There are occasions when the answer to a clue is a word or its reverse, and there is nothing in the clue to indicate which.  So you end up relying on crossing checking letters to confirm which to use.  Here, 5D is an example.  The construct is , and for 5D it is def 1 that is the answer and def 2 that is reversed.  If anything, the sense of the surface reading tends towards the alternate answer.  In this instance I was wise to the possibility, but on other occasions I have fallen for the trap, written in a reverse answer, and been stuck.  In the context of an entire puzzle this is probably fair, but it shows that clues taken in isolation are not necessarily fully solvable. Read the rest of this entry »

Solving time: 25 mins, two missing (26ac and 8dn).

The ‘cloth hats’ referred to in the preamble were all reptiles (REP = ‘cloth’, TILES = ‘hats’), though unless KOMODO DRAGON at 19dn/29ac (my favourite clue in this puzzle) counts as two answers I can only find 11 (asterisked below).

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