Sam's Sunday Cryptic LXXXV

Comments

• ash 🤓22:36 · 2024-09-08T14:07:43.556Z

  great as always! I particularly liked 7D, 24D, and 27A

  could I ask you to explain the cryptic for 14A?

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  • sammisamsam constructor · 2024-09-08T17:47:23.491Z

    Glad you enjoyed! 14A is a container clue, Koumbu[cha in s]ome is circling 'confines,' aka chains

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    • ash 🤓22:36 · 2024-09-08T21:50:18.039Z

      oh my god now I feel stupid for not seeing it!! thanks for explaining :)

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  • lukadisgre 🤓13:56 · 2024-09-08T18:21:08.834Z

    14A is a classic container. Kombu(cha, in s)ome circles, confines --> CHAINS

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• angusg 🤓15:52 · 2024-09-09T08:28:55.095Z

  Really smooth! Everything felt fair, I think

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• Womble 🤓23:59 · 2024-09-16T12:18:30.698Z

  Thank you, Sam. A really satisfying challenge!

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• Aaron Riccio 🤓1:41 · 2024-09-16T12:39:33.039Z

  First off, this is an impeccably filled grid--very nice flow, checks, and variety of entries. (Sorry it took me so long to get to it; my backlog of 15s is massive.)

  So far as cluing goes, I loved 11A, 13A, 18A, 28A, 18A, 15D, 17D, and my favorite, 20D.

  As for things I questioned:

  • A few of your anagram indicators, like the one in 12A, don't work for me. Saying [cueing disturbs] suggests that CUEING is doing something to something else, not itself having something done to it. See also 25A, with [precook order], which doesn't suggest a rearrangement, and 9D, where [Dance hall owner wowed] is smooth from a surface perspective, but only works in the future tense, as it's an imperative. [Dancing hall] obviously isn't as smooth, but is grammatically more sound (to me). (I also love the definition [an air of Jasmine?], but I do wonder if that's an accurate way to describe a duet. By contrast, 26A [Surprisingly obese cadet] is flawless and a really good surface!
  • I think a deletion indicator should be consecutive letters and in the same order; here you're deleting [-ington]. I suppose if you indicated that [noting] was being anagrammed, that'd be OK, but otherwise it seems like a stretch.
  • I love 7D, but I don't think I've ever (even in an &lit) seen an indicator include itself, as [initially] is doing. Just a thought!

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  • sammisamsam constructor · 2024-09-18T02:32:08.250Z

    Thanks for all the feedback, I really appreciate you taking the time to come back to this!

    For 7D, I absolutely see what you mean. I had some misgivings about whether or not I could do it. Do you think it would work better if the indicator was ALSO integral to the definition? In 7D 'initially' isn't adding anything definition, really

    I see your point about the tense of the anagram indicator, I think I do tend to err on the side of a smooth surface but that's something I'll think more about in future clues!

    TBH I've always been a bit confused about how deletion indicators work - I do think I've seen some published cryptics have deletion indicators working like I used here, simply indicating that you get rid of the letters in any order. But it's possible I'm misremembering, or I missed an anagram indicator when parsing those! Regardless I'll keep it in mind in the future.

    Always appreciate your detailed feedback, it's really helping me develop more discerning clues

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