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Sneaky Six #8: Dim King Cuts Through

◆◆ · By Aaron Riccio · Published 2024-02-18T09:10:10.516Z

Constructor's Note
Thanks to test solvers skaldskaparmal, StJtB, and juff, and to CHUTTERSNAP for the Unsplash photo
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  • Aaron Riccio constructor · 2024-02-18T09:21:49.371Z
    Annotated answers:
    1D BRUISE /brews/
    2D LAMBDA LAM+BDA*
    3D EARNED {w->E}ARNED
    4A ARMADA AR<+MAD[-e]+A
    5A RIBBON RIB+BON[-bon]
    6A YESAND YE+SAND
    7? BLEARY B(LEAR)Y
    • Polyagonist 8:05 · 2024-02-19T03:03:54.659Z
      Is it kosher to use a partial word for a definition, as you did in 5A? If not, you might want to change striptease to strip tease. Otherwise, good stuff!
      • Aaron Riccio constructor · 2024-02-19T04:11:50.851Z
        Mileage varies on this, with some calling it a "lift and separate." I personally love clues of this nature (and the ? is there to acknowledge the stretchiness), as long as they're used sparingly (because they're tough!) and only if the surface itself warrants (in this case, I liked the seductive misdirect). One cryptic tenet I do agree with is that punctuation is misleading; whether you think spacing falls under that rubric is a personal decision. (In my earliest puzzles, I thought it was OK to decapitalize proper nouns under the same convention; many still object to removing a capitalized letter, since it unfairly changes the meaning, but are fine with making something look proper by capitalizing it: one of my favorite clues referenced Merle Haggard, but the "Merle" was part of the preceding wordplay, and "haggard" was the definition.)
        • Polyagonist 8:05 · 2024-02-19T06:37:20.189Z
          Thank you!
    • JM 🤓2:44 · 2024-02-19T17:06:16.616Z
      Thanks, Aaron!
      • Darth 12:18 · 2024-08-14T21:22:39.299Z
        I especially liked the cluing for 5A.
        • Aaron Riccio constructor · 2024-08-14T23:24:49.578Z
          Hey, thanks for dipping into the backlog and reminding me of this clue :)
        1D
        Picked up beers for crush (6)
        1
        2
        3
        4
        5
        6
        Across
        1. 4A
          Dorm supervisor came back and mostly made area shipshape? (6)
        2. 5A
          Striptease with half a chocolate? (6)
        3. 6A
          Kind of paper you once introduced for an improvisational rule (3,3)
        Down
        1. 1D
          Picked up beers for crush (6)
        2. 2D
          Half-Life's constant: Escape! Bad! VERY BAD! (6)
        3. 3D
          Alerted, heading in the opposite direction, and won? (6)
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