A pretty straightforward puzzle, with no obscure German towns or archaic words and only one two fairly minor quibbles for me. A couple of the anagrams give themselves away rather too cheaply, but Chifonie makes good use of unexpected phrasal definitions like ‘threaten to go out’ in 1 Across, making some of the clues less obvious to dissect. 

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This had everything I expect from Phi, clear precise, clues, easier wordplay to the less familiar words, everything fully understood.    The extra bit was that, like some other of this week’s puzzles, there was a theme.    I refer to it at the end of the review, following the clue explanations.

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This was a very frustrating puzzle for me. It appeared very easy at first, but then I hit a wall with the last six or seven clues. It wasn’t that I couldn’t work out the answers – more that I couldn’t decide which letters to “squeeze out” before entry into the grid. A quick e-mail to Peter Biddlecombe, with an equally quick and helpful answer and all became clear.

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