The Age Cryptic by DH #20,801

I got beaten by this one. I couldn't solve19D or 13D. I barely got 9D and still can't parse it. Yet there were quite a few wee gems in there that I was able to share with the Cryptic Crossword Learners group on Facebook.

I was frustrated by three clues that used the word "in" in a way that I've not been accustomed, so help me clarify if this was acceptable use of those "in"s or am I right and they're being used in a misleading and unfair manner.

6D - In New York look over new synthetic fibre (5)

It's a beginning and endings type clue that usually gets a signpost to hint to looking at the start or end of a word but here DP uses "in" which is usually a hidden word or container signpost. I had just shrugged and moved on thinking it was probably fine and I was being a pedant, but then...

14A - Sister in business beat puzzling question (9)

"Sister" = NUN and "business" = CO but "nun" isn't going "in" anything, it's going after the CO. Leaving "beat" = DRUM for CO(NUN)(DRUM) which again left me thinking "in" was used in an unfair way. "After" would've been better, "followed" or similar. That would make it kosher, right?

17D - Blimey! Half full in Ionian Island (5)

Now I'm being over-observant, I appreciate that. Here the "in" is probably meant to be a misdirection to a hidden word. Using the word "on" instead would be an issue for making the clue easier and removing the misdirection. I can see the difference but doesn't mean I still don't like it's use.

Here's my pic:

19D - Loses the block when rents go up high (4,3)

I think for 19D I'm a bit stuck on the TV show The Block which I never watch but I see "rents" = LETS and "goes up high" = FLY but I don't know what the rest is all about.

13D - Hearten companion? Always poetic? (5)

I didn't understand why "companion" = CH but I know "always poetic" = E'ER. A short companion for "CHum" or something? I don't know.

9A - Looked up if Tegan in trouble removing drug from her drink (14)

I think "IF TEGAN" is partial anagram fodder but I've not figured out the rest of the clue. It's probably very simple or I'm missing  something obvious but by the time dinner rolled around I was mentally done and wanted to go play Fallout 4 and shoot stuff.

I have started DP and off to a promising start. I'll post that later if I finish it off. Happy Hump Day.

The Age/SMH Cryptic by RM #20,800

Hello! Anyone else out there struggling with pollen and feel like their heads are going to explode? I am unbearable just now and I mean that - I have been on the sofa because my sinuses have turned me into the snoring menace. To be honest I've had the best sleep in ages as a result but it doesn't make for a happy marriage - all the guilt. Making the snot faced sickie sleep on the sofa. It's a nice sofa! I'm not bothered. He's just a light sleeper.

Today's puzzle I was able to wrap my head around and complete. Last week we will just write off as "I feel yuck, the world is yuck I can't think so fuck it all." Today I'm feeling much more positive. I did complete the puzzle but I have some clues that I could guess from definition and cross letters and then still have no idea how to parse the clue. Here's the pic:

12A - What summer did made sense (5,2)

I see that "made sense" is the definition but why does "what summer did," become ADDED UP?

13A - Path to loveless torment (5)

"Path" is the definition and the answer is TRACK but what am I removing O (loveless) from to get this? I put TRACK O in the anagram solver and I looked up tennis terms and got bupkis. I must be missing something.

16D - Old King eats a second serve - finishes off the dish (9)

I think I have this but I want to be certain: "The dish" is the definition, "old king" = COLE (a merry old soul) "eats" is a container for A S(econd) + SER(-ve) "finishes off" to be C(A + S + SER)OLE. Ok now I've typed it it looks right. I was thinking I missed a beginnings thing with A Second Serve and thE finishes and couldn't find the R. It was being a mess for me!

I also have figured out 3D and the cricket term for Yorker so that's done. Lots of clever bits here, I enjoyed this puzzle. I liked "missile launcher" for 8A and have circled many as favourites here. A nice way to kick off the week, Thanks RM!

The Age/SMH Cryptic by DA #20,792

A theme today and a hard one to crack, too. I was immediately aware of the cross in the middle of the grid and had wondered if this was a tribute puzzle at first.

I had most of the SW corner finished and an idea of what was going on with the these - albeit the wrong idea. I had 22A OPTIMAL and 28A SHALES and could see one definition (OPAL and SHE'S) but had thought there were reversed foreign words (MIT and LA) in the middle. Turns out they are men TIM and AL being held in the clue.

That led me to my second misunderstanding as with the help of Celia Fate's (currently known as Secret Herb) hint that the theme secret 18A-20A was a 2015 Australian movie. I could scan titles and find the one that fit best: HOLDING THE MAN.  (Call me a cheater all you want) "Cause for a free" meaning that holding is a foul in football and earns a free kick.  So with 22A and 28A having a definition literally "holding" a man's name I thought that was the way for all of the clues. Nope! As I got further along I became quite stuck on the top corners because 1A "go off" = POP and the man's name we need is LARS to make the "trees" POPLARS. "But he's not being held - is that right? I don't know! It seems right but there's no embrace."  Then it happened again with 5A, and 11A suddenly made more sense according to the NB. My literal interpretation of the theme caused me a lot of frustration.

By 9:30pm I'd had enough and had three empty slots. I felt that was a brilliant effort really and I'd sleep on the rest and see how I got on in the morning. When I awoke (After a weird dream with Miranda Hart that I really wanted to dip back into and see how it turned out) and was able to see 9A's "Do" as not a dance or ball but perhaps as a hairstyle and I finally got PERM/IAN. This leaves me with 3D and 20D as solved but I don't know how they're parsed. Here's my final pic:

3D - Half a platter in reserve - (5)

I put in ASIDE because I think "half a platter" is A SIDEdish and something in reserve is "set ASIDE" but what the dash is for I'm less sure.

19D - Defiles ear? Revolting game cut short (7)

I got the answer but I do not understand how the definitions match. "Defiles" is the definition and "ear revolting" is LUG reversed with "game cut short" = CHES(-s) for GULCHES. I don't know how gulches and defiles are synonyms.

20D - Cart case of beer to accompany meal, regularly acquiring gut (7)

I had the cross letters and used One Across to get the answer TUMBREL for "cart" but it's also spelled TUMBRIL. I cannot parse any of this so I don't know which spelling is correct.

That's mine done. Hard graft to be sure! The ones I did get I felt very sure about - chuffed really. The lower half with its more embraceable men spoiled me a bit for the top which held me up for far too long. Hope yours was enjoyable too. Have a great weekend!

The Age/SMH Cryptic by NS #20,791

I had to take my daughter for a doctor's appointment this morning so I took the puzzle with me and I got most of it finished in the waiting room - all by myself! I usually have my phone with me but this morning I forgot it at home. I had no dictionary app, no thesaurus no internet cheat access: nothing! I only had my brain. I won't lie, I felt not up to the task because I rely on my tech support way too much. My blankie.

I solved all but four clues on my own. I am psyched! The NE corner was where I fell short and 4D in particular stopped me. It wasn't until I started typing this up I got it. so I have now solved and parsed all but 23A Former party is about right on the bookplate (2,6) for EX LIBRIS and there I just can't see where the second I comes from. Former = EX and party = LIBS with "right" = R so is the just LIB with IS from the clue and R? "IS about R" where about is getting us to swap those? I'm not sure.

Just have DA to look forward to tomorrow. Been a good week so far!

The Age/SMH Cryptic by DP #20,790

I struggled a bit with this one because puns are not my forté and this one was full of puns. Also some of the definitions aren't in the same line as what I think the phrases mean - 13D for example: Play tricks upon a party for the unwashed! (2,3,5) with the answer DO THE DIRTY. That does not mean to "play tricks upon," it means to have sex. I know there's a Breakfast Test involved and having  a sex party for the unwashed wouldn't fly but I did spend a lot of time thinking of phrases that had pranks involved. I know there's "Do the dirty work" which is a different phrase again, but also isn't about playing tricks on anyone. I asked my husband and to him it means to betray or drop someone in the shit - still not a playful prank.

I don't have a large inner pedant but I did curse 19A: Irritation by beheading dog (4) for ITCH as bad because dogs are male, bitches are female. I was trying to find a breed to remove the top letter for because I assumed that was common knowledge. With beheadings being in the news too often these days perhaps that's a device that should be put aside for now.

I haven't peeked at any solutions to see if I have an error here so if I'm having a "Violins on television" moment do let me know. Have a laugh at me trying in 4A to make Kooky into Kookies/cookies which was a letter short but that's what I was trying to do.

15A - Doubtful action by departing tangent? (5-3-2)

I got this with cross letters and definition "Doubtful action" and I guess "departing" = GO but don't see where the TOUCH AND is from.

26A - Guy with double Dutch (8)

"Guy with double" makes sense with the answer BIGAMIST but I don't know how "Dutch" fits in. I know about going Dutch on a date, and double-dutch is skipping rope with two ropes and it's slang for marijuana. Not sure ow the being married to two people gets in there.

7D - Dexter always turned inside out (7)

I got the answer EVERTED meaning to turn outward but I have no idea how we get there. I see Dexter has its "inside out" but how the R is found I don't know.

27A - As angry as a well-dressed man? (6)

I don't understand how the "well-dressed man" is SHIRTY. Is it because he's wearing a shirt? Is the bar Aussies have to reach to be considered well dressed is to just put on a shirt?

That's Wednesday. I don't usually do the DPs because if anyone is going annoy me it's typically been his puzzle. I have also found some amazing clues by him so it's a gamble.

The AGE/SMH Cryptic by DH #20,789

Certainly a bit tougher today with a few words that would have made this easier for people who've travelled the Middle East, or watch the news or are religious. I don't know if that was an intended mini theme or not with CALIPHATE, GEHENNA, RABAT, DAMASCENE, and BABEL.

I was held up by 12A for a while with just the B and thought Ruth BUZZI (thinking a place of great confusion might be a hive?) but I wondered if she was well known for her comedy in Australia. Then briefly thought USSC judge Ruth BADER but that's really Bader-Ginsberg. I wasn't up on my Book of Ruth or that she was involved with the story of the Tower of Babel.

17A - Painter at club in Morocco city (5)

I don't know what "painter" is doing. I thought "club" = BAR going back wards for some reason and using the AT in the clue to make RABAT but I don't see a reversal signpost - unless that's painter but I don't know why. I kept thinking of Mr Miyagi making Daniel-san "Paint the house, side to side!" I suppose for a down clue it would be "Paint the fence!"

23A - Don't restrict as many when never-ending (9)

I wasn't sure at all but now I wonder if this is a triple definition.

25A - In the morning I am in grass surrounding (7)

Is it supposed to be AM + I in BENT? It's the "grass" = BENT I don't understand.

1D -  "Stiff!!", bounder to state (7)

I get that "stiff" is the definition and "bounder" = CAD but how is "to state" = AVER?

There we go, that was Tuesday. I don't know if I have any errors so if you see one shout it out.

The Age/SMH Cryptic by RM #20,788

I have been neglecting this blog while dealing with  issues around my mother's estate that are now finally getting all its loose ends tied up. I'm relieved to have those distractions fading off now and I can get back to being focussed on the cryptics.

On a recent trip the the USA I did manage to acquire a paperback issue of Ximenes On The Art of The Crossword by D.S. Macnutt, the daddy of cryptic crossword construction. I'm finding some of the writing a bit difficult (he really loved commas and asides) but I'm only 40 pages in. I was once told by a wise friend that the best way to learn how to solve clues is to learn how to write clues.

Today's puzzle was zipped through in an hour. I've not had this kind of puzzle success in a long time. Nice way to kick off Monday with a major ego boost. Especially after Friday's reaming by DA. That one was brutal. I needed Saturday and Sunday off to recover.

The only question I couldn't parse was 9A but my Twitter friends jumped in and were great to explain it for me (Thanks to them all!), because I'm not cricket smart and I didn't have the words to work to make the clue work. I got it with cross letters and knowledge of herbs and food - I know food.

Herb uses top spin to split the top of the wicket (5)

Herb is the definition with "top Spin" = S and the top of a wicket is a BAIL so the S is "to split" the BAIL to make BA(S)IL.

My last question is 13D, which was my last in the grid. I'm thinking one who tells "excellent fibs" tells CAPITAL LIES, but there's no homophone indicator so is this just a cryptic definition or should there be a homophone signpost? Have I not solved this correctly?

Wishing you a great Monday and a better week ahead.