The Age Cryptic by DH #20,448

The Tuesday puzzle I treat warily because some weeks it's great fun and others a chore. This week it was more chore. The puzzle, for the most part was straightforward to solve but it had many 25¢ words for answers. Words I'd never heard of and had to use the dictionary to confirm, not only it was a valid word but that it meant what the solution said it meant. I'm not opposed to the use of rare and challenging words it's just as a novice solver it pinches my doubts and saps my confidence. That said, most of the time I was spot on and the answers were real words that matched the clue's definitions, so I will take those victories.

I have noticed midweek puzzled use a lot of anagrams and this puzzle is good example. In the pic I've noted all of the clues that are anagram clues. We have eight anagram clues, most of those full anagrams and not partials. My strategy is to always go for the anagrams first. There were plenty to choose from. I list them in the pic:

1A - Wasted their time in birthright (8)
"Birthright" is our definition and "wasted their" is anagrind and partial fodder. Add to that "time" = AGE to get HERIT(AGE)

5A - Andersen to order a cab (6)
"Cab" is our definition and a famous "Andersen" = HANS and here I'm lost because somehow "to order" = OM for HANS(OM)  which are the old fashioned horse-drawn carriage style of cab. When I lived in Edinburgh, family referred to the black taxis as Hansom cabs but I don't think others do. This made this clue confusing for me.

9A - Pet Simon trained a family preference (8)
"Family preference" is our definition and "pet simon trained" is fodder and anagrind to give us NEPOTISM.

10A - Female monster making advancement without public relations (6)
"Female monster" is what we are looking for and "advancement" = PROGRESS but "without Public Relations" = -PR which leaves us an OGRESS.

12A - Extra great (5)
Double Definition: SUPER.

14A - I like that! Capricorn has uniform properties in all directions (9)
I needed all the cross letters and then googled "uniform properties in all directions" to get Isotropy. I then thought "Capricorn" = TROPIC which left the first three letters to give us ISOTROPIC. This means "I like that" = I SO? I don't like that use of "so" and I've mentioned it before.

16A - Strip Robert! (4)
With cross letters in place it's not going to be removing the first and letter of "robert" for our answer. OBER wouldn't make much sense anyway. We want a synonym of "strip" that is the surname of a famous guy whose first name is "Robert" and that is PEEL. I had to do some googling to confirm Robert Peel is who we wanted.

15A - And mulga is chopped for a miscellaneous bunch (10)
"Miscellaneous bunch" is our definition with "and mulga is chopped" being fodder and anagrind to give us SALMAGUNDI which I'd never heard of before and had to use an anagram solver to get.

18A - At piano, Irish master, little known as Black in Paris (4)
"Black in Paris" is our definition and I jumped right to the definition and answered. To solve this I'm less sure. I can see it's a hidden word clue with "piaNO IRish," hiding the answer NOIR. Is the hidden word signpost simply "At" or was that a coincidence? I don't believe it is. What's the purpose of " master, little known" or is that just filler?

19A - Blooms for lands of motor vehicles (10)
"Blooms" is what we are looking for and "Lands of motor vehicles" becomes CAR NATIONS.

21A - Said the apartment you let me use is windy (9)
"Windy" is the definition and we must note "Said" as that tells us it's a homophone clue. "Apartment you let me use" could be a "FLAT YOU LENT" or FLATULENT.

22A - Ancient car doesn't start (5)
"Ancient" is our definition and "car" = HOLDEN that "doesn't start" = -H for OLDEN.

24A - No Sir! Duck back for some prayer (6)
"Prayer" is the definition and I solved this as "no sir!" being fodder and the exclamation point being a hint that something funny was going on with those two words. "Duck" = O as a zero score in cricket, to be placed "back" along the fodder - or in front of - to make O(RISON) - Ok, now I see it. This proves sometimes you have to write out answers to fully get them. "No sir" is not fodder and that exclamation point means nothing but distraction. it's simply NO SIR O reversed by the word "back."

25A - Soon Graf beaten cheaply (3,1,4)
"Cheaply" is our definition and "soon graf beaten" is fodder and anagrind to give us FOR A SONG.

27A - Contradiction in deal arrangement (6)
"Contradiction" is our definition and "in deal arrangement" is fodder and anagrind to give us DENIAL.

28A - Toes broken? It is bone inflammation (8)
"Bone inflammation" is our definition and "toes broken" is partial fodder and anagrind, then we add the clues "IT IS" on the end to make (OSTE)ITIS.

2D - Knock average up (3)
"Knock" is our definition and an "average" = PAR to be placed "up" in the grid to give us RAP.

3D - Knocked out in test seminar (8)
"Seminar" is our definition and "knocked out" is anagrind and partial fodder to be placed "in" a word for "test" = TRIAL like this: T(UTO)RIAL.

4D - Giles cut seat badly and waves his arms about (12)
"Waves his arms about" is our definition and "Giles cut seat badly ," is fodder and anagrind to make GESTICULATES.

6D - Gold floor covering back? May finish prophecy (7)
"Prophecy" is our definition and "gold" = AU, "floor covering, back" = RUG reversed to GUR with "maY finish" = Y put together to get: AU(GUR)(Y) a word I'd never heard of before.

7,1D - Some watches clean? Used Sulphur?  (5,6,5)
I think I got this on a technicality. I got the last word first from cross letters and a guess that "watches" have HANDS. As more cross letters fell in I figured the answer was SWEEP SECOND HAND but the grammar was iffy. Turns out it's right. I love watches and have several. I used to collect Swatch watches. I knew that a feature of a Rolex was that the second hand doesn't tick like cheaper quartz watches but moves in a smooth sweep. It's a sign of a fake Rolex if its second hand ticks along. In the clue it's: "Clean" = SWEEP, "used" = SECOND HAND and "sulphur" = S as that's its chemical symbol.

8D - So Australian in backless slippers for concerts? (9)
"Concerts" is the definition and I have a gap in this clue. I know "backless slippers" = MULES but I don't know why "So Australian" = SICA, only that it's supposed to go "in" the MULES like this MU(SICA)LES. It could be "So Australian" = SA but I still don't know where the IC comes from

11D - Pardons countries with lots of apartments (12)
"Pardons" is our definition and I got this late. Cross letters, no real idea. I didn't have a first letter then I noticed the words country and nation had been used in other clues - what are the odds? What stumped me again was both "countries" and "apartments were plural but the answer is
CONDO + NATIONS but not condos plural. I think this clue is still not fully solved. How do I know to swap the words around?

13D - Ballot on Irish land being part of the fertilisation process (11)
"Fertilisation process" is our definition and a "ballot" = POLL, "Irish" = I and "land" = NATION (see, nation again) to give us POLLINATION.

15D - Wrong gas in Ford shows composure? (9)
"Composure" is our definition and "wrong gas in ford" is anagrind and fodder to give us: SANGFROID.

17D - Cause to become pale and weak when Leo ate it? Rubbish! (8)
"Cause to become pale and weak" is our definition and "leo ate it rubbish"  because we ignore punctuation, is fodder and anagrind to give us ETIOLATE. New word for me.

20D - Distinct atmosphere otherwise in colourful aerial display (6)
"Colourful aerial display" is our definition and a "distinct atmosphere" = AURA and "otherwise, in" = OR to be in AURA like this: AUR(OR)A.

23D - In sunrise, for instance, an old Ethiopian emperor (5)
"Ethiopian emperor" is our definition and this is a gobbeldegooky clue. "in, sun rise" is saying to put SUN backwards in the grid but it is to have something "in" it, and that's "for instance" = EG like this: N(EG)US.

26D - Old folks threaten leaders regularly (3) 
"Regularly" is our definition and after a brief "is the signpost leaders or regularly?" debate, I saw that "Old Folks Threaten" = OFT and that satisfied the question.

And we are done! Still need help with 5A, 8D and 11D. If you have any solutions that are more elegant than mine then please share in the comments.

May your Humpday be smooth.

The age Cryptic by LR #20,447

I was told last week there was a mini-theme within this puzzle and on reading through the clues It did not seem to show itself. Where were the cross referencing of clues or everything hinging on one clue? No, this was a pay attention theme. I had a slow start but as the answers started coming along I noticed something - some answers for the early Down clues began with the letter N. Coincidence? Well a lot of the left side answers were ending with an E, the right side began with W and yes! The bottom row all ended with an S. The edges of the puzzle were compass points. Once I saw that I could run about filling in the edge unches with their compass points. It was a great help because I often struggle to get a word if its's missing its first letter so two sides of the puzzle had the first letters in place. Here's the pic:

8A - Wrath in tangled power cable (4,4)
"Cable" is our definition and "wrath" = IRE to be place "in" "tangled power" =  which is anagrind with partial fodder mixed like this: W(IRE)ROPE.

9A - Turn east, following topless bird in street (6)
"Street" is our definition and we just had "turn" = U on Friday so I'm canny to that trick, "East" = E  which will be "following" or put after  the "topless bird" = RAVEN -R to give us AVEN(U+E).

10A - Wild dog among wood life regularly (4)
"Wild dog" is our definition and the word "regularly" is an odds/even signs post. Looking closely we can see "WoOd LiFe" = WOLF.

11A - www.capecanaveral.com? (6,4)
Nice lateral thinking clue: LAUNCH SITE.

12A - Yes, dad, news was broken in Midweek Times (10)
This was my first clue in the grid. "Midweek times" is our definition and it's not like a newspaper so ignore the capitalisation. "Yes, dad, news was broken" is fodder and anagrind to give us: WEDNESDAYS.

14A - Group of ships endlessly take flight (4)
"Take flight" is our definition and a "group of ships" = FLEET "endlessly" = -T, leaving FLEE.

15A - Aussie rugby player's method holding spinning ball (7)
"Aussie rugby players" is our definition and there's no need to go searching for player lists (yes I did) because "method" = WAY which will be "holding" the "spinning BALL" which means to reverse ball  in the grid like this: WA(LLAB)Y.

17A - Brag about 1,000,000 bill? (3,4)
Double definition: BIG NOTE.  I put this one in last as it's not a phrase I know and I made a guess and hen googled to confirm.

19A - Driver in court, going over 500 (4)
"Driver" is our definition and "court" = WOO and "500" = D in Roman numerals for WOOD.

20A - Accountant company member bugs associate (10)
"Associate" is our definition and "accountant" = AC (I've always used ACCT but puzzles seem to use just AC), "company" = CO, "member" = MP as a member of parliament, and "bugs" = LICE for an ACCOMPLICE.

22A - Spouse-like quality of West Indies cat on ship? (10)
"Spouse-like quality" is our definition and "West Indies" being a proper noun we take the WI, "cat" = FELINE and "ship" = SS for WI(FELINE)SS.

25A - Ripped tuxedo edges again! (4)
"Ripped" is the definition and "TuxedO edges" = TO, "again" = RE for TORE.

26A - Schoolyard prank pulled by jocks (6)
I cannot decide what type of clue this is but the answer is WEDGIE. The definition is the whole clue I'm leaning towards &lit. Or is it a double definition? Or a cryptic definition? I cannot decide.

27A - Physical therapist for widespread ecstasy consumption? (8)
"Physical therapist" is our definition and "widespread ecstasy consumption" = MASS E USE. One of the last clues solved and I ruled this a clever but terrible, or terribly clever.

1D - Kidman put carbon monoxide in river (6)
"Kidman" is our definition and "carbon monoxide" = CO to be placed "in" a "river" = NILE for NI(CO)LE.

2D - Reportedly understood sharp tooth with light emitting diode was innovative (10)
"Innovative" is our definition and "reportedly understood" has a homophone signpost and we want a synonym for "understood" = KNEW homophone is NEW. "sharp tooth" = FANG and "light emitting diode" = LED for NEWFANGLED.

3D - Coward is negative to the Spanish (4)
"Coward" is our definition and a "negative" = NO and "Spanish" = EL as it's a common cryptic crossword reduction for the word Spanish to give us NOEL. (A quick reference to other common reductions)

4D - Blurry sun able to be seen in space dust clouds (7)
"Space dust clouds" is our definition and "Blurry sun able" is anagrind and fodder to give us NEBULAE. I was a t first distracted by the "seen in" thinking it was a hidden word clue.

5D - Miss Cairn's shocking vanity (10)
"Vanity" is our definition and "Miss Cairn's shocking" is fodder and anagrind to give us NARCISSISM.

6D - All bridge players gossip (4)
"Gossip" is our definition and often any hint with a "bridge player" usually wants us to use a compass point because in the game of Bridge each player is either North, East, South or West position. Here we want all the "players" and mix them up to form NEWS.

7D - Head and neckwear on extreme scientist is most eccentric (8)
"Most eccentric" is our definition and "head" = NUT, "neckwear" = TIE and "extreme ScientisT" = ST to give us: NUTTIEST

13D - Warcraft destroyed armies' buns (10)
"Warcraft" is what we are looking for "destroyed armies buns" is anagrind and fodder to give us a SUBMARINE. Such a waste of good buns.

14D - Female at home with great boxer draws conclusions (10)
"Conclusions" is our definition and "Female" = F, "at home" = IN "great boxer" = ALI and "draws" = TIES put together for FINALITIES.

16D - Leader's off the wagon, one emergency service worries (8)
"Worries" is our definition and "Leader's off the wagon," means remove the first letter from
WAGON - W = AGON, "one" = I and "emergency service" = SES put together for AGONISES.

18D - Shouts secondary college lots of paper (6)
"Shouts is our definition and "Secondary College" = SC and "lots of paper" = REAMS for SCREAMS.

21D - Heartless Carl, Tess and Pat? (6)
"Pat" is our definition and "heartless CARl tESS" = CARESS as we remove the middle letters.

23D - You can beat these...urges (4)
"Double definition: EGGS. You can beat them and you "egg" someone on. This had me quoting classic Frantics skits for most of the day. Not that I need much persuading.

24D - Dubious American in secret service (4)
"Dubious" is our definition and "American" = US to be put "in"  "secret service" = SS to give us SUSS.

All done. I took this puzzle in chunks through the day and finished it by bedtime.

I have a busy week with two Halloween parties and a book drive to organise for the Guides and primary school. It looks like Australia is catching the American fever for Halloween. It's still cold enough to feel autumnal but it is weird to have this as a Spring holiday. All the sombre autumn colours don't fit Springtime.

My order of board games has arrived! We have friends coming over for the weekend and I'll have to learn all the rules so we can coax them into a few rounds. We now have Munchkin (which my 15yo was all "I'm not playing some long ass game like that" and then after playing once was asking "Can we Munchkin again?") Lords of Waterdeep which is my first ever D&D game, Love letter which is a quick card game we played last night and had great fun. It's a quick strategy, bluffing game. Finally, I got Ticket To Ride which I'm looking forward to but there will be no leg wiggling or table dancing allowed as it uses lots of little pieces we don't want knocked over. Hyper kids are banned.

If you have solutions to share please add them in the comments. Enjoy your day.

The Age Cryptic by DA #20,445

This puzzle was pretty good to me. I didn't struggle with most of it which was weird. Yes it was weird! I got a lot of answers by just "knowing" what it was. I couldn't parse the answer but I knew it was right. That's a particular mental leap I have been looking forward to and dreading. It's happening more often, too. I believe this is a kind of brain training. For anyone who's just learning to solve, that's a wonderful, wonderful thing to just intuit answers before breaking down clues but for someone who writes up a clue solving blog - it's a lot of extra work and self-doubt and back tracking.

I had no red pen this week which means I fully solved the DA. I did get help with a few questions through the D.A. Trippers and a few more just to see "Is this right?" Many clues I had no confidence in, ended up good guesses like 18A.  Here's the pic:

1A - Monster from Olympus possibly, one succumbing to greeting (7)
"Monster" is our definition and for a while I had searched "Monster from Olympus" and focussed on Roman age monsters. I knew the "succumbing to greeting" was likely a container signpost for "greeting" = HI but the word I needed to put that into I couldn't find. With cross letters I guessed CHIMERA. Later, Mort explained "Olympus is a brand of six letters, Remove “one” (i.e. singular) and substitute with a two-letter greeting."  which means "Olympus" = CAMERA and if we remove the first A and put in our HI we get C(HI)MERA. It's devious. I kept thinking it was a letter "I" we had to remove from something.

5A,2D - Alien and I need health system adjusted for murder onstage (3,4,2,3,6)
"Murder onstage" is our phrase definition. I could see there was an anagram at play with the word "adjusted" but couldn't isolate the fodder. Then I got a couple of cross letters and guessed LAY THEM IN THE AISLES but wasn't sure because I've always known that phrase to start with "SLAY" not "LAY" which seems a bit more sexual than murderous. I'll chalk that up to cultural interpretation. Working backwards I could see the fodder was "Alien and I need health system" having tripped over the word "need" many times.

9A - Modern art gallery contracted needlework (3)
"Needlework" is what we are looking for and I remembered the last time "modern art gallery" was used it was the TATE gallery, "contracted" means remove the last letter -E leaving TAT which is a kind of lace making with shuttles, bobbins and if you want to go blind quickly, needles. One craft I look at and think - no frigging way.

10A - Backing track officials from 20-across (3,8)
20A features in a few clues so dip down and see that it's SQUARE ONE. I needed a hint for this one and Mort supplied "first word = backing; second word = track officials. You may have oysters 10A."  right, so "backing" in this sense means supporting or being FOR something and is not a reversal signpost as I'd been looking for. "Track officials" = STARTERS and we'd have oysters FOR STARTERS. I'd also been trying to think of a synonym for a "backing track" used in music.

11A - Emu parade to scoop the pool? (5,2)
I admit I'd never heard of an "Emu parade" but I did think that "scoop the pool" could mean either to win the betting pool or to literally scoop leaves out of the swimming pool. I guessed CLEAN UP and once I googled "Emu Parade" I knew it was right. (that link is annoying with its auto start vids)

12A - 8-down to touch base with outspoken monks (7)
Again, skip down to 8-down to see its answer is MISER which becomes our definition here. Kind of cheeky to insist we have to solve another clue in order to get this one. I couldn't parse this completely, I can see "toucH base" = H and "monks" = ORDER but I don't know how "with outspoken" = A to make H(O(A)RDER).

14A - Competing against one mate from 20-across (9)
With 20A being SQUARE ONE I thought this may be a chess clue but I couldn't see how. From cross letters I lightly pencilled INITIALLY and I think it's "competing against" = IN IT like "in it to win it" and "one" = I with "mate" = ALLY all together for IN IT+I+ALLY.

16A - Laments extinct bird nests being emptied (5)
"Laments" is our definition and "extinct bird" = MOA with "NestS being emptied" means remove the middle letters from nests leaving only the NS for MOANS.

18A - Far-off cocktails essentially increased fivefold (5)
This one still stumps me. I know from many hints how to solve this clue, I just can't. Ray first tried with "DA has done similar before. Defn = first 2 words. “cocktails” = 5 letter answer. The “essential” letter of this is increased “fivefold” to give answer." and then Mort tried "Take a word describing “cocktail” and look at its “essential” letter which is a Roman numeral. Apply fivefold to it and you have another Roman numeral. Definition is (sort of) Far-off." then iPuzzled tried "It is a bit of basic math. Only one letter – the middle one. If you know your 5-times tables and Roman numerals you’ll be fine."

In the end I had the three cross letters and figured "Far-off" = MILES and I still don't know what the word for "cocktails" is that can roman numeral math to be multiplied to give me that answer. Drinks? Sidecars - DA's used that before? Feathers?

20A - Fuddy-duddy beginning? (6,3)
At first I wasn't sure if there was an Elmer Fudd thing going on here but there's not. A "fuddy-duddy" is a SQUARE and the "beginning" if we think numbers, is ONE for SQUARE ONE. I did seek hints on this and got an equally cryptic "20A: In this crossword, it’s a C." from Rupert which took me 15 minutes to solve. Nothing like making me work harder, but I got it!

22A - Cinema's caramel a bit cosmetic (7)
"Cosmetic" is our definition and this is a hidden word clue. Looking closer at "cineMAS CARAmel" we can see MASCARA.

24A - Vintage weapon a vintage constructor kept in stock? (7)
"Vintage weapon" is our definition and the "vintage constructor"  = LB which are the initials for the former Fairfax compiler Lindsey Browne. I wouldn't have known that without DATers mentioning him since I didn't move to Australia until 2009. "Kept in stock" = HAD like retail stock but I was still two letters short, then one with the cross letter from 13D leaving only letter 6 empty so I tried a few combinations until I hit HALBERD. I don't know where we get the ER in the clue. *On editing I thought what if stock was livestock and it's HERD, then we just use the "A" from "A vintage constructor LB"? That would work.

25A - 13-down making stiff drink for chap almost 60 (6,5)
13-down is the definition and that clue's answer is DNA MOLECULE. "making stiff drink" = DOUBLE and "chap" = HE and "almost 60" = 59/LIX all for DOUBLE HELIX.

27A - Country writer Sontag, off-limits (1.1.1.)
"Country" is what we want. How many can be reduced to just a three letter acronym? As it turns out - all of them. I only considered UAE or USA. With cross letters I had the U_A and "Sontag" supplied the S. Otherwise I'm not sure how we'd get there or how "off limits" works. Would you believe just as I was getting a link for Sontag I noticed her first name was Susan. sUSAn "off limits" meaning take away the first and last letters of her name.

28A - Chef school modest about letter? (7)
"Chef school" is our definition and I'd googled about for synonyms of "culinary arts" and "cutler" getting nowhere. Then I just put in the phrase "chef school" and got links for "COOKERY classes" aha I said! "Modest" = COY and the "letter" is an OK-ER or one who says okay and lets you do something. Put together as CO(OKER)Y.

29A - Sack expert recalled outfit's final write-off (3,4)
"Write-off" is the definition and working this backwards "outfiT's final" = T " sack expert recalled" means a word for "sack" = BED and "expert" = DAB are both reversed to make BAD DEBT something we "write-off" if we go bankrupt. For a bit I'd considered "sack expert" was  BED REST thinking "outfit's" - DRESSED and "drest" was a homophone and yes it doesn't work but it fit the cross letters.

1D - Edited schematic Q&A format (9)
"Q&A format" is our definition and "Edited schematic" is anagrind and fodder to give us CATECHISM.

3D - Ring swiped from fond-sounding master in Turkey (7)
I'm not sure how we solve this. I got it with cross letters and googling "master in turkey" as it seemed the most likely definition. I got EFFENDI which I checked in the dictionary to confirm. I'm guessing we need to "swipe" the "ring" = O then Mort gave the rest "3D “swipe” the ring from “fond” and sound out the result." meaning sound out each remaining letter Eff En Di.

4D - Remove nothing in the greatest southern temple (9)
"Temple" is the definition and I did get this with cross letters and a guess. "Remove" = CROP, "nothing" = O to be placed "in the greatest" = ALI with "southern" = S put together like this: A(CROP+O)LI(S) for the ACROPOLIS.

5D - Closer student in pew, possibly (5)
"Closer" is our definition and I needed Mort's hint that this was as in something being closed and not nearer. I had been hung up on "in pew" being an anagram. "student" = L for learner, "in pew" = AT CH where the CH means "church" to give us LATCH.

6D - Mobile radar in constructor's soaring mast fixture (7)
"Mast fixture" is our definition and "mobile radar" is anagrind and fodder to be placed "in constructor's soaring" where this puzzle's "constructor" is DA the possessive 's would become MY which will be "soaring from bottom to top like this Y(ARDAR)M

7D - Thou abandoned Titanic in colour (3)
I got this in a roundabout way. "Colour" is our definition. "Thou" = YOU and from there I though "you sounds like HUE" and I put in HUE. Didn't look back. They're not even proper homophones and it doesn't account for "Titanic". It was a fluke. I think Ann gave the best hint " the last word is the definition. Think of a 4-letter synonym for ‘titanic’ and remove a letter that can stand for an amount (of money) we might call a ‘thou’. I hope I’m not giving too many hints here."  Meaning HUGE - G for HUE. A "g" being a THOUsand.

8D - He's tight in space station, orbiting edges of space (5)
"He's tight" is the definition and the "space station" = MIR and that's "orbiting" the "edges of SpacE"  = SE like this MI(SE)R.

13D - Could enamel damage gene material? (1.1.1.8)
"Gene material" is the definition and "Could enamel damage " is fodder and anagrind to give us DNA MOLECULE.

15D - Teen hangout may twice turn blotchy during reno (5,4)
"Teen hangout" is the definition and I got this with cross letters and definition. I can see that
"blotchy during reno" where "reno" is short for renovation and is a likely anagrind, only it that leaves us two U's short but the beginning of the clue says "may twice turn" could mean get us U U but I don't know how unless it means use the second letter in "tUrn" twice.

17D - Loyal Oz novelist joins fleet (9)
"Loyal" is the definition and I skimmed through the thesaurus until I saw STEADFAST and though "fleet" = FAST, so is there an "Oz novelist" names Stead? Yes,  Christina Stead.

19D - Azure insignia includes black 7-down but not 14-across (3-4)
"Azure insignia includes black HUE but not INITIALLY" where "Azure" is the definition and an "insignia" = SEAL which "includes Black" = B then "hUE but not initially" = UE all together like this: SEA(B)L(UE).

21D - Informal slacker kicking one wheel protecting chopper (7)
"Informal" is our definition and again this was cross letters and a guess. I couldn't break this clue apart from the "chopper" = AX or AXE. While I was galavanting around Geelong, Mort gave up the answer "Slacker is IDLER – less one (I) plus chopper = AXE." That would mean DLER are put into the grid in reverse which is what "wheel" is meaning? Because a wheel spins? I can see "protecting" being the container signpost but it's the reversal one that's confusing me.

22D - Melbourne banks on quack wine (5)
"Wine" is what we are looking for and MelbournE banks" = ME as the edges or "banks" of the word Melbourne. A "quack" = DOC for MEDOC.

23D - Tender account over here! (5)
"Tender" is our definition and "account" = AC and "over here" = HEY! for ACHEY which is not how most of us spell achy.

26D - Articulate solvers familiar with this game (3)
"Game" is the definition and I had U_O in the grid and made it UNO which was the right answer. Once I figured out 3D I wondered if this was the same, and "articulate" was an obvious homophone signpost. "Solvers familiar" = you know = U NO.

That's it. Let me know if you have better or alternative solutions.

I bought a couple of new board games I'm very keen to rip into. I bought Munchkin which I hope to spend most of tomorrow learning. Coming this week is Ticket To Ride and Love Letter. My kids are getting older and trips to the play park just don't cut it anymore as family time. We also got some more Pokémon cards so the kids will be wanting to battle. I only have a few short years to enjoy this time with the kids while they're young before they grow up and move on to cooler, more exciting things.

And yes I've been spending entirely too much time watching TableTop with Wil Wheaton.

Have a nice weekend, folks.

The Age cryptic by DH #20,422

No time for a full post. I have to get to Melbourne and back today. I will put up the picture and I do most of the basic breakdowns on the page. My scribbles aren't too hard to decipher: I underline definitions, squiggly lines are fodder, boxes around words are anagrinds, circles around words are actionable words, asterisks are fodder, and circled letters are usually initialisms or one word clues like "Redhead" where I'll circle the R and underline the "head" part to show its function.

28A is a Reverse Anagram which is what the "R.A." notation means.

I learned some new words with 5D, 13D, 17D and 18D but thankful the parsing of the clues was straightforward. I don't know how 19A last two letters SI are parsed and 22D how does "tap on" = COCK? or have I got that all wrong?

I got to run. Fingers crossed for no flat tires!

The Age Cryptic by LR #20,441

This one was harder than previous Monday puzzles. I'm missing most of the left side. I can't seem to break into those clues at all. Did not help that the internet was chock full of interesting articles and debates that demanded a portion of my attention stemming from this article in The Guardian by Kathleen Hale. Admittedly I'm enjoying this in a ghoulish way, with a bowl of popcorn and the thrill of a good tennis match. I'm not usually drawn to drama, I even avoid overly dramatic TV shows. It's one of those rare occasions where the train wreck was neat but the aftermath is fascinating. Debates of stalking vs confronting your online bully. Who was the real bully? Was there really any bullying? Where was the line crossed etc. Many writer friends have pitched in with their take and many of those opinions are evolving.  One person equated this to Gamergate. Quite the kaboom.

I Got more clues in while watching Q&A - I do love Prof. Cox so there was no way I was missing this one.

Anyway, enough of that. I missed eight clues in the end:

(Ok, for some reason Blogger won't let me upload the picture. I'll try later. OH you bugger. Blogger tried to screw me out of hours of work this post. I'm so glad I copy/pasted this into a word processor when it started acting weird or all that work would've been gone. Right, now that I've logged out and back in it's all behaving. I hate when tech misbehaves.)

9A - Beer turns to body odour with speed - it's complicated (9)
"It's complicated" is our definition and "beer turns" = ALE reversed to ELA, "Body Odour" = BO, "speed" = RATE all becomes ELA(BO)RATE.

10A - Marx initially had all Russians protesting outside (5)
"Marx" is who we are looking for and not Karl. Hone in on the word "initially" to see this is an initial letters clue "Had All Russians Protesting Outside" = HARPO.

11A - Abbott's heading into New Guinea for horse (3)
"Horse" is our definition and "Abbott's heading" = A "into New Guinea," = NG to give us N(A)G.

12A - Leaping surf recklessly in this body of water (7,4)
I didn't get this because I was sure "leaping surf" was anagrind and fodder and couldn't figure out how to get SURF split around a word for reckless. Wrong wrong wrong! "Recklessly" is the anagrind and "leaping surf" the fodder which is mixed to give us PERSIAN GULF as our "body of water."

13A - Freezing location? (7)
I guessed this was a double definition and SETTING was the likely answer but I wasn't confident "freezing" was a synonym of setting. I suppose it's like making ice cream and once it's "set" it's frozen. I think of "setting" more with gelatines and jams.

15A - Wait for support (5,2)
Double definition: STAND BY as in being on standby for a flight and "stand by your man."

17A - Arrowhead from cupid has love, and the litre of 22-down stuff (7)
I got this without getting the "22-down stuff" and in fact this clue confused me about what 22-down would be. I'd lightly pencilled in the answer. "Arrowhead" = A, "cupid" = EROS, "love" = O and "litre" = L all together for AEROSOL.

18A - Mistake outer cool with fury (7)
"Mistake" is our definition and "outer CooL" = CL "with fury" = ANGER for CL(ANGER)

20A - Madman with plate had rotten tuna and one cod head (7)
"Madman" is our definition "Plate" = L as in an L plate for a car, "rotten tuna" is anagrind and partial fodder, "one" = I and "Cod head" = C put together to give us: L(UNAT)(I)(C)

23A - Fellow attends with fruit (7)
"Fruit" is what we want  and a "fellow" = MAN and "attends" = GOES for MANGOES.

24A - Fictional sailor in hat, gutting tuna at hotel with goth (7,4)
"Fictional sailor" is our definition and I quickly discounted Popeye. "Hat" = CAP, "gutting TunA" = TA although in another clue it could mean to take the middle two letters - to remove the "guts", but here it's remove the guts and throw them away taking the outer TA. "Hotel" = INN and "goth" = EMO all together to make CAP(TA)(IN N)EMO. I'm glad I'd had a second look because I'd first put in AHAB and that was not working with "goth" at all. Quite a fun clue in the end.

26A - Outer layer (almost) of snowgear (3)
"Snowgear" is what we want and our "outer layer" is our SKIN "(almost)" is a deletion signpost to remove the last letter -N leaving SKI.

27A - Calm whisky maker (5)
Double definition: STILL.

28A - Throw rake around during landscaping (9)
This is the second anagram I missed because the fodder has a misleading anagrind in it. Sneaky LR! "Throw" looks a much more likely anagrind but "around" which is one of those words it could mean many things. "Throw rake around" is fodder and anagrind to give us EARTHWORKS. Not a word I've come across before which seems weird as it is what it says it is.

1D - Bouncer from the inn let slab shatter (6,4)
We are looking for a "Bouncer" and looking at "inn let slab shatter," is fodder and anagrind mixed up to give us TENNIS BALL.

2D - Giggling afterwards about grunt (8)
"Giggling" is our definition  and "afterwards" = LATER to be split "about" a word for "grunt" = UGH to give us LA(UGH)TER.

3D - Very happy with broth (4)
"Broth" is what we want and the answer is SOUP but I cannot see how "Very happy" works here. Could it just be "So Up?" Is it that simple? Yes it is, I asked @LRxword himself ""with" in this eg is just a filler word. Too many words spoil the broth? But yeah, Very = So. Happy = Up." which is fair enough. One of my New Year resolutions was to stop using "So" as the first word of a sentence when I noticed it being abused by a few Facebook friends. "So I was..." "So this guy..." "So we went..." every single time! I blame Chandler on Friends.  I also try and reduce the number of times I say "just" because I noticed it's a common repeat of mine. I used to have a coworker who said "basically" so much we created a counting game and would wager on how many times she'd say basically in conversation. I also used to have a manager who'd say "proberly" which could've  meant properly or probably depending on the conversation. It did make us pay attention because she said it a lot. Sorry, distracted...

4D - Cross Rhode Island with casual girl in song (8)
"Song" is our definition and "cross" = MAD, "Rhode Island" = RI because we tend to take the first letters of proper nouns, not always but it's a good first bet. "Casual girl" = GAL all together for MAD(RI)GAL

5D - Imbibe gin shot internally for starts (6)
Again we have the use of a typically actionable word "starts" being something else, here it's our definition.  Focus on the word "internally" as it's a hidden word signpost. "ImbiBE GIN Shot" = BEGINS. I was really off the ball yesterday. I got this late while watching Q&A. You can see my notes have incorrect parsings.

6D - Skinny king has a profit to reconsider (5,5)
"Reconsider" is our definition and "Skinny King" = THIN+K and "a profit" = A GAIN for THINK AGAIN.

7D - Grand spherical earth (6)
I was overthinking this. I was trying to work orb, clod, terra you name it. This clue is straightforward. "Grand" = G as in "10Gs = 10,000," or if you're American there's the Grand Bar. "Spherical" = ROUND for GROUND, a synonym of "earth."

8D - Some bread left by brute (4)
I first had in TROLL -T for ROLL thinking a "brute" where a letter "left" but that was not working. "Some bread" is the definition and "left" = L and "brute" = OAF for a LOAF.

14D - Greedy for Finnish seconds I interrupt a table (10)
"Greedy" is our definition and "fInNiSh seconds" = INS as we take every second letter, "I interrupt A TABLE" = "I" will go into the middle of A TABLE like this: INS(A T(I)ABLE)

16D - Why a road adheres to standards (10)
I got this with cross letters and seeing the definition was "Standards." Working backwards I can see "adheres" = STICKS and...aha I see it now! "Why" = Y A=A and "road" = RD to make YARD. There was no homophone signpost to make me realise "why" = Y but I think it is a common device used to get us to the letter Y and I've just not seen it that often.

18D - Arrivals surrounds a gym class - those equal in rank (8)
"Those equal in rank" is our definition and "arrivals" = COMERS which will split to "surround" a "gym class" = PE like this: COM(PE)ERS.

19D - Spooner must leave! Excellent! (4,4)
Damn! I missed another Spooner. These clues are rare enough that I never get enough practice at solving them and struggle to do so. I really need a puzzle of just Spooners so I can improve. "must leave" = SHOULD GO which spooners into GOOD SHOW.

21D - Serviette gets rest of ink spill (6)
"Serviette" is our definition and "Gets rest" = NAP with "ink spill" as partial fodder and anagrind to give us NAP(KIN)

22D - How 1-downs, 2-down, and 3-down could be scrapped? (6)
How TENNIS BALLS, LAUGHTER and SOUP "could be scrapped?" All share the word CANNED.

24D - Throw line to actors (4)
Double definition: CAST.

25D - Boat thus edges away from Hawaiian island (4)
"Hawaiian island" is what we are looking for and "bOAt tHUs edges" = OAHU as we've removed the "edges" of the words to reveal the answer.

And we are done. I had the pleasure of getting this typed up in a beachside cafe as I was booted from my house while the bug man was there to spray the house and yard. Coastal living has a buggy disadvantage. Our yard is infested with flies breeding out of control on the beaches. Then there's ants and spiders and recently the big, black moths. Soon the mozzies will be coming. I could handle one or two plagues at a time but not all at once.

The Age Cryptic by DA #20,439

I got off to a good start with this puzzle and had five answers in the first half an hour. It was a straightforward puzzle with no themes. My rule with a DA puzzle is it's been a good solve if I end up with at least five answers, so I was psyched with that result. After those five, the struggle began.  Each clue was hard won after that. I peeped in on the D.A. Trippers for a few but the clues that stumped me, they didn't have trouble with, and the ones I got quick, folks had questions about so that was interesting.

Like last week I found it easier to spot the definition and got lots of answers with cross letters before being able to solve the cryptic half of the clue. I'm going to say that's probably a very normal way to get through these puzzles once someone has put the effort into learning them. I get a sense of what's going on without knowing with complete confidence until after the solution is there.

I have gaps in solutions for 15A (got it!), 19A, 28A 1D (got it!) and 18D so let me know if you have tips on those. Here's my pic:

1A - Decent riddle about deal ending freight mover (5,4)
"Freight mover" is the definition and "decent" = GOOD and "riddle" = SIFT  to be place "about" "deaL ending" = L to give us: GOODS (L)IFT.

6A - Discussed which trials were conducted here? (5)
My first clue in the grid. "Discussed" is a homophone signpost and "which trials were conducted here?" where WHICH = WITCH, then the answer to that question is SALEM. A town I used to visit when I bunked off classes at university. Shhh don't tell my mom! (That's just me wondering if my Mom is still reading the blog: Hi Mom! I sent you a new cryptic magazine. Call soon, xoxo)

Edit** 9A - Sort of complex iPod with a loose case in need of fixing (7)
I didn't get this because I thought "sort complex" was an anagram signpost but I never got the right bits to make the word I needed. "Complex" is the definition and is "sort" an anagrind not next to the fodder - breaking the rules? Newbies like me need those rules. "sort iPod" is anagrind and partial fodder,  "with A" and "LoosE case" = EL  and then "in need of fixing" could be a long anagrind to give us OEDIPAL. So do we really need the word "sort" at the beginning? It ruined the whole clue for me. ** Apologies for this, I did blind out the word "of" in the clue which should read "sort OF complex" which removes all of my confusion. I can't believe I created my own problem with this in such a spectacular fashion. Apologies! I'm sure i'm not the only one this happens to. go on, make me feel better - confess. Please?

10A - Send for a ruffian after 31 days in Cannes (4,3)
"Send for" is the definition and "ruffian" = LOUT to be put after a month with "31 days" where "Cannes" means we want the French spelling and there's only one with three letters, leaving us with MAI for MAIL OUT. How does mail out mean to send for? Is this like in Ye Olde Kingdoms where a summons was sent via a messenger?

11A - Bother Olympic racer, admitting crack in locker stuff (5-2, 7)
I got this by working backwards and with help from cross letters on the 7-letter word. I pegged "locker stuff" for the definition and "bother" was an anagrind. I thought about the different types of lockers - there aren't that many - and what we put into the lockers to get me the Overhead Locker and CARRY-ON LUGGAGE. From the clue it's "Bother" = CARRY-ON and "Olympic racer" = LUGE with "admitting crack" = GAG as in a wisecrack put into LUGE.

13A - My opinion involving one famous key? (2,3,3,2)
"My opinion" is our definition and correct me if I get this wrong, "involving one" = I and "famous key?" is the rest of the fodder with the question mark acting as an anagrind to give us IF YOU ASK ME. Some D.A. Trippers mentioned "involving" being the anagrind and yes that is on the lists of anagrinds but why is the question mark there? Question marks can indicate Reverse anagrams, cryptic clues and other things - can it indicate an anagram? Just being a sign that some chicanery is still afoot?

15A - Celebrity exploding train from the east (4)
"Celebrity" is our definition and I guessed the answer was IDOL and "exploding" could be ID for incendiary device. I don't know how "train from the east" becomes OL except that it's possibly LO and "from the east" is a hint to reverse that to OL. I don't know how OL is "train." Outward Line? Just looked in at DAT and Mort says " 15A is hidden in reverse in the word “exploding”" meaning "from the east" is reversal and "from" must be the hidden word signpost for expLODIng to hide IDOL.

17A - Old city shelled out (4)
"Out" is our definition and "old" = EX which is a cluing device I've seen a lot of recently and "cITy shelled" = IT as if the letters IT where a nut and removed its "shell," giving us EXIT.

19A - Auditor's amending apartment sheets for scribe (7,3)
"Sheets for scribe" is our definition and I got the answer from that and cross letters. I had thought "Auditor's" was a homophone signpost and then "amending" was a deletion signpost but maybe it's as simple as "One who writes writs (Auditor) is in the act of WRITING?" Yeah? Maybe?  Do auditors write writs? "Apartment" = PAD was much easier to grasp. Answer is a WRITING PAD.

25A - Olympic racer, perhaps, to search for farmyard crest (7)
Again, I got this with cross letters and working in reverse. "Farmyard crest" is the definition. I had the "C?X" in place for the first three letters with 12D and 18D. I googled "Olympic racer COX" as O was the most likely vowel and got hits for the rowing position coxswain normally shortened to COX,  "To search for" = COMB giving us COXCOMB. I thought that would be spelled COCKSCOMB and had to look about to be sure COXCOMB was correct. That was a fun jaunt through google to learn about the variants of those words.

26A - Cool stuff - investment holdings? (7)
I got this with cross letters and a guess but it should not have been a guess because the answer is right there in the clue - it's a hidden word! "Cool stuff" is the definition and "investMENT HOLdings" gives us MENTHOL. That's neat because "holdings" can be used as a hidden word signpost and I'd missed it completely until I was typing this up.

27A - Cursed old PM among his mates (5)
I didn't get but I should have! It's very cute. Mort even joked "Small quibble: 27A doesn’t have any mates!" But I'd had the wrong letter in the last box for 18D and could only see RUSTY which didn't sound very "cursed" to me. "Cursed" is our definition and it's a mild curse word we want. "old PM" = Kevin RUDD whose mates may call him RUDDY.

28A - Criminal and suspect spearing fish (9)
I got this with cross letters and having given up, cheekily put in KIDNAPPED and went away. I woke up this morning and looked again and thought "KIDNAPPER" would definitely be a "Criminal" so how does it fit the clue? "Fish" = KIPPER that has been "speared" with a word for "suspect" but how does "suspect" = DNA?  That's where I fall down on this one.

1D - Virtually come to dislike dope (4)
"dope" is the definition and that's all I have. Rupert at DAT says "1D: A phrase (2, 3) meaning to become less fond of, or lose freshness, with its last letter removed." This makes "virtually" a deletion signpost and "come to dislike" = GO OFF -F, leaving  GOOF.

2D - Mum awfully loyal with dad on vacation (3,4)
This clue annoyed me. The hints by the DAT didn't help and made me further confused. "Mum" is the definition and "awfully loyal" is anagrind and partial fodder, "dad" = DA mixed together for OLD LADY. So how does the "on vacation" part fit in? It's being suggested at DAT that "dad" is being vacated but only the letter D for Dad? Seems a far leap to me but I'm probably missing something.

3D - Fine woollen boot can be picked up inwards (8)
Again, did not get and what is going on here? Mort says " 3D letters 1-6 mean “fine”. The last two are a type of boot." meaning "fine" = SUPERB and the "woollen boot" = UGg but how does "can be picked up inwards" fit? I don't understand the use of those words to the clue. Answer is SUPER BUG. I'm going to tease at this thread a little longer.

4D - White House private about WC? (5)
We do want a "white house" but don't let the capital letter in "House" send you down the wrong path - it's a red herring. We just want a generic white house, not the White House. "Private about" = GI reversed to IG and "WC" = LOO for an IGLOO which is certainly a white house.

5D - Twice I'm getting title adjusted for deadline (4,5)
Back in safer territory. "Twice I'm," is literal = IM IM, and "getting title adjusted," is part fodder and anagrind. Mix all together to get TIME LIMIT.

6,22D - Vicissitudes in the playground? (6,3,11)
Don't judge me for having to look up the definition of Vicissitudes. Not a word in my daily lexicon. With cross letters I was able to get SWINGS AND ROUNDABOUTS  for things that "change or alternate" on the playground.

7D - Ballet outfit sign late contract (7)
"Ballet outfit" is our definition and "sign" = LEO, "late" = TARDY which we "contract" or remove a letter -Y, to make LEOTARD.

8D - Fashion skirts (additional length) creating chief profit source (6,4)
I spent time trying to figure "fashion skirt" = MAXI but no. "Chief profit source"  is the definition and there I thought "mining ores" would fit the enumeration, but does it fir the clue? No, but it's on the right track. Mining being Australia's chief profit source and if we found a huge deposit we'd say we'd found the MOTHER LODE. That's how I got the clue. Cryptically it's "Fashion" = MODE which "skirts" around either "OTHER L" or "THERLO"  but I'm more inclined to think "Additional" = OTHER and "length" = L.

12D - Tamworth scooter bordered on sound solution (4,6)
Another clue I worked in reverse. I got "sound solution" as ANSWER but knew a homophone of that was what we needed. I then looked at "scooter" and though about mopeds but nothing worked, then I thought about a "boot scooter" and got that dreadful Steps song "5,6,7,8 Boot Scootin' Baby" stuck in my head. That song was about Line Dancing - it's dreadful. Such a cruel earworm. "Bordering" = LINED + "answer"  gives us the ending for LINE DANCER. It wasn't until I'd peeked into DAT that the "Tamworth" connection was revealed as the location of the Country Music Festival. a place where plenty of line dancing would take place.

14D - African footballer incurs fine after season opening on biffo (9)
I needed a lot of DAT hints to get this. All sport and Aussie slang was out of my league. "African footballer" is what we want and it's not an individual (that was a lot of google time wasted) but a team. Which football? Rugby.  "Fine after" = OK to be placed after, "season" = SPRING and after "opening on Biffo" = B like this: SPRING(B)(OK).

16D - Mansion I develop upstate (8)
"Upstate" is our definition, not as one word for a location north of us but two words "Up state" or an awake state. "Mansion I develop" is fodder and anagrind to give us INSOMNIA.

18D - Truly bound, cross-catalogued (7)
I believe it's a double definition but I only used the "cross-catalogued" part to get INDEXED. There is certainly more to "truly bound" than I'm seeing. Something inside something else? X in "indeed"?

20D - Makes out beer source in litter location (3,4)
"Litter location" got me there with cross letters. I had tried to work "snog" in there for "Makes out" but I figured that was unlikely and it was probably something like "sees" or "understands" because nothing as base as snogging in newspaper puzzles, right? Ha! "Makes out" = PETS which is much more involved than just simple snogging. "Beer source" = HOP meaning we would be find "litters" at the PET SHOP.

21D - Sausage containing horse, game and big apple (6)
Don't listen to the newspaper solution, trust me, I'm right here. "Sausage" is the definition (which looks more naughty than it should since it's following the making out and petting clue) and a "horse game" = POLO, remember to always ignore punctuation at first. The "big apple" is the city of New York = NY for POLONY, which is a kind of sausage found everywhere with many different names. In fact with the NY ending I thought BALONY but that's usually spelled baloney. It's the same "sausage" though. It's not "colony" as the newspaper is telling us.

23D - Carrying beginner off, injured (5)
I don't know the solution. I got this with a hint from Mort " “Carrying” is used in crime novels to mean the answer. " and guessed ARMED which is the answer. Oh! just got it! "Beginner off" is just saying we want to remove the first letter from a synonym of "injured" = HARMED - H. Yes score!

24D - Inshult? (4)
I couldn't tell if we were looking for a Fuddism of lisp/wisp slam/swam? I've seen Fuddisms on the Cryptic Crossword Society and privately published puzzles. They come up in the Mensa puzzles sometimes. An example here:

Elmer Fudd's abundant spouse (4) = RIFE/WIFE

...but don't know if they're used in published puzzles much. This clue is not a Fuddism, it's simply SLUR, a synonym of an "insult" that also is slurred when spoken. I've probably killed the cleverness of this clue in my deadpan explanation. Sorry.

There we are, done. A few missed beats that I'm sure will be resolved soon enough. As always if you have a more elegant or concise solution, please share.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

The Age Cryptic by LR #20,435

This puzzle was great! Lot's of fun stuff going on here. It kicked off a nice week of getting the kids back to school for term four, Husband away on business, I had the house to myself and the solitude was bliss. I love Mondays. I sing the song of Monday Praise.

There was a fun bit of play here. I usually skim through all the clues and pick out easy ones first. My eye caught on 35,36-across which reads:

Good luck getting 8-down and 11-across (7,7)

Oh really- you're taunting us? Challenge accepted! Coffee made. Here's my final pic:

Which included a finger puppet monster that has haunted my desk for a couple of weeks now and seemed fitting to include considering some of the solutions we're about to encounter.

1, 4A - Nice Russian vodkas, say, with soulmates (7,7)
"Soulmates" is our definition and "Nice" = KIND, "Russian" = RED and "vodkas" = SPIRITS for KINDRED SPIRITS.

9A - Grow pot after former lover died (6)
"Grow" is our definition and I admit to spending too long looking at the wrong kind of "pot" = PAN to be placed "after former lover" = EX and last letter is taking the D from "died" to give us
EX(PAN)(D), I wonder if the D is like when we look at genealogies and a person's death is marked with a D for deceased.

10A - Burning and killing it! (2,4)
A fun double definition: ON FIRE!

11A - Not out of French kiss list (5)
Right - this is one of our taunting clues! "List" is our definition and something "not out" is IN, "French" = DE and yes it's usually LE but that's not a hard&fast rule, (scroll down to French for the list) "kiss" = X as xoxo is kiss-hug-kiss-hug, a popular ending for an affectionate letter. Gives us INDEX.

12A - Vehicle with oddly brown emission? (6)
"Emission" is our definition and "Vehicle" = CAR, "oddly BrOwN" = BON for CARBON.

14A - Oscillating any wig around (6)
"Oscillating" is the definition and "any wig around" is fodder and anagrind to give us YAWING.  I'd first thought "Oscillating" was the anagrind.

16A - Digit in bank code from Kentucky (5)
"Digit" is our definition and a "bank code" = PIN and "Kentucky" = KY for PINKY. Our first finger.

18A - Vermin love sauce (5)
I love this clue, the surface is fun and icky. "Vermin" = PEST, "love" = O for the sauce PESTO.

22A, 20D - Bottom oar moving watercraft (5,4)
This one confused me at first because I was solving it in a weird way (the bottom of bottom = MOT and homophone of "oar" for OR and...?) but it's a straightforward anagram so I don't know where my head was. I think I was distracted by cross letters and I knew the second word. "Watercraft" is what we are looking for and "bottom oar moving" is fodder and anagrind to give us MOTOR BOAT.

24A - Genes hiding doughnuts in duvet (5)
"Duvet" is our definition and "genes" = DNA "hiding doughnuts" = OO to be put into DNA like this: D(OO)NA.

28, 30A - It protects body from nasty tummy nemesis! (6,6)
Is this an &lit? Cryptic definition? I wish I could get better at recognising clue types. It's very good. "Nasty tummy nemesis" is anagrind and fodder to give us IMMUNE SYSTEM, which does protect us from nasty tummy and other nemeses.

31A - Sailors inputting coordinates for chasm (5)
I think I have this one but please correct me if I'm wrong. "Chasm" is the definition and "sailors" = ABS the S added as it's plural. "Coordinates" = YS, the S also added as it's plural and the Y is used in maths for plotting coordinates on axes. "Inputting" is a container signpost so we put the YS into the ABS like this: AB(YS)S.

32A - Don't begin tippling and leaking (6)
"Leaking" is the definition and work this clue backwards and get "tippling" = BOOZING and then "don't begin" means to remove the -B leaving us with OOZING.

33A- United Nations announce ticket cost is a ripoff (6)
This was one of the last clues in, I had the answer lightly pencilled for a while. "Ripoff" is the definition and "United Nations" = UN and "announce ticket cost" where announce is a homophone signpost for FARE to become FAIR and the answer is UNFAIR.

35, 36A - Good luck getting 8-down and 11-across (7,7)
Skip down to 8D and get that answer MIDDLE, then 11A was INDEX - both have something in common; they're both fingers. Look at their placement in the grid in the picture - they make the shape of a cross. "Good luck" = CROSSED FINGERS. Is that not just some damn good fun for a puzzle?! I mean so often crosswords are dry fact finding exercises or spot the signpost but this was a step above. Puzzles need to have more of this kind of stuff.

1D - Ken mashed backspace with parts of leg (8)
"Parts of leg" is what we are looking for and "Ken mashed" is partial fodder and anagrind with "backSPACE" as a one-word instruction to reverse SPACE in the grid like this: (KNE)(ECAPS).

2D - Sleep in nice acrylic pyjama tops (3)
"Sleep" is the definition and it is found "in" "Nice Acrylic Pyjama tops" = NAP as the first or "top" letters of the preceding words spelling out our answer.

3D - Finishing reno without walls getting dent (6)
"Finishing" is our definition and "reno without walls" means to remove the first and last letter from "rENo" leaving EN then "getting dent" = DING for (EN)DING.

5D - Snoop around cuddling and kissing for extra vote (5)
"Extra vote" is our definition and to "snoop around" = PRY, to be put "around"  a "cuddle and a kiss " as I mentioned earlier = O X like this: PR(OX)Y which makes me remember one of my favourite movies The Hudsucker Proxy "You know, for kids!"

6D - Eye condition initially infected Rob, Ian then Ingrid sadly (6)
"Eye condition" is our definition and the key word here in "initially" and just like 2D it's an initial letter clue so "Infected Rob, Ian Then Ingrid Sadly," = IRITIS.

7, 21D - Abuse players drunk then hit with a tool (14)
Oh look ! I got the sport related question! Ha! "Hit with a tool" is our definition. There's been a lot of discussion in the news about verbal abuse by players mostly in cricket but also AFL but to be honest, it happens in all sports. I think Australia is the first to put a word to what that particular type abuse is called (Or it's that I've only learned the term since moving here) and it's called sledging = SLEDGE, "drunk" = HAMMERED. "Hit with a tool" = SLEDGE HAMMERED. This gets me in my Fallout addiction where there's a unique sledgehammer weapon called The Tenderiser.

8D - Diamonds within 1.6km of heart (6)
"Heart" is the definition and "diamonds" = DD as it's plural we want two of them, "1.6km" = MILE so we put the DD "within" the MILE to get: MI(DD)LE.

13D - Jewellery boxing area (4)
Double definition: RING

15D - Dodge ball embraced by Beckham, topless (5)
"Dodge" is our definition and "ball" = O to be "embraced" or put inside a "Beckham, topless" = DAVID -D like this: AV(O)ID.

17D - You ancient chaps in Middle East nation (5)
"Middle East nation" is our definition and "you ancient" = YE and "chaps" = MEN for YEMEN.

18D - Underarm of one in public transport (3)
""Underarm" is our definition and "one" = I being put "in" "public transport" = PT to give us PIT. The Scots have a great word for the armpit: oxter.

19D - Is rewinding third Dark Knight (3)
"Knight" is what we're looking for and "is rewinding" = SI as we just reverse the "is" and "third daRk" = R as it's the third letter in "dark" to give us SIR, the title one gets on becoming a knight.

23D - Old boy ogled and followed (6)
This was my last clue in and I got it stuck in my head "ogled" was an anagrind and "oldboy" the fodder which really only gave me "bloody" but the cross letters are an O and a Y so I kept thinking I was missing something. Yes, I was - the whole clue. "old boy" = OB  and "ogled" = EYED for OBEYED. I even have it wrong in the grid as I'd ignored the tense and put it OBEYER.

25D - Dump rotten clue (3-3)
"Clue" is our definition and a "dump" = TIP and something "rotten" is OFF leaving us with TIP-OFF.

26D - Mother returned first and last letter on online store (6)
"Online store" is what we want and "mother returned" = MA reversed to AM, "first and last letter" = AZ and we just use the ON from the clue to get AMAZON.

27D - One second...we return to emergency broadcaster (6)
"Broadcaster" is the definition and "One" = I, "second" = S, "we returned" = US reversed to SU and "emergency" = ER all put together to give us ISSUER.

29D - Keen bird spent 50 on Romeo (5)
"Keen" is the definition and "bird" = EAGLE but "spent 50" = -L to remove the Roman numeral for 50 and replace it with "Romeo" = R the letter from police code to give us EAGER.

34D - Donkey takes cockney's avocado (3)
"Donkey" is our definition and work this backwards so "avocado" = HASS the popular variety of avocado and Cockney slap the H off to leave us with ASS.

There, we are done. That was fun, right? I had fun.  I say that because I solved it - we always sing high praise for the ones we solve.

Let me know if you had smoother or other solutions. Also, let me know if you go down any rabbit holes because then I won't feel so lonely about falling down my own.

Have a great day, unless in Melbourne then just do your best to stay dry and upright.

The Age Cryptic by DA #20,433

I got stuck into this late Friday night and had most of the left side done when I gave up for sleep. Saturday morning I peeked into The D.A. Trippers and with their hints, got most of the right side done, too. Only red pen was 5A, 13A, 8D and 24D. I'm annoyed about 24D because as a former psych major - that was a gift.

I'll struggle to break down a lot of clues because I got many this week by seeing the definition and guessing from cross letters. I was also good at spotting a few of the big phrases, 3D being particularly American friendly. My usual tactic is to seek out the anagrams first but those were well hidden. I got 21A (also American friendly) first then 25A which got me 15D and from there the left side fell into place.

I'm going to try and make this as quick as I can and not waffle on - big challenge (I may have failed). I've got the Spring fever. I want to be outside, in the garden. Typing up blog posts- yuck! Boring! But here I am.  First up, here my pic:

1A - Billy's place affected passion (8)
I had most cross letters and asked my daughter "Where would you put a Billy?" and she, in her 15 year old, charming way says "Tcha! Why would I know?! Oh my God...do you mean a billy can?" to which I calmly replied, "I don't know, maybe. Where do you put a billy can?" "Tcha! For fuck sake! I don't know! Maybe, in like, a fire?" It's ok, we are a swearing family - I'm all for freedom of expression. "In 'like a fire,' you mean what? What kind of fire?" "Oh my god! fucking camping...I think. Leave me alone!"  Which may seem a terrible way for any child to speak to their mother, but she was sat next to me on the sofa, watching TV and nearly in my lap because she truly is Mummy's Girl. A moment later she demanded hugs. But she's right, and I thanked her."Billy's place" is on a CAMP FIRE which is a fake or put-on kind of passion.

5A - Acknowledge netballer facing ban (4,2)
I didn't get this. Definition is "acknowledge" and looking up the netball positions on court one is WA and "facing ban" = VETO to give us WAVE TO.

10A - Wallopers drawing extremes in cryptic clues (7)
I had it in my head this was Codswallop and I tried to find words beginning with CODS to work but that was the wrong line. "Wallopers" is the definition and "DrawinG extremes" = DG to be placed into "cryptic clues" which is anagrind and fodder like this: CU(DG)ELS. (Thanks to Mort for getting me away from fishy distractions and on the right course because I was on Monty Python for a long time and Rowan Atkinson, of "Little Wallop" talking about Cod.)

11A - Text sample favoured railing (7)
"Railing" is the definition and a "text sample" = PARAGRAPH -graph leaving PARA which is what I believe "sample" is about, deletion and only having a "sample" of the word "paragraph", and the "favoured" one is a PET for PARAPET.

12A - Old torturer to decrease at first (4,6)
I got this right off with just the first letter in place. "Old torturer" is what we are looking for and not a particular person but a device that starts with a synonym for "decrease" = IRON MAIDEN.

13A - Conveying desert's interior? (4)
I didn't get this because I didn't identify the clue type. I couldn't discern where the definition was from the wordplay because all the words are used. "conveying" means "to carry, bring, or take from one place to another," so it's working as an anagrind for "dESERt's interior" where me need to mix those four letters to get SERE, which means dry, withered - like a "desert" or maybe even a "desert's interior." It's all very clever.

15A - Chain dossier - rarely excerpted (6)
"Chain" is our definition and "excerpted" stood out as it means to pull out selected words and I twigged it as a hidden word signpost. "dosSIER RArely" = SIERRA, meaning a mountain chain. I've played enough Sierra video games to know its mountain logo - sad but true.

16A - Coffee crowd breaking tension now and then (8)
"Coffee" is the definition and I got this with cross letters and a caffeine addiction. I'm struggling to figure out the answer from the clue, however. Julian at DAT says : "16A Definition = coffee. Crowd = letters 3-7 which are breaking (i.e. in the middle of) Tension now and then (i.e. the alternate letters) as letters 1,2,8." so that means "crowd" = PRESS, "breaking tEnSiOn now and then," =  ESO for ES(PRESS)O. I've not seen "now and then" used as an odds/evens signpost so I'll be adding that my book. (there is no real "book" but I really should get one. I have a collection of notebooks with scribbles in them)

18A - Intensified mud-smearing with paper (6,2)
"Intensified" is our definition and "mud smearing" is partial fodder and anagrind "with PAPER" being the rest of the fodder, tossed together to give us RAMPED UP.

19A - Heartless tutor that's attached to IT guru (6)
I knew the definition was "IT Guru" but could I figure this out? No. I'm married to one of these guys. I put the question to my Facebook friends "What's a 6 letter word for an IT Guru that has an H for the 4th letter?" and got replies instantly. How is it parsed - Don't know! I can see "heartless tuTor" = T but that's it. Answer is TECHIE. Maybe a "heartless tutor" = TEACH -A and something attached is I.E.? That kind of works. I get this while editing - see editing is good!

21A - American's spare flag? (4)
I got this first! American's call a spare tyre a TIRE which also means to flag in energy. It's one of the words I always forget to change into UK spelling when I write. I'm fine dropping Us in weird places, though.

22A - Pub intellect twice wasting time fumbling editorial assistant (4,6)
I asked for help here because I did not know how to break into this clue. Gayle to my rescue:
"@cc 22A anagrind = fumbling
fodder/anagrist = pubintellect minus (wasting) the 2 t’s
def is something editors used to use to mark up text "

Following those instructions we get BLUE PENCIL which I did not know about and I'm happy I do now.

25A - Find June and Garth topless (7)
Sweet clue, I shared on our Cryptic Crossword Learners Facebook group. "Find" is the definition and if we make "jUNE and gARTH topless" we get UNEARTH.

26A - Dark spot disrupting flash (7)
"Dark" is the definition and a "spot" = AD and this has been used a lot lately, which will be "disrupting" a word for "flash" = SHOWY like this: SH(AD)OWY.

27A - When sailors meet head-to-head, they rock! (6)
My first inclination was to work ABBA into an answer being two sailors, "head-to-head" who "rock" but that wasn't working then Mort said "CC, 27A two sailors: first is reversed (letters 1,2); second is letters 3-6; answer is a type of rock." so we want AB reversed next to SALT , so their "heads" are together, another word for "sailor" to give us BASALT.

28A - Refuse booze at 18 usually (8)
Again, definition of "refuse booze" and cross letters brought me to TEETOTAL. I think there's an odds/evens thing going on with "usually" but I can't find it. DAT Ray says "28A – Defn = first 2 words. Now think of a sport that has 18 involved with it and that should get you there." uhm...ok. Google help me. I get AFL have 18 members onfield...and what? I'm missing the leap here! I have no connections. Sorry.

1D - Prickly types catcalling lead when play starts (5)
"Prickly types" is what we're looking for and "Catcalling lead" = C and "play starts" = ACT I to give us CACTI.

2D - MICES on TV? (8,7)
This clue gave me ache. I had the cross letters for the second word and guessed the TV show MIDSOMER MURDERS but I couldn't parse it. Seems a lot of people struggled here. Mort says  " 2D, the first letter of the clue gives the first word, spelled normally. The “ICES” bit gives second word."

Which in some ways confused me more because I couldn't understand how M = Midsomer "spelled normally" when it's not a normal spelling, it's unique to the TV show so far as I could find. I searched for abbreviations and other ways of looking at this but spelling "midsomer" only got me the TV show. "ICES" = MURDERS made perfect sense. I agree with others that this was an unfair clue as you can't get the first word unless you have cross letters and know the show.

3D - Where to buy cheap jumpers? (4,6)
I got this quick but I was happy to read Mort's hint "in 3D, the jumpers are very, very small."  to give us FLEA MARKET because that was a delightful mental image. Mine were wearing Fairisle.

4D - Archangel is here vaguely 'upstairs', quietly time-wasting (6) 
I got this the hard way with googling "archangel statues" assuming that's what form an archangel would take to be somewhere and found links to "Moscow Michael" and guessed with cross letters it was RUSSIA. Now we can see "vaguely" is an anagrind "'upstairs', quietly time-wasting " where "quietly" = P and "time" = T and "wasting" means to remove those letters from "upstairs" leaving USAIRS = RUSSIA.

6D - 160 square rods sound longer (4)
Again I googled "160 square rods" and found it was an ACRE which is a homophone of "ACHER" one who "longs for / aches for"

7D - State getting suss fast lane (7,8)
"Fast lane" is the definition and with cross letters I could see the first word was EXPRESS meaning to "state" one's feelings, "suss" = CHECK OUT to give us EXPRESS CHECKOUT. Checkout took me longer to get for some reason.

8D - Objectionable bridge location (2,3,4)
I didn't get this one, I didn't understand how "objectionable" was being used and I still don't. I do see how the "bridge" of the nose gives us ON THE NOSE but I don't use that phrase to mean objectionable. I use it to mean spot on, correct. I know it's used to refer to scents both good and bad. I know it to mean a way to reprimand animals with a "tap on the nose" which of course is objectionable behaviour towards animals. Is this an Australian interpretation that it's to mean objectionable?

9D - Soothe vegetarian gorilla? (7)
"Soothe" is the definition and a "vegetarian gorilla" is an APE and they'd eat PEAS to give us APPEASE. I got that with cross letters and crossed fingers. There is no instruction to say put PEAS into APE that I can discern except when I say "ape eats peas" and I don't know if that's a kind of thing in cryptic clueing. Is this like a reverse container? Oh, not like but IS! I may be in love with this clue. I keep giggling over it.

14D - Minor libraries oddly wanting Syria, Israel and Lebanon together (10)
"Minor" is the definition and "lIbRaRiEs oddly" = IRRE and I know, from having googled recently, what the acronyms for both ISIS and ISIL stand for that the L stands for LEVANT which includes the countries listed in the clue and gives us IRRELEVANT. Nicely done and topical.

15D - Outstanding feature of metro bush clash (4,5)
"Outstanding feature" is the definition and "metro bush clash" is fodder and anagrind to give us SORE THUMB. It made me think of cartoons where someone hits their thumb with a hammer and it swells up and throbs.

17D - Islamic scholars overall building up (7)
"Islamic scholars" is our definition but I got that with definition and cross letters. I think "overALL" wants us to put something over the word ALL or reverse the word ALL but what "building" is being put "up" eludes me. I don't know what SHUM is. Answer is MULLAHS.

20D - Spot cruciverbalist impersonating the French (6)
"Spot" is our definition and this time it's not an ad. "Cruciverbalist" = ME, referring to the author DA, "impersonating" = AS and "French" = LE as the common answer to give us MEASLE.

23D - Faithful Himalayan almost burst into giggle (5)
"Faithful" is our definition and the "Himalayan" we want, I think, is a YAK "almost" means remove the last letter leaving YA and that will go "into giggle" = LOL for LO(YA)L.

24D - Infantile phase, it's said (4)
I needed to back to Freud's Psychosexual Stages of Development to remember the "infantile phase" is the ORAL phase and it's also something "said."

And there we are. Another week done and a new one to look forward to. I really enjoyed this puzzle. I enjoyed the breakdown, too. I had a lot of clues to share with my Facebook friends and introduced the Learners to Reverse Containers. That's hot puzzle fun. Everyone wins.

I have to go buy a door and some groceries. You have yourselves a great week.

The Age Cryptic by DH #20430

I got to this last night after dinner and fiddled about with it while watching TV until I crashed at Midnight. I told myself "I'll just watch this movie, it's terrible and I'll get bored." but I didn't. Blade with Wesley Snipes 1998 as a vampire hunter. It was bad in that funny-good way. I now regret staying up to watch it because today I'm wrecked but I have read they've made two more of them with rumblings of a fourth Blade movie, so maybe the kitsch of it endures. I didn't even finish the puzzle. I got stuck on a few clues along the right side I needed google for but was too lazy to get off the sofa and grab my laptop. Here's my pic:

Notice my new, snazzy, purple clipboard! Yes a special place for my puzzles to be solved where ever I may be. I went all-out Nerd at office works recently. Sadly I am exhausted and have a mountain of things to get on with so I can't do the full breakdowns like I usually do. If anyone wants me to explain a clue, leave a comment and I'll tackle that with you. Anyone who can't read my writing I'll try to decipher that, too.

Happy Hump Day and here's hoping the clouds clear for tonight's total eclipse!

The Age cryptic by LR #20,429

I'm on a rough schedule this week so not much time for anything. This puzzle was great fun and gave a couple new spins on word play. I shared a few of the clues with the Cryptic Crossword Learners group with 10A being a favourite that spurred on others to create. Particular favourites of mine were 1D and 14D. Here's my pic:

1A - Nice meals at quirky Victorian town (11)
Anagram: "Nice meals at quirky" is fodder and anagrind to give us: CASTLEMAINE.

7,23A - Easy drink (3,2,3)
I'm going to guess a cryptic definition here. Answer is CUP OF TEA and we use the expression "Not my cup of tea" to say something is beyond our skill or liking. So that thing that is our "cup of tea" would be easy for us and it's also a drink. Yeah? Make sense? I mean it could just be that it's easy to make tea but that seems weak.

9A - Caved in when semi-colons expired (9)
"Caved in" is our definition and "semi-COLon" where "semi" means half, we take half of "colon" = COL and "expired" = LAPSED for COLLAPSED.

10A - Makes beers from fruit damage we hear (5)
"Makes beers" is the definition and "from fruit damage we hear," means we want a homophone of damage done to a fruit = BRUISE/BREWS.

11A - Love North jumper when winning (2,3)
"Winning" is the definition and "Love" = O, "North" = N and a "jumper" is a = TOP for ON TOP.

12A - Copy a harp composition from Bible books (9)
"Copy a harp composition," is fodder and anagrind to give us APOCRYPHA.

13A - Lady in white holds grand opening for overpass (6)
"Overpass" is the definition and a "Lady in white" = BRIDE, "holds Grand" = G to go into BRIDE for BRIDGE.

14A - Endless purgatory surrounding Old Testament inn (5)
"Inn" is our definition and "Endless purgatory" = HELL -L "surrounding Old Testament," = OT like this: H(OT)EL.

17A - Inactive geek lost 500 in infotech (5)
"Inactive" is our definition and "geek" = NERD who has "lost 500" = -D and "infotech" = IT to give us: I(NER)T.

18A - Bit of a peeper? (6)
Where the "peeper" is an eye and the "bit of" an eye we need is the RETINA. Not about toads which was my first thought. Or voyeurs.

21A - Jack, with little guitar, fights for music players (9)
"Music players" is our definition and "Jack" = J, "little guitar" = UKEulele and "fights" = BOXES giving us JUKEBOXES. I'm getting that Fallout 3 twitch again.

25A - How to resign with some ubiquitousness? (1,4)
Hidden word clue, because being able to resign with an element of omnipresence seems weird but a closer look at "ubI QUITousness" reveals I QUIT.

26A - Lost war locket in bathroom facility (5,4)
"Bathroom facility" is the thing we are looking for and a quite specific one too - nothing as lofty as a portaloo. I have to stop thinking American where bathroom = toilet. "lost war locket" is anagrind and fodder that when mixed gives us: TOWEL RACK. Sneaky as my preferred anagram algorithm didn't get this.

27A - Sets model against son (3)
It's frustrating that it's always the dinky, 3-letter clues that stump me.  I could see the parts but not how they fit. I confessed this on Twitter and @LRxword took pity and gave the solution:
" SETS = TVS (as in TV sets)
Model = T Against = V Son = S "

28A - Alcoholic, difficult doctor and tattooist (4,7)
"Alcoholic" is what we're looking for and "Difficult" = HARD, "doctor" = DR and a "tattooist" = INKER for a HARD DRINKER.

1D - Crazy copper has Calvin Klein glasses (6)
"Crazy" is our definition and "copper" = CU, "Calvin Klein" = CK and "glasses" = OO which was a new device for me and I like it! Answer is CUCKOO.

2D - Divorce, then sit around extremely peaceful (5)
"Divorce" is the definition and we want to put SIT "around" "extremely PeacefuL" = PL  like this: S(PL)IT.

3D - Guide hurt model with toxic substance (4,5)
"Toxic substance" is what we are looking for and "guide" = LEAD but swap the pronunciation to the element, "hurt" = PAIN and "model" = T for LEAD PAINT.

4D - Sum up angst around wild horses (8)
"Wild horses" is our definition and "SUM up" means to put SUM in reverse in the grid for MUS with "angst around" as partial fodder and anagrind - yes that word "around" sure does have many uses! MUS(TANGS).

5D - Do iron renovation within building (6)
"Within building" is the definition and "Do iron renovation" is fodder and anagrind to give us: INDOOR.

6D - Spark at month's end? (5)
This month is October but next month is novEMBER.

7D - Old queen with women's mag ripped apart (9)
"Old queen" is who we are looking for and an Aussie "Women's mag" = CLEO with "ripped apart" is anagrind and partial fodder for CLEO(PATRA)

8D - OK...dad's stable lost top trainer (8)
"OK" is the definition and "dad's" = PAS with "STABLE lost top Trainer," is instruction to remove the -T from STABLE leaving: PAS(SABLE)

13D - How criminals escape skin problems? (5-4)
Double definition for escaped criminals and skin problems? BREAK-OUTS.

14D - Plebs in upper house vote between Aussie chants (3,6)
"Plebs" is the definition,  and "upper House" = H, "vote" = POLL to be placed "between Aussie chants" which is the favourite reply to "Aussie Aussie Aussie" = OI OI...OI. But we only want two to give us" H(OI) POLL(OI) what a lovely clue! I enjoyed this very much.

15D - Common replacement in cool venue? (3,5)
Double definition: HIP JOINT. Not Gin, like I first put in. Apparently not everyone swaps vodka for gin, like I do.

16D - Frequently changed spots Casanova finally married (8)
"Frequently changed" is our definition and "spots" = SEES, "casanovA finally" = A and "married" = WED put together for SEES(A)(WED).

19D - Cockney curse on alien spinning about old English city (6)
We are looking for an "English city" and a "Cockney curse" = HEX -H, "alien" = ET and "about" here is being used like "regarding"  = RE that is "spinning" making ER to give us EXETER.

20D - Hiker in Western Australian lake missed a right (6)
"Hiker" is our definition and "Western Australian" = WA, "lake missed A" = LAKE -A, "Right" = R to give us: WA(LKE)(R)

22D - Meat worker forgot queen was masculine (5)
"Masculine" is our definition and a "meat worker" = BUTCHER who's "forgot queen" = -ER leaving just BUTCH.

24D - Road song (5)
Double Definition: TRACK.

And there we are! Not a bad start to the week at all.

I have  a mountain of of a ToDo list with an eagerness to get things ticked off as fast as I can. Our Guides unit are doing a presentation about International Day of The Girl at the school's assembly this Friday and I still have a script to write, art supplies to buy, kids to talk down from ledges who don't want to be on stage and then I'll need someone to talk me down from the same ledge because muggins here orchestrated the whole thing and is now wishing for a coma until December. Coward. Ah, they're just kids - easy audience, right?

Apologies for brevity. Have a great day.