| Comments on the clues |
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| 2. A fighting chance when giant terrapins roamed the world |
| 1. | Giant terrapins are a bit obscure for my liking! |
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| 3. A term WWI heartlessly represented? |
| 1. | Neat and different and succinct. | | 2. | Clever wordplay but 'heartlessly' doesn't quite fit the surface |
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| 4. Armistice and new order since this? |
| 1. | Not entirely convinced with 'order' as an appropriate anag indicator | | 2. | I haven't seen this sort of construction before. I'm curious to see what others think |
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| 5. Between 1939-45 leading physicists Oppenheimer & co mucked about with atomic power |
| 1. | I think the indicator to subtract poco is missing? | | 2. | The wordplay doesn’t indicate that letters need to be subtracted | | 3. | Nice | | 4. | I can't see a subtraction indicator here? |
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| 6. Climbing unprepared, throw out back when arms are raised (7) |
| 1. | Nice effort, but 'climbing' is for Down clues, 'back' is for Across ones – can't have it both ways, sorry! | | 2. | I liked the def and the disguised clue but baulked at 'throw out' for emit as a stretch too far to be fair. | | 3. | I like the idea but the surface is quite clumsy |
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| 7. Days of action merit a world leader becoming involved (7) |
| 1. | Good clue with smooth surface |
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| 8. Deployed, we arm – it is now no peace |
| 1. | Good anagram but the surface sounds forced |
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| 9. Discharge revolutionary following the end of hostilities, eg 1914-18 |
| 1. | I'm not sure what purpose is served by 'the end of' in this clue |
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| 10. During the period of fighting & revolting we mar it (7) |
| 1. | The clue works but 'we mar it' doesn't sound fluent |
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| 12. Extent of hostility shocks item following engagement |
| 1. | Only “time” is cryptically clued. WAR , WARTIME – same root | | 2. | Not sure how an item can be shocked? |
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| 13. Growth primarily in military expenditure now? |
| 1. | ‘Then’ would be better than ‘now’, but a good & lit. | | 2. | Succinct straightforward and appealing. | | 3. | So true! |
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| 14. I accept me after personal growth in period of conflict |
| 1. | ‘Personal growth’ is a very nice pun, but the cryptic reading needs ‘I’ll accept’ or similar | | 2. | I'm dubious about using 'accept' for 'next to' |
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| 15. I'm beginning to experience swelling before period under arms. |
| 1. | Such a different take that it stands out for me | | 2. | Well done for getting away from the fighting. Nice definition, not quite full marks as I find A, B before slightly inelegant | | 3. | Best of the warts | | 4. | Very clever but the surface is awkward |
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| 16. I'm in boiling water – is there a fighting chance? |
| 1. | I like this clue, but the two parts don't quite gel well enough |
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| 19. It’s ——— so two armies mobilise? |
| 1. | Sadly missing punctuation after the blank | | 2. | I'd prefer the verbal anagrind to be in the singular form here, but the plural form is generally accepted, so it gets the points. | | 3. | Compound anagram is not indicated correctly due to “it’s” | | 4. | Nice | | 5. | I don't understand the clue or the explanation! |
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| 21. My wiretap tails off weirdly when one's called up |
| 1. | Nicely disguised definition | | 2. | Good misleading definition | | 3. | Ingenious wordplay, but the definition doesn't quite work. One may be called up during peacetime |
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| 23. Paintings I claim to be hiding in empty warehouse while fighting continues |
| 1. | Why not just "I'm" instead of "I claim to be"? |
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| 24. Period of hostilities; we arm worried about it returning |
| 1. | very tight and clean; well crafted |
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| 25. Period of turbulence met with air manoeuvres |
| 1. | Nice disguised clue and different. | | 2. | Very good anagram and the indicator fits perfectly |
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| 26. Primarily when armies return to international military engagements |
| 1. | Bet of the & lits | | 2. | War isn't necessarily international | | 3. | good non-anagrammatic treatment | | 4. | Not easy to come up with something that reads as well as this – but 'primarily' makes it a bit too easy to solve. |
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| 28. Send Frank back when we need to fight (7) |
| 1. | Not sure about "need to" as part of the definition |
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| 32. So, this involved two armies? |
| 1. | Why not "involves" instead of the unjustified past tense? | | 2. | v neat, favourite of the two armies options | | 3. | War involves two armies – does wartime ? |
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| 33. The Middle East goes after India, following an unwelcome growth in hostilities. |
| 1. | IN would be India, I think. I would be Indian | | 2. | Another good wart clue | | 3. | 'in hostilities' (at war) doesn't quite cut it for me as a def |
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| 35. This new art I mean to include in this contentious period. |
| 1. | "This" seems unnecessary in the wordplay and surface reading |
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| 36. Two armies fighting, so it's this? |
| 1. | Preferred wording would have been something like: "… so this is the result?" | | 2. | You can’t use “’s” like this in a compound anagram. You’re saying f(x) = g(x) = x which you don’t mean |
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| 37. Two armies ultimately wanting to be deployed now (7) |
| 1. | This would have got 5 points as it is a very smart clue except that I don;t think we can call it wartime now, so I found the definition part | | 2. | ‘Now’ isn’t an ideal semi-& lit. definition, but nice wordplay | | 3. | Best of the 'two armies' entries for me. |
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| 38. Utter bloody lies about when we were fighting (7) |
| 1. | Great clue because it sounds so natural (and true) |
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| 39. Western maritime upheaval I’m not including in the period of the Korean conflict. |
| 1. | Fine for me except the nounal anagrind. |
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| 42. When Hitler threatened us with half of army beat |
| 1. | Not sure which army is meant here, but "army half-beaten" sounds more natural |
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| 43. When Hitler's aimless destruction created this hellishness? |
| 1. | Very imaginative. Wish “created” could be present tense in wordplay but this ruins surface |
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| 45. When to keep calm and carry on with stewed Marmite after starter's cancelled |
| 1. | Good anagram spot but the surface is a bit strained |
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| 48. With broken heart I'm isolating husband in period of combat (7) |
| 1. | Not sure about "isolating" as a deletion indicator |
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| 49. Women are timid at heart? Not, I'd say, when there is conflict (7) |
| 1. | "say" seems to be unnecessary here |
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| 50. Write a novel about end of Nazism in period of conflict |
| 1. | good surface; well constructed | | 2. | Straightforward but effective and good surface story – nazi(i)sm = both correct spellings. | | 3. | "in period of conflict" presumably refers to the novel-writing – seems a bit unnecessary otherwise! |
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