Mini 154

Very nice &lit in 1A, and all these surfaces are great, especially 5A. I think 4A is the only one I might quibble with; feels like it might need "for example" or something. As for 6A, the precision of your indicators is exactly what I'm talking about when I mention surface sense: by keeping everything sports-centric, you made it read more cleanly and kept the cryptic parts more joyous to discover.

Thank you! I always love your analysis, it feels good to be "seen" :)

As for 6A: yeah I waffled for a long time about adding "e.g." or "for this puzzle" or something. It would make the definition more accurate, but would ruin the &lit-ness. Ultimately I decided "hey, this is a blog puzzle, I can try some stretchy stuff", slapped on a ?, and called it a day. As long as it's still gettable and makes the solver go "hah!"... I'm happy :-)

Solutions:

1A: ||&lit: the entire clue is the definition, and also it's a Hidden Answer inside "cloSE A Lid" (i.e. those letters "keep something inside")||

4A: ||&lit. The entire clue is the TITLE of this puzzle... but also an anagram ("out") of LET IT||

5A: ||def: "Police hate this" [except when they do it themselves]. wordplay: anagram ("weird") of tRICk without the first & last letters ("getting naked") + ME||

6A: ||def: "New York team" (the Brooklyn NBA team). wordplay: NEST ("orioles' home") but the S ("season opener") gets moved later in the word ("is delayed")||

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1D: ||def: "Funny bit". wordplay: anagram ("rocky") of KITSCH||

2D: ||def: "Sitting on". wordplay: Hidden Answer ("secret location of") in "ursulAS TRIDEnt"||

3D: ||def: "They can stop you from going" 😎. wordplay: KE ("KnoxvillE on vacation", as in, it's been vacated") + anagram ("broken") of LEGS||

Wow, I loved all of these, esp. 5A and 3D made me laugh.

"Let It Out!?" (Cryptic Mini #000000094)

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