Comments on the clues |
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1. Amazing fact is, we do not essentially wish to be phoney (3-5) |
1. | “To be” spoils the cryptic reading | 2. | Seems gratuitous to add IS then laboriously remove it. |
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2. Anything returned in Yorkshire? Twelfth month looking up after nothing dishonest. |
1. | Surface doesn’t make sense | 2. | Feels a bit assembled. | 3. | Baffling |
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5. Beans failing to leave you full of beans – something's up which is rather contradictory |
1. | Surface is laboured | 2. | Ingenious. OWT<>something, even in Emmerdale. | 3. | Original and entertaining clue |
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6. Being hypocritical is posssibly better than being alone! |
1. | Original, but the association doesn't quite work. | 2. | I don't see how this works even as a cryptic definition. |
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7. Being insincere, Spooner says old Labour leader gave an untouchable delivery. |
1. | Surface story doesn’t make sense. | 2. | Nice idea, but unhappy with non RP Foot. Gave delivery doesn't quite work in tennis or oratory. |
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8. Cardinal takes hot drink back for the faithless |
1. | &lit? Don't get it | 2. | Can't see the &lit. Cardinal/faithless association doesn't quite provide enough glue to make the story plausible. | 3. | The faithless (noun) can't equal two-faced (adj) (= unfaithful rather than faithless). Also not & lit! | 4. | Is there a connection between hot drinks and religiosity? |
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9. Cat few do fancy, being cute one minute, vicious the next? |
1. | Good anagram idea | 2. | Anagram fodder rather telegraphed | 3. | Mostly good, but "do" seems unnecessary in the surface reading |
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10. Couple met with accusation of being disloyal. |
1. | Clueing two as “two” takes away the cryptic element. | 2. | Best of the clues whose WP follows the word breaks, since topical. |
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11. Crooked de facto world leader is untrustworthy (3-5) |
1. | Best of the anagrams: appropriate indicator, good W selection, with 'de facto' thereby in the correct register for the surface. | 2. | Best of the de factos | 3. | Crooked = untrustworthy |
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12. Daft cow with field strength gets muddled and proves false (3.5) |
1. | Surface doesn’t make sense | 2. | As a physics grad, I get field strength in wordplay, but what does it mean in the surface?? | 3. | What is a cow with "field strength"? |
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13. De facto wife could be false (3-5) |
1. | Not a fan of "could be" as anagrind. Like de facto wife (seems to be Aus/NZ term) |
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15. Deceitful de facto rogue's taking in wife |
1. | "de facto" doesn't really fit the surface |
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19. Designing couple prepared to switch British origins to France |
1. | I don't think origins can be switched… origins means where one is from in the beginning, or one's ancestry | 2. | Description of emigration(?) too forced to be plausible. | 3. | I liked this novel approach but def and 'switching origins' didn't work well enough for me. |
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20. Devious turns in Dow regularly affect CAC after opening (3-5) |
1. | Definition doesn't quite fit the surface. Anagram indicator a little odd, both as indicator and as a description of market fluctuations. | 2. | Anagram a bit indirect but I think it's just about ok | 3. | CAC a bit obscure for Britons probably |
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21. Dishonest in fact we do wrong (8) |
1. | Surface spoilt rather by missing comma after dishonest. | 2. | Nice anagram. I would have preferred some punctuation after the first word | 3. | Almost great, but needs punctuation |
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22. Dissembling wife has de facto played around |
1. | "de facto" doesn't really make sense in the sentence |
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23. Double cut by Fed affected Dow, producing jump |
1. | Definition weak. Anag indicator iffy. Need to read as 'cut-by-Fed affected Dow': ok, but only if everything else works smoothly. |
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24. Double dealing's criminal act few do |
1. | Many double deal actually ! | 2. | I think double-dealing needs its hyphen. | 3. | Is the 's required? |
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25. Double-dealing de facto leader of Welsh Assembly |
1. | Assembly as noun doesn’t work as anagram indicator | 2. | Best of the de facto clues | 3. | About the limit of acceptability (for me) for noun anagram indicator. Isn't Drakeford squeaky clean? | 4. | Surface reading sounds incomplete |
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28. Duplicitous Trump will outrightly fib and concoct exculpatory deceptions at first (3-5) |
1. | Grammatical, but sounds a little contrived |
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29. False move with cad beginning to trick foe |
1. | Different fodder but a bit awkward. |
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30. False trick coin (3-5) |
1. | You need an 'as' or similar to allow a noun to define an adjective. |
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31. Fleetwood Mac in wrong turn leaving motorway: ELO unexpectedly
playing Little Lies |
1. | An unlikely scenario, and a tenuous definition, but an ingenious construction that made me laugh. | 2. | Fun clue and a good anagram spot |
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32. Harry de facto, admitting wife’s hypocritical (3-5) |
1. | "De facto" doesn't make sense in sentence at all | 2. | Comma splice. |
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34. Initially Trump wrote about one Democrat: “Duplicitous!” |
1. | Tricky but neat wordplay. Surface is somewhat unbelievable as duplicitous is far too hard for Donald to spell. | 2. | Initially spoils the story somewhat |
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35. Insincere act few do mistakenly |
1. | Don’t think two-faced acts are by mistake . Nice simple clue nevertheless | 2. | def + wp, not &lit: just as well because if &lit you'd have noun phrase defining adjective. | 3. | Succinct and straightforward wordplay |
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36. Janus and hypocritical? |
1. | But Janus does not mean two-faced; "like janus" is more accurate | 2. | Should be "like Janus"? |
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37. King of hearts, say, with deuce, following ace on top of deck |
1. | Good idea, but the def. indicates a noun not an adjective | 2. | King of hearts may be two-faced, but "King of hearts" and "two-faced" are far from synonyms… one's an adj one a noun | 3. | clever and unusual definition; good charade | 4. | Nicely dealt. |
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38. Like Zaphod's cow – fated to be cooked |
1. | Enjoyed the hitch-hikers reference! | 2. | Great for those who get the reference! | 3. | definition perhaps a bit esoteric, but a very clever and skilfully constructed clue | 4. | I appreciated the novelty aspect. | 5. | Not sure "two-headed" is the same thing as "two-faced" |
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39. Looking both ways somehow starts to dispel fears of every anxious walker crossing traffic |
1. | A bit long, but a more interesting surface than many | 2. | Longer than ideal but hard to make this sort of clue read well – well done. | 3. | Really nice surface! |
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40. Lying down after imbibing fifth of Scotch, inebriated sailors must be discharged |
1. | Nice (long?) story. C selection odd (a tot of captain's rum?) Somehow need to bring the sailors together before dismissing. | 2. | indirect anagram "inebriated sailors" | 3. | "imbibing" unnecessary in the wordplay |
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41. Lying in midst of pasture, a cow fed freely |
1. | Good clue | 2. | Nice story disguising definition. | 3. | Nice anagram |
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44. Pair confronted double-dealing |
1. | Straightforward succinct clue but limited in surface story. |
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45. Pair Confronted Janus |
1. | Janus does not mean two-faced: "like Janus" is a more accurate meaning |
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47. Perhaps Janus will be the ruin of de-facto Western leader. (3, 5) |
1. | Don't understand how an ancient god "will be" anything |
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48. Shifty, like Janus |
1. | nice economy; good to see "like" and not just Janus as def! |
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50. The week officially starts having coffee brought round with a couple of mugs (3-5) |
1. | Hurrah for a misleading surface. Great clue. | 2. | Loved the def! |
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51. To confront daughter drinking whiskey is hypocritical (3-5) |
1. | W= whiskey not listed as a standard abbreviation in dictionaries | 2. | surface story needs "for" after "daughter" | 3. | It works, is different and has a good surface story. |
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52. Unconventional wife; de facto deceitful! |
1. | good snag ind; solid economical clue |
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55. Where we do act deceitfully, fine being so described? |
1. | Nice | 2. | I can't quite decide if you're padding with 'so'. Gets the benefit of the doubt given the &lit. |
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