Very nice! I like the 5x5 fully checked - makes it much easier to get as a new cryptic solver I think. Mind explaining NINJA, ATTIC, and KEENS? I think those ore the only ones I can't figure out
Woo!
Ninja is maybe a little rogue. It's a Spoonerism of "Gin? Nah!"- which fits the fodders story
Attic is a backwards hidden, clued by revolutionary (right-to-left) prisoners (hidden).
Keens is the last letter of each piece of fodder, clued by finishes
4D is a homophone &lit. Gin (alcohol) is a 'spirit often found in bottle' and gin is a homophone (it's said) of Djinn. Djinn is another word for Genie, and could be called "A spirit often found in a bottle"; with 'it's said' showing that it's allegorical. Hope that makes sense!
Caroline 3:09 · 2021-09-30T23:05:53.087Z
Oh, yes. I actually am familiar with djinn, but I didn't get the pointer to a homophone, so I missed the 'gin' angle! Nice one.
This is a type of clue where the wordplay indicates 'bits and pieces' of the answer that all just get added together. Here there's a bird (tit) that gets added to either le (the in French) to get a word meaning name. It could have been Bird=le/la+a 3 letter word for name too. :)