The Age Cryptic by DP #20,526

A Wednesday puzzle? I never do Wednesday puzzle posts! I usually have too much on and short of time and temper. I am finding the shorter form of posting is much better for me. I can get a post typed up in an hour rather than five hours when I breakdown every clue. I still think the long form is a good way to learn and solve clues but the pic also does a lot of explaining. Let me know if you disagree and which you prefer.

This puzzle had an opera mini-theme and guess what: I'm not knowledgeable of operas. I had about ten clues solved by lunchtime and was looking at a brick wall of a puzzle, frustrated and hating every bit of it when my husband asks how it's going,

"It's an opera puzzle. I don't know opera."
"You don't know opera, you don't know cricket...why do you bother with this?"
"Because I want to win!" was all I could say.
"I want to win, too." he said and went back into his office to wrestle with his own demons.

Eventually I bashed along and noticed there were a lot of double definition clues and I could get those and open up the puzzle more. In the end I had a line of gaps running from the NW corner across to the SE corner. I have errors that screwed me up and the whole thing is a mess but I did put then effort in and didn't just toss it in the trash. Here's my pic (sorry it looks crooked):

17A - Safe as banks like dear books? (4-5)

I got this with cross letters and thinking "dear books" would be old first editions with gold leaf or GILT-EDGING (I did try and work "gold" in the beginning for ages) but what that has to do with "safe as banks" I don't know. Even if "banks" = EDGING how does "safe as" = GILT?

20A - With pipes backing or coming out (5)

I knew we needed a synonym for "pipes" that when reversed gave us a word for "coming out" but I never could find the word. Then I thought maybe this was another double definition and I put in SPOUT. Answer is DEBUT which answers "coming out" but not "pipes backing" as that would have been TUBES not TUBED, right? Why not write "When piped backwards or coming out" or would that be too easy?

23A - Means to drop a sort of convenience (4)

Answer is MENS and I got this from wordplay - very straightforward ME(-a)NS -  but didn't connect at all that "sort of convenience" = MENS. What does this mean? I thought "sort" may mean to mix up the remaining letters but that gave nothing. I'm stumped.

26A - Address for one female, or two (5)

Answer is MADAM and again It was my first thought but couldn't connect that answer to "or two" because the plural would be Mesdames and then it would be like a straight clue not cryptic so how does "or two" become MADAM? These little things really trip me up and ruin a puzzle for me. I know most people could be happy with getting the answer right off the bat and not worry about the minutia but I have to know! Is it because it's a palindrome?

2D - A conductor may switch rail tracks (5)

Answer is SHUNT and I think this is an electrical shunt and the train shunt double definition but I'm not sure. Just wanting some clarification.

14D - Goes as a result of other selves (5-4)

Answer is ALTER-EGOS and I got this from cross letters and definition. I think there's some kind of anagram at play (GOES + A + RE(-su)LT) but there are no signposts I recognise for either letter removal or anagram. So how we get the answer I don't know.


There it is. I'm sure many of the explanations I seek will be obvious but please enlighten me as at this time I'm in the dark. I know the opera clues were few and I shouldn't have made such a fuss. Turned out there were more double definitions than anything else.

I have the NS but may not get to it as we have appointments today. Friday's DA will be a bust as I'm stuck in Melbourne all day while my daughter gets her braces off and is fitted for her new retainer. She's such a good doobie, her braces have only been on for 18 months and she's getting them off two years early because she did everything her orthodontist told her to do and never missed days with elastics or headgear or anything. The transformation has been amazing. I only wish she was as compliant with my requests. (Want the orthodontist's details, just ask)

As always leave answers in the comments and if you have better solutions please share those as well. If you want me to break down anything in more detail just ask and I will do my very best.