| Comments on the clues |
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| 1. A small crab, battered & fried, with shell lifted. |
| 1. | anag. of FRIED and L[ifted]D? If so "shell" is not really fair, nor is the redundant "&" | | 2. | The wordplay just doesn't work | | 3. | The ampersand serves no purpose in the cryptic reading. And "shell lifted" is not the same as "shell *of* lifted". | | 4. | Wordplay doesn't quite work – "&" is redundant, "LD" isn't indicated fairly in my opinion. | | 5. | The & is a bit of a cheat. It still reads ’battered and fried', which is incorrect wordplay. | | 6. | Best and tastiest of all the clues. |
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| 2. Academic in line before queen, one who bows |
| 1. | Academic is weak for DD |
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| 3. Act nervously before meeting King, seen practicing with his bow? |
| 1. | Very weak using fiddle as part of wordplay | | 2. | It should be "practising". I reckon "…practising his bowing" would be a much improved wording. | | 3. | This would be better without 'before', or without 'meeting'. | | 4. | Fiddle in fiddler and act nervously are effectively the same word, |
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| 4. Clue-writer’s lead is cut by fellow player |
| 1. | Fellow = F? I'm with Azed on this one (see slip 2031) – it only works as part of a whole term. Just a merit from me I'm afraid. | | 2. | Deservedly! Nice clue, favourite behind 9 |
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| 5. Con artist clerk takes in cleric |
| 1. | Just wondering if it is not time to drop DD for cleric as a common abbreviation. | | 2. | Neat double-use of "takes in". |
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| 6. Crossword setter heading off behind female musician (7) |
| 1. | The surface is a bit contrived – compare with (say) 4. |
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| 7. D Davis's first in line and right for leader? |
| 1. | Nice construction and surface. Definition a bit tenuous though. | | 2. | Nice idea but not convinced by leader as definition | | 3. | Leader too obscure | | 4. | 'Leader' is a bit weak as the def. | | 5. | A very fine clue. | | 6. | By itself, the construction is good. The topicality makes it superb. | | 7. | Topical surface |
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| 8. Dire anger-venting devil, completely heartless, beset by fire when playing? |
| 1. | This feels over-egged with all those subtractions | | 2. | A decent clue, but a little cumbersome! |
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| 9. Discarded empty rifle shot Kennedy perhaps |
| 1. | Very nice – full marks. A Steve Randall clue? | | 2. | Kennedy connection is done well | | 3. | Merit. A nice clue, but an empty gun can hardly shoot a person. | | 4. | Nice story on surface but there are too many violinists to define by example in my opinion. | | 5. | Excellent surface reading, together with nicely compact clue | | 6. | Nicely misleading. |
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| 10. Do right, like Nero? |
| 1. | See 3 | | 2. | Wonderful. 5 points. | | 3. | Short and sweet |
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| 11. Dr Field cured Dave Swarbrick, perchance? |
| 1. | I see Dr Field reference – not sure it is as acceptable as, say, Paganini. Never heard of Fairport Convention. |
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| 12. Dr Field doctored one of fabled king's musicians. |
| 1. | Another Dr Field reference. |
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| 13. Dreadful one playing leads to awfully unpleasant scratching! |
| 1. | Witty but the syntax seems off – scratch is transitive | | 2. | Clever & lit. with original anagram idea. | | 3. | A neat &lit. However, "leads to" is doing double work in the cryptic reading. | | 4. | Slightly contrived, but very clever with nothing wasted | | 5. | Good one. |
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| 14. Fellow can get led astray by primitive instincts – take Kennedy for example (7) |
| 1. | Strong surface reading. | | 2. | Take = R is a stretch . |
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| 15. Fellow I'd associated with swindler? Not half! |
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| 17. Field doctor treated French Carpenter, for example |
| 1. | If you want to anagram DR then write Dr, not "doctor". |
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| 18. First doctorate in field, lead researcher excited for one who jiggles strings ! |
| 1. | "Lead Doctorste" doesn't mean the same as "Lead of Doctorate" | | 2. | Definition part is patchy – doesn't gel with the rest of the surface. Decent wordplay |
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| 19. Flier takes a spin around Dallas and Denver. He's a time waster. |
| 1. | How does 'Dallas and Denver' equate to DD? | | 2. | Dallas and Denver for "DD" doesn't seem good. |
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| 20. Fraud clerk pocketing couple of notes (6) |
| 1. | Best of the crooked clerks | | 2. | Note could be any letter from A to G. | | 3. | Beautifully simple |
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| 21. Freddie, almost livid initially, upset player who takes a bow before performing. |
| 1. | "Almost livid initially" feels a bit too crossword-y. | | 2. | Proper noun in anagram fodder is avoidable. |
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| 22. Gue master clerk internally gave as a gift. |
| 1. | Can't get the gift =DD connection |
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| 23. He might have to bow and scrape to please his auditors (7) |
| 1. | These are very old crossword puns | | 2. | Aren't the two meanings from the same root ? |
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| 24. He plays if broadcast to orphaned child (7) |
| 1. | Cryptic instruction isn't really English | | 2. | 'Orphaned' means 'left behind', not 'removed', surely? |
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| 25. Idler goes after female and gets date! |
| 1. | Even if one accepts that idler=fiddler (I don't), this is not a fair &lit. You can't have only part of the clue doing double duty as def. | | 2. | Doing double-duty is a big no-no! | | 3. | Idler is doing double duty. |
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| 26. It's more difficult when
one's missing a player. |
| 1. | Good surface, original idea | | 2. | Well crafted and concise. |
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| 27. Liberal supporter entertained by recorder musician |
| 1. | A rather astonishing use of 'liberal'! | | 2. | An original clue for DD | | 3. | Wordplay for DD brings smiles but a stretch, I think |
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| 28. Musical man keeping daughters in line, on top of roof? |
| 1. | Very nice surface reading, though the solution is perhaps too obvious |
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| 29. Musician time after time immerses into an instrument ultimately getting a hand (7) |
| 1. | time after time for DD is too indirect, among other issues | | 2. | Why not 'day after day'? |
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| 31. Nero? |
| 1. | This is not a cryptic clue | | 2. | I'm not sure that's really cryptic – it's the thing he's most famous for! | | 3. | Not cryptic! | | 4. | Not even cryptic. | | 5. | Hepple? | | 6. | Sorry, not cryptic |
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| 32. Nero, they say, was essentially muddled, caught in wild fire (7) |
| 1. | Why is "essentially muddled" exactly DDL? "Wild fire" = (FIRE)*is a neat idea. | | 2. | Good one. |
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| 33. Old pickpocket runs, seizing two diamonds for fraudster |
| 1. | For doesn't make sense in the surface. |
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| 34. One bows before God if converted and starts to declare love, ecstasy, rapture! |
| 1. | The list at the end looks too contrived. | | 2. | D=God is iffy. |
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| 35. One involved in dubious deals, Jared's ultimately protected by loud vain Republican |
| 1. | A bit unsure about the indication of the D, but this is clever and a worth a good few points | | 2. | I struggle with "Jared's ultimately" indicating D – I'd be happier with either "Jared ultimately" or "Jared's ultimate". | | 3. | Cleverly topical, albeit a bit convoluted |
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| 36. One lodging tax return including totals ex tips? |
| 1. | Best of the &lits – very clever construction though not sure how solvable | | 2. | Nice idea. I'd prefer 'without' to 'ex' | | 3. | Original thinking |
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| 37. One who cheats, even when exchanging one note for another. |
| 1. | This could just as easily be a clue for "diddler"… |
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| 38. Player out on the tiles? |
| 1. | A nice CD if the answer were "Fiddler on the Roof" but not really fair just for "fiddler" | | 2. | Needs some wordplay |
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| 39. Rifled barrels, small diameter bores? I use a bow and different strings! |
| 1. | An original clue with a convincing and misleading surface – well done :) |
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| 41. Some MPs claimed to be one like Kennedy |
| 1. | I think this would be too vague for it to be solved. | | 2. | Needs to be 'one, one' to make both defs. work |
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| 43. Swindle king gut-scraper |
| 1. | A rather unconvincing surface reading |
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| 44. Tinkerman shifting central midfielder right |
| 1. | "Central midfielder" for "DFIELD" just about passes muster for fairness for me. One of the more imaginitive clues. | | 2. | Great reference |
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| 46. Twice removed insane cousin who plays the violin has the answer you seek! (7) |
| 1. | indirect anagrams are a no-no – I don't understand the cousin reference either | | 2. | Indirect anagrams really aren't on. | | 3. | Indirect anagrams like this are just unsolvable | | 4. | Devious!! | | 5. | This looks like an indirect anagram to me. | | 6. | You need to have your anagram fodder printed in the clue – it's not fair to the solver otherwise. |
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| 47. Viola masturbates 6th virtuoso!(7) |
| 1. | I'm not keen on this sort of gratuitous smut | | 2. | The rather vulgar surface reading is off-putting. | | 3. | Cluing most of FIDDLER by FIDDLE in the same sense is hardly very cryptic, among other objections | | 4. | Using viola for FIDDLE isn't very imaginative |
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| 48. Violinist flirted outrageously with Duke, after dumping tenor |
| 1. | Good and plausible surface reading |
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| 50. Wolf in sheep's clothing starts fleecing innocent Dorset's down left next to English river. |
| 1. | A rather improbable scenario | | 2. | A poor surface reading |
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