| Comments on the clues |
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| 1. 100-1 shot? Encore! She'll be leading the Tour (8) |
| 1. | Very good – my winner for topicality and deception | | 2. | Clever idea, but "bravo" would be more appropriate, and tennis reference is not obvious (my first thought was the Tour de France) |
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| 2. A guide for the beer sommelier? |
| 1. | It’s a red flag for me when the explanation needs to be this long. The second def. is very specialised and not in dictionaries | | 2. | A long essay to try to justify a not-very-distinct double definition | | 3. | Not very cryptic |
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| 3. A shower around noon regularly interrupted recce I organised |
| 1. | The definition is great but 'regularly' sticks out and the rest of the surface doesn't make much sense | | 2. | Great definition but I’m not convinced by the surface suggestion of a regular recce – aren’t they generally one-off missions? | | 3. | Great definition | | 4. | Amusing definition. | | 5. | "Regularly" implies more than one recce | | 6. | Nice to have a definition which isn't 'guide' |
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| 4. "At the Prado, none may enter theatre," he informs the tourists |
| 1. | Cleverly constructed. Is there a theatre at the Prado? | | 2. | The best clue by a distance | | 3. | Nice clue, but not sure you can expect solvers to know this Spanish word | | 4. | Nice clue but solver shouldn’t need to know Spanish. | | 5. | Non-trivial knowledge of Spanish language required | | 6. | ¿El Museo del Prado tiene teatro? |
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| 5. Bamboozled concierge loses a thousand dollars to tourist guide. |
| 1. | Like the anagram, don't like link word "to" |
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| 6. Big fish (term for chairman) in French company's to conduct guided tour |
| 1. | Good idea rather spoilt by the brackets | | 2. | Don't like "term" for last letter |
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| 7. Busy concierge ignores Girl Guide (8) |
| 1. | Chambers doesn't give me G = girl. | | 2. | I can’t find evidence for this abbreviation | | 3. | A very nice short clue, possible winner | | 4. | Nice clue – couldn't find a source for g = girl when considering a similar clue, but it works for me |
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| 8. Circe, transforming, required a guide |
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| 9. Conductor ruined concert (i.e., out of time) |
| 1. | Like the idea but the surface is rather clunky | | 2. | Better without the brackets, but still very good. | | 3. | Nicely worded, but the bracketing upsets the grammar of the wordplay | | 4. | Rather unnatural use of "i.e." |
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| 10. Cone filled with ice cream (sans ground mace) for tour guide |
| 1. | Unconvincing surface, surely no-one puts mace in ice cream in the first place |
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| 11. Courier almost coerced during drug withdrawal breakdown |
| 1. | It's not clear what this means |
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| 12. Courier once directing our outing |
| 1. | Clever, but I'm not 100% convinced by either of the two indicators. | | 2. | I don’t think ‘directing’ can mean ‘rearranging (itself)’ in this way | | 3. | Directing and outing don't work for me | | 4. | Original and neat – 'directing' rather than 'directed' jars a bit. |
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| 13. Eric playing cornet without show |
| 1. | Since cicerone is a noun, the clue needs to define a noun |
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| 14. Erotic acting, it's ignored in film guide |
| 1. | Good idea – not totally convinced by film as synonym of cine | | 2. | Clever idea |
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| 15. Escort used when touring Nice or Crete on vacation? (8) |
| 1. | Happy with either "Escort" or "Escort used when touring" as definition. This seems to be "Escort used" which makes no sense | | 2. | Neatly constructed, an avenue I attempted to follow but couldn't make with such elegance – votes from me | | 3. | ‘Used when’ looks redundant in the wordplay | | 4. | My favourite – should score well |
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| 16. Expert guide deployed on recce round island |
| 1. | Very fluent surface. | | 2. | Another neat clue |
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| 17. Guide at the Natural History Museum, perhaps dropping aitches: "Chic 'eron, eh?" |
| 1. | Interesting idea though a bit contrived. | | 2. | Very ingenious, although surface is rather forced | | 3. | Too contrived I'm afraid |
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| 18. Guide captain in charge east, or back another direction |
| 1. | dont like Direction to indicated one of 8 compass directions | | 2. | Surface meaning is unclear | | 3. | Surface doesn't flow nicely |
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| 19. Guide disturbed cornice near summit of Everest |
| 1. | Great surface. | | 2. | Very good surface | | 3. | Unlikely place to find a decorative moulding |
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| 20. Guide divers on island recce |
| 1. | I am on the fence about divers as an anagram indicating adjective – worth a merit | | 2. | Economical cluing and creative use of 'divers' as an anagram indicator, this gets some of my votes | | 3. | One of my favourite anagram indicators! | | 4. | Clever and concise | | 5. | Not sure I would have spotted divers as an anagram indicator |
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| 21. Guide hag around rocks (8) |
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| 22. Guide ice cream’s second portion into cornet |
| 1. | Guide is rather an inappropriate word in this context |
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| 23. Guide in charge replacing leaders of hotels and parks (8) |
| 1. | Chaperone is a good spot but I don't think the clue works as a whole | | 2. | I like the idea and wordplay but for me the whole clue doesn't quite work as a definition |
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| 24. Guide in Rome could be Marcus Tullius? |
| 1. | CICERONE = CICERO? Does it? | | 2. | 'Cicerone' is derived from Cicero? | | 3. | Shared roots is problematic | | 4. | This is more a general knowledge question than a crossword clue | | 5. | Not cryptic |
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| 25. Guide old woman over frozen water (8) |
| 1. | Frozen water is a bit too obvious | | 2. | Simple but effective using kinder definition of 'crone'. |
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| 26. Guide old woman without coat |
| 1. | Coat = ice in the sense of icing a cake. |
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| 27. Guide rice once mashed |
| 1. | Weird surface? | | 2. | How do you guide rice? | | 3. | What does it mean? |
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| 28. Guide shows club round church in central Gloucester |
| 1. | Ingenious, although I find double insertions a bit too fiddly to unravel | | 2. | Layered like a Russian doll! |
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| 29. Guide to really cool stuff found in old bag (8) |
| 1. | Very nice use of "cool" as an adjective in the surface reading and as a verb in the wordplay. | | 2. | Not clear what the surface story is here | | 3. | Not sure if there's a market for such a guide, but well clued |
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| 30. Guide wandering close to the cornice |
| 1. | OK wordplay, although surface doesn't say much | | 2. | Lovely |
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| 31. Guide wild rice into ice-cream container (8) |
| 1. | You don't guide food into containers – it sounds odd | | 2. | Does one guide rice? | | 3. | How do you guide rice? | | 4. | Nice work! |
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| 32. Guide's diamonds concealed by old woman |
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| 33. Guide’s upset: No ice cream till morning sadly |
| 1. | Nice but isn’t ‘sadly’ redundant with ‘upset’ earlier in the clue? | | 2. | There are two anagrinds ("upset" and "sadly"). | | 3. | An original approach, but maybe "before morning" would be better for the wordplay. (There's no reason to capitalise No, either) | | 4. | If 'till morning' means 'get rid of AM, then 'sadly' is redundant | | 5. | Nice, but "sadly" seems extraneous. | | 6. | I love the 'till morning'! Such an unusual way to get rid of letters but I think it works |
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| 34. Having seen off guests early on, versatile concierge becomes what? |
| 1. | My favourite of the concierge – g clues | | 2. | There are many jobs a concierge could moonlight in | | 3. | Good surface, but I'm not convinced by "early on" for the initial letter of guests. Why not "at first"? |
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| 35. He might point to an exotic cornice (8) |
| 1. | “To” would not indicate E comes after or is next to the fodder | | 2. | Best of the cornice clues | | 3. | Is might a fair anagram indicator? |
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| 36. How to serve gelato right? Here's a guide |
| 1. | too indirect for me | | 2. | Interesting idea but too indirect for my taste | | 3. | Gelato belongs in a cone but not ‘gelato right’ | | 4. | A "Bust down reason?" type of clue (BRAINWASH) where the solution points to the wordplay rather than vice versa, but rather opaque |
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| 37. I knew where to find the local places where rice once was cultivated (8) |
| 1. | Nice surface, know would be better than knew. | | 2. | 'where' is unjustifiable padding and 'was' is the wrong tense |
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| 38. Ice cream sandwiches in freezer for tour guide (8) |
| 1. | "in" is superfluous | | 2. | Worplay doesn't use "in" | | 3. | Not sure about 'in', but a clever idea |
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| 39. Ice-cream cone came awry, wrecking tourist's experience |
| 1. | This is not &Lit | | 2. | Very definitely not an & lit, and "tourist's experience" doesn't work as a definition for cicerone |
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| 40. In Arctic ice, Ron encountered a guide (8) |
| 1. | Finding a hidden word clue for cicerone is impressive | | 2. | I like a hidden word – nicely done |
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| 41. Incorrect guide or turgid one? |
| 1. | Anagram indicator missing or incorrect is doing double duty | | 2. | Ingenious composite anagram of "incorrect guide" and "turgid cicerone", but needs a better anagrind than "or" |
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| 42. Lithuania omitted from dodgy electronic guide |
| 1. | Surface seems rather arbitrary | | 2. | I nearly submitted the very same wording – worth a point for the 'bingo' moment! |
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| 43. Measure of type, not once a guide |
| 1. | Same root – CICERO and CICERONE | | 2. | Surface makes little sense, and I can't see how "not once" gives NE | | 3. | ??? I don't get this |
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| 44. Museum guide at the entrance to gallery confused for concierge (8) |
| 1. | Best of the concierge clues |
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| 45. Nice core exercises in guide |
| 1. | Short clues are always good clues to me | | 2. | Simple and effective | | 3. | “for” is better than “in” , I think | | 4. | Different take – nice and neat. |
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| 46. Old woman collecting money for guide (8) |
| 1. | Best of the “old woman” clues.. Ice for money seems indirect | | 2. | Money = lolly = ice is too far removed |
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| 47. Old woman eating gelato is a tour guide (8) |
| 1. | My favourite of the ICE in CRONE clues |
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| 48. One circle assembled taking first of lectures from one making interesting points |
| 1. | Quite complex but compltete1y fair – a solid clue, getting some of my votes. Nice surface reading. |
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| 49. One with concrete plans, taking out tourists primarily (8) |
| 1. | Is "plans" the anagram indicator? | | 2. | I'm not convinced 'fodder plans' works, and 'with concrete plans' not really anything anything to do with def |
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| 50. Perhaps concierge's no good as a guide (8) |
| 1. | As is a weak connector. Neat clue otherwise | | 2. | I really liked this clue. Unsure about 's and as |
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| 51. Religious painting in church, capturing our first lady, gets a knowledgeable guide |
| 1. | ER = our first lady is too much of an indirect leap for me | | 2. | Nicely done |
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| 52. Shower curtain’s opening with hero getting top slashed in cinema (but not the mother!) |
| 1. | Clever and made me giggle but a bit too contrived for points | | 2. | A slightly strained clue but one I particularly enjoyed |
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| 53. Shower of diamonds filling bag |
| 1. | Good misdirection with the word shower |
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| 54. Soldier, Queen and I need guidance. |
| 1. | Need guidance does not = Cicerone | | 2. | Doesn't define cicerone |
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| 55. Sort of religious instruction once found in church guide |
| 1. | 'Sort of' (rather than 'sort') does not work for me as anagrind – pity as excellent clue otherwise. |
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| 56. Source of information on recce trips? |
| 1. | A very neatly constructed clue, votes from me | | 2. | Nice one. | | 3. | Clever & lit |
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| 57. Top Roman capital guide taking tour round centre of Trevi? |
| 1. | There seems to be a misprint in the explanation, but I still can't see where "one" comes from |
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| 58. Tour Guide 101: on vacation choose right one (8) |
| 1. | Entertaining clue | | 2. | Unconvincing surface |
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| 59. Tour guide can become egocentric when plied with gin and tonic |
| 1. | Not too difficult, which is the normal problem with comp anags, but might have been better with G&T not spelt out | | 2. | Too complicated, I can't be bothered to unravel clues like this |
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| 60. Tour guide’s drugs in old bag |
| 1. | Reasonable clue, but doesn't really stand out from all the other guide clues |
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| 61. Tourist guide takes old woman around reserve (8) |
| 1. | Maybe the best surface of the CRONE ICE clues | | 2. | Reasonable clue, but doesn't really stand out from all the other guide clues |
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| 62. Tourists’ leader on 101 scores four from bouncer and a single |
| 1. | "scores four from bouncer" is very ingenious, but "on" doesn't quite work | | 2. | Ingenious! |
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| 63. Travelling circle getting left abandoned needs one? |
| 1. | Clever &lit although definition is rather loose | | 2. | Clever & lit |
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| 64. Tully, the Roman docent |
| 1. | Maybe this is a Latin thing I don't understand. Your wordplay gives CICERO but where are you getting the -NE from? | | 2. | This is more like a general knowledge question than a crossword clue | | 3. | Not cryptic |
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