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monorail cryptic 1

◆◆ · By Holly McFarland · Published 2024-07-16T03:08:49.905Z

My first cryptic! I owe my thanks to riotblob for playtesting this one before I published it and offering a lot of advice, especially when it comes to cryptic correctness. Much of their advice improved the puzzle, and some of it I chose not to follow, so if there's anything you dislike it's definitely my own fault!
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Comments

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  • Aaron Riccio 12:16 · 2024-07-16T04:32:43.967Z
    (Oh, and if you do want to keep the difficulty, please avoid double unchecked letters in your grid; we need every crosser we can get. Shifting the black squares over one (so that 1D starts in the second column) would let you alternate every other square. That's more important than symmetry.)
    • Holly McFarland constructor · 2024-07-16T05:36:06.216Z
      I'll keep that in mind for the future, thank you!
    • Aaron Riccio 12:16 · 2024-07-16T04:31:02.169Z
      You've got a great sense for surfaces, so now it's just a matter of deciding how tough you want it to be for the solver. I found this one quite difficult, here's why:
      1A: I feel like [giving extra credit] needs a question mark if this is in fact a double definition of RECITING and RE-CITING. That's a very EX-CITING clue, if I parsed it right.
      5A: Very nice, but hard given that you need to identify two synonyms, make a deletion, and read [all over] as a container indicator. I don't think the crossword clue of [driven mad], which indicates a verb, quite matches up with ROAD-iE, though I love the idea of where it's going.
      6A: Not sure why you've got [salesman] and [she]; makes it harder to see [not as she seems] as an anagram indicator.
      1D: This is the kind of indirect anagram I'm most against. You need to change [chore] into ERRAND, delete the last letter, and THEN anagram it into a synonym for [did it again]. Again, if you're trying to make it really hard, this is the way to go.
      2D: Not too many people use partial homophones, but this one's slick. [Appeal] is really nicely misdirecting here.
      3D: I'd probably delete [the], but this is neat.
      4D: I think this is trying to clue G with [note] (as in musical), but I don't know where UESS comes from. That looks like an indirect anagram of USES, but that would need to be [operates]. Apologies if I'm reading it wrong!
      I hope that's helpful! Looking forward to your next grid.
      • Holly McFarland constructor · 2024-07-16T14:39:30.937Z
        It seems like you probably wrote this comment before the other one, but it didn't show up for me until later haha. This is really helpful, thank you!
      • dilly 🤓7:53 · 2024-07-16T14:46:41.959Z
        Brutal. I’m a big fan of “giving extra credit” for “re-citing.” Thanks!
        • Mad Dog 17:27 · 2024-07-18T16:42:06.741Z
          Excellent, given it's your first effort. Aaron's comments are spot on. You have a good sense for clues.
          1A
          Performing orally and giving extra credit (8)
          1
          2
          3
          4
          5
          6
          Across
          1. 1A
            Performing orally and giving extra credit (8)
          2. 5A
            Crew member (not I!) all over tabloid is driven mad (4, 4)
          3. 6A
            Anonymous salesmen are not as they seem (8)
          Down
          1. 1D
            Forgot chore's last step (got it mixed up), did it again (5)
          2. 2D
            Appeal hurt after witness testified (5)
          3. 3D
            Photo of yours truly with the wizard (5)
          4. 4D
            Take a stab and operate, confused, leaving a note on top (5)
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