I am afraid this is a very short blog for a fun puzzle.
Apologies for the late post – too long a story to explain!
FITS (suits) returned or ‘sent back’ FISH b(swimmer)
ROUT (defeat) and ES (first and last letters or ‘extremists’ in erroneous
LEAS(meadows) in PURE (neat)
EG (for one) inside and reversed or ‘turning’ into STAR (red dwarf?)
OUT (released) and RE (first and last letters or ‘skin’ of rattlesnake)
An anagram (‘new’) of GENERATIOn (missing last letter or ‘stunted’
E the middle letter of bee or ‘essentially’ following ACT (law) IV (four)
An anagram (‘badly’) of RAT GOES
Double definition
An anagram (‘arranged’) of SINGLY – referring to Glynis Johns
STORY with the R and O changing places or ‘a twist near the end’ inside DEER (does possibly)
PAR (normal) inside SE (south-east)
A play on the fact that a French promotion could possibly described as LE TOUT
READ (to study) YIN (one in Scots) G (Government)
Double definition
An anagram (‘flexible’) GAS LOANS
SIN (wrong) around or ‘putting in’ PHO (soup)
An anagram (‘trouble’) of CITADEL IN
Double definition
STAYS (remains) outside an anagram (criminal’) WAGNER
fORTy (missing first and last letters or ‘naked’) HO and DOXY (prostitutes)
TIER (row) about G (German)
So (very) RC (Catholic) ERE (before) R (first letter or ‘start’ of Reformation)
An anagram (‘strange’) of WAYS
An anagram (‘development’) of BEER TUN IN
Sounds like ‘heard’ of ANNIE (as in Orphan Annie the musical) MATING (having sex)
fIDDLES (violins) with the F (loud) changed to the initial letters of Tuned Well
An anagram (‘doctor’) of 4
Sounds like or ‘say’ WAYS (20d)
SAY (possibly) around or ‘covering’ the starters to Toasted Asparagus
A reversal or ‘turned over’ of ODD (strange) AS (when)
A clever puzzle built round 4d/20d which I found quite challenging but very enjoyable.
I had never heard of the soup in 1d nor the second of the two words needed for prostitute needed for 6d, but both couldn’t have been anything else.
With plenty to choose from, READYING, AS LONG AS, ORTHODOXY and ANIMATING were my top picks.
Many thanks to Alchemi and to B&J.
A fun puzzle with nice usages of 4 & 20. In 8d, ‘4’ should be underlined as part of the definition, as played by the wonderfully named Benedict Cumberbatch in the films.
A couple of lol moments with the surfaces for ANIMATED and ORTHODOXY as well as the construction of the latter. Very witty. SADDO, I didn’t get as neither that nor ‘dweeb’ are part of my vocab though I recognise both. 13a – of course … NGAIO TREE … obvious really 😉 And, yes, very nice use of STRANGE WAYS throughout.
I appreciate the blog had to be curtailed, B&J, and hope all is well. It does, though, possibly need expansion in the parsing of 8d. I didn’t know this till Googling but Doctor Strange is a character played by Benedict Cumberbatch in the eponymous movie; he becomes a SORCERER and that explains the otherwise unacknowledged 4 in the clue.
I felt 23a took the slightest of liberties: Tale with twist near the end meaning swap two letters in STORY, one of which is the middle letter but ’tis but the tiniest, tiniest of quiblets in a super puzzle.
Thanks Alchemi and B&J
Sorry, Hovis. You weren’t there when I started typing but you were by the time I’d finished.
Thanks for all the comments and amendments which we greatly appreciated. The stress levels of compiling a blog at speed have now reduced but we will be without internet now for the rest of the day. If there are any further errors, we will make the changes when we are back on-line.
We have had time to make the alterations that Hovis and Postmark have suggested.
Harry Who?
@Copmus a member of a popular beat combo m’lud 🙂
Rabbitdave@ Ph? is Ph?ietnamese noodle soup, traditionaly beef, where the meat is thinly sliced and cooked in the broth at serving.
Thanks all. PostMark @ 3: I take your point, but they’re also the penultimate and antepenultimate letters, which makes them “near the end” in my book. Not that I’ve actually written a book, but you know what I mean.
Thanks for popping in Alchemi @9 and it really wasn’t a beef. More something that raised a smile. If it had been a three letter word, the front’s near the end too 😀 ! You’d better make sure your book has more than three pages …
Good fun though there can’t be many solvers who have heard of both Glynis Johns and Harry Styles.
Ericw@11: Yes, we knew the one and had to guess the other!
Well, I had heard of both Glynis Johns and Harry Styles, although I am more familiar with the former. Not only was she the mother in Mary Poppins, she was the original singer of Send in the Clowns in Sondheim’s A Little Night Music. I also remember her short-lived sitcom on American TV in the early sixties.
I cannot believe that here I am, at a quarter past midnight on a Wednesday, posting the fact that I, too, happen to be aware of both Glynis Johns and Harry Styles. Though, afore today’s blog, I couldn’t have located either. I am still not much the wiser about Harry Styles but believe he has hair and sings in a boy band. He’s probably also very rich which comes from having hair and being in a boy band. I have no hair and am not in a boy band.