Cryptic Crossword, CTC Monthly Puzzle Prompt, Aug 2023

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• merlinnimue 20:40 · più di un anno fa

  I dreamed a dream I could solve a cryptic without checks... maybe I should've held out one day more... Anyway, nice one, and sorry for the intrusion, ill go back to being my miserable self

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  • e costruttore · più di un anno fa

    Thanks for taking the time to solve it, using whatever means you need-- Who am I to speak against using checks? I don't think I've solved any cryptic without help that I didn't write myself...

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• Aaron Riccio 24:04 · più di un anno fa

  A real toughie, for me, with some rarer (to this US solver) conventions in the triple deletion of 3D, the new-to-me abbreviation in 21A (I'm assuming for "time trial?"), or the definition of 17A. I still enjoyed working through zingers like 22A, 2D, 4D, and 13D (and you'd think I would've spotted 1A after solving this one!). Much obliged for the mental workout!

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  • e costruttore · più di un anno fa

    Thanks for your kind words. I don't have enough setting experience to aim for a particular difficulty level; I'm still trying to make sure that the wordplay is fair and that the surface reading scans well.

    Notes on some of the particular clues you mentioned:

    • According to Chambers, the abbreviation in 21A stands for "Tourist Trophy"
    • My definition for 17A might not be fair; the dictionary calls it "a vessel for heating liquids in a saucer of burning alcohol." I would have preferred a word I'm more familiar with, but that was the last entry to be filled and there wasn't really a choice.
    • I spent a long time trying to build 13D as RAGTIME - IME + AG, but couldn't ever make the surface quite work. Fortunately, I spotted the device I ended up using, which makes for a much nicer clue (IMO).

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• brknfixie 19:40 · più di un anno fa

  Tough!

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