"What's Up, My Lord?" (Cryptic Mini #000000095)

Comments

• riotblob 🤓3:45 · 2024-06-20T11:45:09.770Z

  this is lovely! 3D in particular is an absolute cracker, but it's all good. love the elegance of 2D as well. great puzzle!!

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  • bob weisz constructor · 2024-06-20T14:19:34.769Z

    Why thank you!

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• dilly 🤓9:16 · 2024-06-20T11:45:46.301Z

  Love it, 3D is incredible. Took me a good while to parse 4A even after solving it, “grave-y” and “crypt-ic” is really sneaky. Thanks!

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  • bob weisz constructor · 2024-06-20T16:33:11.666Z

    Oh whoops, I forgot to leave a comment with the parses! Added one now. Glad you enjoyed! :-)

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• Aaron Riccio 18:03 · 2024-06-20T17:26:22.200Z

  I should not have said your last puzzle was easy! In some cases, it was solely my fault: I kept trying to include [It has] in an even extraction for 1A, for some reason I thought the cookie was the TAGALOG in 1D, and I definitely kept misreading [replacing] in 5A in exactly the deceptive way you intended. To be clear, all of this was great! 4A, when it fell, was satisfying, 3D is the sort of so-good clue that justifies that whole mechanism, 7A is a wonderful surface. I think I quibble a bit with the indicator for 2D, and I don't know [Head Start] enough to fully grok the surface of 5A—but again, those are me problems; you keep putting out wonderful puzzles.

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  • bob weisz constructor · 2024-06-20T18:17:31.539Z

    Thank you! Your feedback is always so great. Yeah I keep forgetting that the "of" Hidden indicator isn't totally kosher — I think I first encountered it a decade ago, and loved it so much that I've been using it liberally ever since. I wonder if a ? might be enough to cover the stretchiness? In any case, glad you got it! (oh and Head Start is massive federal program for early childhood services for low-income families. wasn't sure how well-known it is! I have a lot of teacher friends heh)

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    • Aaron Riccio 18:03 · 2024-06-20T21:43:08.541Z

      Oh that's great for Head Start then! My wife's a teacher but she doesn't deal with that aspect of admissions.

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• bob weisz constructor · 2024-06-20T16:32:46.345Z

  Answers / parses:

  1A. semi&lit. wordplay: the odd letters ("in odd places") of "TwO aRmS nOt"

  4A. def: "easy money". wordplay: homophone ("broadcasting") of GRAVE-Y ("crypt-ic?" )

  5A. def: "Head start". anagram ("replacing") of GLUE, then P ("a modicum of Putty")

  7A. def: "many fans of dark material" (as in clothing ). wordplay: GOT ("Game of Thrones") + remove the middle letter ("disheartened") of "HaS"

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  1D. def: "tongue". wordplay: delete ("dislodging") the first letter ("bit") of "Nougat" from TAGALONG ("Girl Scout cookie")

  2D. def: Legendary producer. wordplay: Hidden Answer ("of") in "taRZAn"

  3D. def: "is this where you [the lord] live?" (the ? is also for the grammar of this clue! ). wordplay: Reverse Hidden Answer in "whatS UP MY LOrd" (i.e., those words "hold up" the answer)

  6D. def: "stomach". wordplay: reversal ("turning") of TUG ("jerk")

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