| Comments on the clues |
|---|
| 1. A sucker who overpaid for the patent muttered, “Damn”! |
| 1. | A touch Byzantine in the explanation department. |
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| 2. After losing, at first Trump really would overthrow new president |
| 1. | The comma spoils the cryptic reading |
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| 4. Beginning to orbit, float around in a vacuum |
| 1. | Nice, diverting surface. Points here. |
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| 5. Cleaner house once one’s vacuumed every room primarily |
| 1. | Good effort, but it can't be an '&lit' as it contains a separate definition. Point from me. |
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| 6. Cleaner's put deliveries next to house |
| 1. | Grammar is a tad off thanks to the apostrophe s for equivalence, else this would have made my shortlist |
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| 9. Dam water's chemically most ideal (6) |
| 1. | Not keen on VERY being a synonym for ideal, but love 'water chemically' being HOO |
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| 12. Eat quickly: nothing to hesitate about! |
| 1. | Succinct & accurate, also an original definition, points here. |
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| 16. Former president from Lesotho overthrown |
| 1. | Nice succinct surface. Would have liked the answer to be hidden across three words. |
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| 18. Heartily shook every clean rug (6) |
| 1. | Why would you shake a clean rug |
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| 19. His Oval Office victory extended Republican primacy |
| 1. | Signalling of initial letter picking doesn't work for me | | 2. | Very good idea, but 'primacy' does not suggest first letters. |
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| 20. Homo, not married, and very short (6) |
| 1. | Slurs aren't nice. Can you imagine clueing Obama with the n-word? Try harder | | 2. | Offensive surface . . . |
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| 23. House done with this? |
| 1. | Quite superb, another (similar) clue gets my vote. Points here, however. | | 2. | Nice but 'with' works for def with wp, not the other way round I feel (there are many who opine that 'with' is not suitable either way) |
|
| 24. Husband loves brief action..
in a word: sucker !
(6) |
| 1. | 'action word' is somewhat different from 'action in a word' |
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| 25. I weed around lavatory regularly, that’s upset cleaner (6) |
| 1. | clever ideas but not solvable. "HOER" and "I weed" doesn't work as part of the wordplay, they need to be fungible in a sentence |
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| 29. Leads from Harvey Oswald finished an American president (6) |
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| 32. Maybe I'm a sucker, however, you and I left for love |
| 1. | How quixotic, points here. |
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| 34. Oh? As a cryptic clue, this sucks |
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| 36. Oh, this sucks! |
| 1. | 34 exploits this idea better imo |
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| 38. One that sucks up to an old president |
| 1. | 'to' doesn't work for the cryptic reading, and I can't figure out the context for provided comments |
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| 39. Oxygen lines remain suspended in vacuum |
| 1. | I'd prefer oxygen to oxygen lines |
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| 42. Suck tip of organ poking through fly |
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| 45. Suppressing love? Hang about, that sucks! |
| 1. | Suppressing seems a misleading verb to use | | 2. | "hang about" works very well with the conversational "that sucks" to make a very lively surface – favourite "that sucks!" |
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| 48. This clue sucks! |
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| 49. This Herbert's a sucker! |
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| 53. What cleans house throughout |
| 1. | Good, but a partial &lit. as there is a separate definition in the subsidiary part of the clue. However, points here. | | 2. | Nice clue, but (like 54) this is not an &lit, an all in one clue, yes |
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| 54. What gets house done? |
| 1. | Beautiful – a 'multum in parvo'! This has to be right up there. | | 2. | Nice clue but again, definitely not an &lit |
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| 55. Who , by all accounts , backing revolution , becomes President (6) |
| 1. | 'By all accounts' seems pretty tenuous as a homophone indicator |
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| 56. Who doesn't start across the dam? |
| 1. | Fail to see how this is an &lit |
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| 58. "You've lost nothing – it's water over the dam" |
| 1. | Can't follow the explanation, sorry | | 2. | I'd omit You've | | 3. | Nice idea, but why the quotation marks? |
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