| Comments on the clues |
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| 1. A Ranger takes dwarf to court before the chief of Dúnedain, after the last elf went missing |
| 1. | needs to be the last of ELF |
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| 2. A word used over and over again for an old forest ranger (8) |
| 1. | Nice thought but AWORD repeated would give a 10-letter fodder. Deletion of the extra AR should have been indicated. | | 2. | No, it's a jumble of A WORD plus WOD, so it's not used over again |
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| 3. After an upset, mom or dad could be a guardian |
| 1. | working magic with smoke and mirrors |
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| 4. After Shaw , Parry becomes Forest manager (8) |
| 1. | Disappointing that this is not true – I would have awarded points if I recognised the names as football managers | | 2. | Original wordplay succinct and worthy of points. |
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| 5. American star Joanne sought favour without fortune, ultimate drawback (8) |
| 1. | I like "drawback" but I can't see how "fortune, ultimate" means the letter E |
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| 6. Bernstein's collaborator in going for a radical bunch of instruments |
| 1. | superb | | 2. | The substitution indication coming in the middle could lead to either word as answer, making it a bit ambiguous |
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| 7. Bush drawback for Bernstein buddy |
| 1. | "Bernstein buddy" is awkward both in the surface and as a definition |
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| 8. “Call out Lumbar Treatment Area’s coach, Clive” |
| 1. | I think it's fine to have clues which read as a bit of speech without quotation marks | | 2. | hp normally is used for a similar sounding word of a synonym of term used in clue, rather than a hp of the term itself |
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| 9. Callan star casually gives up lead to woo Callan star? |
| 1. | this one did actually needed 'another' |
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| 10. Club bolstered by rising attraction in Forest's keeper |
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| 11. Club welcomes central pair of Pearce and Des Walker initially battling to become captain of Forest |
| 1. | Wasn’t Pearce left back?! |
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| 12. Court battle covered by extremely dedicated investigative journalist |
| 1. | oops, that coverage went Live | | 2. | Nice clue and the best of the court battle combos | | 3. | Well-constructed wordplay telling a plausible story with a well-known Woodward as def – my runner-up. |
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| 14. Deep Throat helped him protect boner first |
| 1. | I'm guessing that this is meant to be incredibly rude but I'm not sure I understand the surface. I prefer the subtler bawdiness of 34 | | 2. | Merit awarded for cheek |
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| 15. Dependent upon deal, could be member of team at Forest |
| 1. | Upon suggests one on top of the other to me, hence deal would be upon dependent | | 2. | Clever. But ‘team at Forest’ isn’t exactly the same as ‘team at a forest’, imo. | | 3. | 'upon' suggests WARDWOOD, and 'Forest team' might have read better | | 4. | Capitalization, young padawan! |
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| 17. Edward, Edward, surrendering his crown to go courting |
| 1. | Very clever. Is Edward a sufficient def though? |
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| 18. Endless trouble with a word d——— tricky — one making fellers work! |
| 1. | I quite like the 'fellers' def, but don't understand the rest of the surface. |
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| 19. England coach who’s to blame for loss of Ashes? |
| 1. | Clever use of Ashes although the definition feels rather loose | | 2. | nice try, but I don't think any forester chap's blamable for a fungal disease | | 3. | very nice cryptic element to the DD |
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| 20. English educationist and Pali scholar’s almost dwarf daughter to court first? |
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| 21. Equalizer perhaps from Forest's keeper |
| 1. | Obscure GK combined with an (I think) obscure word means this is just too difficult to appeal me, sorry | | 2. | GK a little too obscure I feel |
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| 22. Fight in club finally stopped by park ranger |
| 1. | not keen on 'WORDPLAY by DEFINTION' | | 2. | Wordplay is good but “by” doesn’t really work as a link word | | 3. | [Wordplay] by [definition] takes away what would have been a good clue | | 4. | 'by'… innovative use | | 5. | 'by' as equivalence connector doesn't work imo |
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| 23. Forest defender Cook down briefly over draw |
| 1. | "Forest defender Cook" is brilliant but the fodder too bitty for my liking sorry | | 2. | Very neat | | 3. | Not my winner but a nice clue nonetheless. |
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| 24. Forest defender's beginning to worry over mismatched tackling contest |
| 1. | Well-constructed wordplay and nice surface – my winner. |
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| 26. Forest manager's furious with a red sending centre off |
| 1. | The definition, wordplay and surface are all very nice but wood=furious is just too obscure for points from me | | 2. | Using a Shakespearean word as a synonym for wood is more than a bit unfair. |
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| 27. Forest officer's court battle to occupy vacant dryland (8) |
| 1. | dry land is two words though really | | 2. | Nice, plausible surface. | | 3. | surface is like a precise and elegant equation, perfectly balanced, meant for Reading pleasure |
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| 29. Forest Whitaker abandons revenge drama's leads for actor from cult classic |
| 1. | Good use of Forest but def seems too vague | | 2. | points for mentioning the wicker man, albeit the british one |
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| 33. He performs his duties in this section of the copse, maybe ( 8 ) |
| 1. | ! | | 2. | Indirect anagram; redundant words “of” and “the”. |
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| 34. Jumped-up branch manager, who's hard on head of department following confrontation |
| 1. | lol | | 2. | Excellent wordplay. Not entirely sure about fairness of the definition. | | 3. | Very creative. But why jumped-up? | | 4. | apology accepted with bequest of merit |
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| 35. Man of the trees to court religious scholar with inner turmoil (8) |
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| 36. Maybe official at Sherwood Forest Golf Club overturned result of match |
| 1. | An eagle! | | 2. | Works nicely, useful Golf Club |
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| 37. Nothing odd about fighting with wife in the first place in this place in Oklahoma (8) |
| 1. | OK GK very obscure, and not really justified by the rest of the surface, which seemingly has little to do with OK |
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| 39. One who neglects no aspect of forest, not even who holds what ride. |
| 1. | very well executed, excellent productive effort |
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| 40. Protector of elders, perhaps, in court battle surrounded by daughters |
| 1. | Excellent disguise of definition allied with lovely wordplay | | 2. | very evocative, juicy and artful clue |
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| 43. Ranger rode and swam naked, word has it (8) |
| 1. | Really like the idea but not sure that “has it” is sufficient to indicate containment of what went before | | 2. | Nice one. A rodeo swami maybe 😜 | | 3. | Ranger, nice def |
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| 46. Some who draw do owls going back to the trees |
| 1. | Can’s see how the clue acts as defintion. Surface meaning ? |
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| 47. Sports icon Clive Lloyd’s back after court battle – given knighthood at last! (8) |
| 1. | My favourite of the court battles | | 2. | Brilliant construction to create topical surface and disguised definition |
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| 48. The Epping Guardian would report on design retrospective |
| 1. | Very pleased to discover this is a real paper, but struggling to see how "would report" (rather than, say, "would reported") works as a homo | | 2. | more libertarian than ximenean— if that means anything at all; nevertheless, i like it, it has merit |
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| 49. This guardian reportedly courted the minor in his charge. |
| 1. | wooed and wood are not homophones | | 2. | what a charming subject for a crossword clue | | 3. | Wood and wooed are not exactly homophones, imo. | | 4. | don't think that's a true homophone | | 5. | the hp doesn't quite work |
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| 50. This journalist's work leads to a Republican's downfall after Washington official offers discreet tips |
| 1. | would need to be "…offers discreet's tips". But then that ruins the surface |
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| 51. What forest warden would hear if war was entered into on December 1st. |
| 1. | homophone flag should be WOOD heard, not hear? Plus, should be December's first. | | 2. | would hear as hp for wood not grammatically sound |
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