Mostly easy cryptic

Comments

• Lego constructor · 2023-11-13T10:34:06.505Z

  I hope you enjoyed it! Feedback welcome.

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• merlinnimue 🤓16:27 · 2023-11-13T18:59:38.413Z

  Nice, tripped me up in a few places, only minor nit is I thought 18a would be better without the "like" but idk if that breaks cryptic grammar... you're all much smarter than me, I should but out and shut up, but anyway thanks for the puzzle

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  • Lego constructor · 2023-11-14T07:53:31.683Z

    Good work! Glad you liked it and thanks for the feedback. I put 'like' to indicate "harries" is a homophone of "Harry's". But yeah, it would read better without 'like', although 'technically' wrong. Others' thoughts on this?

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    • dooiemus 🤓15:18 · 2023-11-15T14:17:42.197Z

      "Like" is indeed not a homophone indicator. The clue would reach much better without. "Harry's" as the wordplay and "mustelids" as the definition.

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• Oliver Hardy 28:05 · 2023-11-14T09:11:37.343Z

  Thanks for another great puzzle. 18A I too thought that "like" was not a good homophone indicator, although I did enjoy the surface reading. 35A My word! What a word! I resorted to an anagram solver and even that was mystified! 29D I would welcome a parse, please. 17A To my British ear EX does not sound like eggs, but I understand that rebellious colonials would pronounce the word differently! . I am also unsure about "used to" to mean EX; "used to be" works, perhaps. Personally, I avoid words shorter than 3 letters when compiling. Please don't take my comments as criticism; I enjoyed solving your puzzle. I look forward to the next one.

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  • Lego constructor · 2023-11-15T05:45:06.711Z

    Oh dear! 29D was a mistake. BACKFLIP - PICK = BAFL of course – I've never been good at arithmetic! I've changed it now. Thank you for querying that!

    I stumbled upon 'dehiscence' in an article in the New Yorker, an interview with Fred Morton, whose writing is about as opaque as it gets. It can be used to refer to a seedpod bursting open, or a surgical incision being ripped open again before it's healed – or even a scar reopening, as happened to Oates (of "I'm just going outside and may be some time" fame) due to scurvy.

    17A sounds a little bit like 'eggs' I'd say – phonologically, /egz/ instead of /eks/ – hence puns like 'these taste eggs-ellent', but I'll change 'used to' to 'formerly'.

    Thanks again for the very helpful feedback and I'm glad you enjoyed it!

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• K 13:49 · 2023-11-30T20:32:49.877Z

  Can somebody give me an explanation for the following: ENDOW SECONDHAND STIRFRY COUP AVATAR FLUE BADGERS (Only if you don’t mind though! I know that’s a lot to ask)

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  • Lego constructor · 2023-11-30T22:19:56.240Z

    ENDOW: replace 'best' with 'end' in 'bestow' and you get 'endow', which means 'fund' (as a verb)

    2NDHAND: 'after first' = 'second', 'aid' = 'hand' (in the sense of 'help'), 'second hand' = 'handed down'

    STIRFRY: 'short left-over' = 'l.o.' (dropped from 'floristry' = *'fristry' → 'stirfry')

    AVATAR: 'first' indicates an acrostic

    FLUE: 'spilt' indicates an anagram ('fuel' → 'flue'); fuel (wood, coal etc) goes up a flue (chimney)

    BADGERS: to badger = to harry (like harass); and mustelids are a kind of mammal that include stoats, weasels, ferrets, and ... badgers!

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  • Lego constructor · 2023-11-30T22:25:02.535Z

    I guess the clue for COUP should really be "Sounds like how pigeons express triumph."

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  • Lego constructor · 2023-11-30T22:23:16.096Z

    oh and 'coup' sounds like 'coo', which is how pigeons express (vocalise) , and a' coup' is like an (unexpected) triumph

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    • K 13:49 · 2023-12-01T01:01:07.129Z

      Omg thank you so much! I know that’s a lot of stuff to explain so I really appreciate you taking the time to help me understand them.

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