Edward giving up crown for female. |
| 1. | I like the potato joke | | 2. | I would have preferred 'e.g.' in place of 'for example' to avoid that intrusive first comma – otherwise excellent. | | 3. | The best of the potato clues, but start a bit clunky & a pity, from the point of view of the surface, about the necessary "for example". |
|
| 4. All I deliver is water – pub's in uproar |
|
| 5. Anger about acidity level gives rise to false report. |
| 1. | I don't really get the surface! |
|
| 6. Anger about President finishing with truth, offering this? |
| 1. | 'Finishing with' doesn't mean 'the finish of' | | 2. | The "finishing" is doing double work here – it can't apply to both the "President" and the "truth" |
|
| 8. Aussie breeze: beginnings of fresh upwinds right in middle of zephyrs. |
| 1. | Breeze nice obscure def. but rest is a bit contrived. | | 2. | A foehn clue! |
|
| 9. Australian beer? Bull caca!(6) |
| 1. | I can't see how 'beer' works as a def. | | 2. | I don't understand this at all! | | 3. | Eh? |
|
| 10. Darfur physicians smuggling rumour |
| 1. | There's probably a better indicator than 'smuggling' – 'suppressing' maybe? | | 2. | Nice try at hidden def. but doesnt' really read convincingly. |
|
| 11. Fake news charge reportedly laid against Fox coverage |
| 1. | Coverage doesn't mean covering, and the homophone is not quite exact – but an excellent effort deserving of a point. | | 2. | I like the misleading wordplay | | 3. | The smartest clue, though it ducks indicating the Aussie-ism (which I feel this word really needs) | | 4. | Worth a point for topicality, but fox coverage is pushing it bit far! | | 5. | Not sure that fox coverage = fur. |
|
| 12. Finally Trump concludes speech in rage! Aussies can't believe it |
| 1. | Nice clue but not sure "concludes speech" for H is grammatically correct | | 2. | Concludes speech isn't good indicator for'h' |
|
| 14. Force starts with utterly ruthless Putin and ends with much utterly fake news |
| 1. | "Starts" can't do double work. |
|
| 16. Fury surrounding philistine leaders? It's fake news! |
| 1. | Using a synonym for 'fury' would improve this clue | | 2. | I reckon you could have used a synonym for fury. |
|
| 18. Harbouring a degree of sourness, vengeful woman creates rumour |
| 1. | I struggle a little with "degree of sourness" for pH. | | 2. | I have never tasted nitric acid but it probably is quite sour |
|
| 20. Initially feeding us rumour, presidential hysteria yields fake news (6) |
| 1. | Is the "yields" doing double work here? |
|
| 21. Invention of digger unearthed transsexual potato |
| 1. | Nice definition, bizarre surface | | 2. | Not sure "transsexual" is a fair indicator of switching F for M. Neat clue (the use of digger is nicely deceptive) though. | | 3. | 'transsexual potato'?!! – I had to laugh! |
|
| 22. It is rumored that this Tiger Electronics toy uses polynomial hierarchy for its brain. (6) |
| 1. | Def. of Furby is a bit obscure | | 2. | "polynomial hierarchy" = PH? I think this needs a first-letters indicator. | | 3. | Can't see how 'brain' = B | | 4. | I remember Furby! |
|
| 24. Leaders of pro-Jacobite Highlanders, overcome by violence, lie in Perth |
| 1. | Not sure it's a lie exactly, but this is a good clue |
|
| 25. Maybe Victoria's water cart is a thing that doesn’t hold water? |
| 1. | Best of the double defs | | 2. | A clever way to link the two definitions. | | 3. | Different. | | 4. | Excellent idea, but, e.g., "Victoria's water cart? It doesn't hold water!" would have been crisper. |
|
| 26. Melbourne's story about animal covering local filly at the back |
| 1. | The "about" is completely superfluous and very misleading – pity as would have been in the points otherwise |
|
| 27. Origins of far-fetched urban rumour, possibly hydrating you? |
| 1. | This one's grown on me: makes an obscure word solvable (trivially so!) and would raise a smile on checking the word in a dictionary |
|
| 28. Outrage about possible human origins seen in Darwin's incredible report |
| 1. | Nice use of Darwin to deceive in the surface. | | 2. | Good clue – personally not keen on noun indicators but they seem to be more and more accepted | | 3. | VG combination of surface & definition, but indicator of first letters hard to accept. Eg, "origins of primitive humans" wd be sounder. |
|
| 29. Outrage over litmus test results in fake news |
| 1. | Unfortunately 5 has the same idea with better surface |
|
| 30. Oz rumour mill tip has young upper class Romeo following prince. |
| 1. | you need a hyphen in "upper-class" for the cryptic construction to work. |
|
| 31. Phoney one down under-fell for this? |
| 1. | I feel fell for fur is a bit of a stretch (fell^4 in C. lists "a skin; a membrane; a covering of rough hair." Still worth points though! |
|
| 33. Rumour comic Eddie's to have a sex-change |
| 1. | Nice misleading ref. to transvestite comic Eddie Izzard. | | 2. | The best of the F/MURPHY clues | | 3. | Nice – prefer clues that indicate the Aus-ism though |
|
| 34. Rumour from Oz: King Edward could be undergoing sex change |
| 1. | King Edward = potato = Murphy a hop too far for me. 33 delivers the same idea more smoothly |
|
| 36. Rumour of fine potato crop (6) |
| 1. | A very successful and neat little clue. | | 2. | Admirably succinct, but I find the imperative use of "crop" following the word to be shortened hard to accept. |
|
| 37. Rumour raging round outskirts of Perth? |
| 1. | A neat & lit. | | 2. | A fine go at an &lit. | | 3. | Excellent &lit, even if not claimed. "raging" = "fury" bold, but just acceptable. |
|
| 38. Rumour says the Australian stole the first half of the rubber. |
| 1. | Nice surface but the indication of 'phy' is hard to solve |
|
| 40. Rumour you heard – bit of fluff's going round with royal – Prince Harry's gutted (6) |
| 1. | I'm with Azed on Royal indicate R (see slip no 2031) – it isn't listed in Chambers. Shame because I enjoyed the clue otherwise. | | 2. | Homophones for parts of words are generally frowned upon. |
|
| 41. Sydney's unreliable accounts hide charge for auditor |
| 1. | Clever use of the two definitions of "auditor". I enjoyed this clue very much. | | 2. | Nicely disguised. |
|
| 42. This football manager also carried the water (6) |
| 1. | The football reference is a bit too pub quiz for me | | 2. | Reference too obscure for me, shame as clue is a nice one | | 3. | Far too obscure GK | | 4. | The football reference is a bit obscure |
|
| 46. Word game for married female (6) |
| 1. | Murphy's game is a game but Murphy isn't | | 2. | I hardly think "word" is a fair definition! | | 3. | Falling into the 'cashmere goat' trap here – Murphy is not a game, 'Murphy's game' is. |
|
