The Age Cryptic by DA #20,833

It's been a while. I've been busy with kids over school holidays and enjoying summer near the beach - it's why we moved to regional Victoria and gave up fast broadband after all.

That said I have been on Twitter with the occasional chat about the puzzles and I am still solving everyday. I share clues on Facebook cryptic crossword groups and just for some reason, forgot about the blog. Poor dusty blog.

DA gave us a themed puzzle which still grips me with terror at first seeing an NB at the top of the page but I've learned that these are also, usually, gentler puzzles in the long run. DA adds an element of challenge but softens the edges for us. That said, this was still an all day affair. One that had me so engrossed I completely forgot, despite having set a calendar alarm, to go and collect my daughter's schoolbooks from her school. Oh dear, that'll be fun to track down.

The pic is a messy affair but what I did is mark mystery letters on the top as "found" or used already in an across clue, and "unfound" as ones put into one of the mystery clues but hadn't yet been used in an across clue.  I have questions and guesses on the right side and words used in the NB marked in red.

I got most of the bottom half of the puzzle done by lunch and then hit a wall getting into the top. I took a couple hours away from it before going back and then "boom" I saw 9D, 5D and other straightforward clues that previously my mind was just not interested in cracking. Here's the pic:

I had struggle with 7D where I didn't know why "bear" = WHELP where if it had said "bear cub" or similar I'd have had more confidence. I ended up with an uncomfortable guess that fit well with the cross clues but I never felt right about.

11A I had thought maybe it was "curSers" and the answer was "SALTS" which didn't answer for "here?" but it was "curLers here?" instead. Either way I don't see how the beginning makes the answer. Mouth off? Fish?

2D I got by definition of "toupee" but the whole thing hints to a hidden word which I do not see. Then I thought it was "rue(-in)g" with "IN hiding" but that left an E in the word - which of course it didn't because I'm a doofus who can't spell. I had the right solution and then tripped myself up. I only just saw this now, but felt it needs to be explained since it's right there on the right of the puzzle and I can't hide it.

21D I got with a hint that there was something rude going on akin to 12A which has "Tit" and that the "table" was likely the periodic table. What "dainty prune" means, I have no idea.

And that was it. I hope everyone else had fun, too. Last weekend of school hols, back to regular routines again soon. Until then, Happy Australia Day!