Across |
1 |
Full ticket price shown in street (12) |
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THOROUGHFARE - I had to wait until I got all the checkers before I eventually saw this as I hadn't spotted that "street" was the definition and thought the answer must start with an S and end in a T. Neat trap. Did anyone else fall into it? The answer is, of course, THOROUGH (Full) + FARE (ticket price). |
8 |
Awkward writer reflected in it (5) |
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INEPT - You get to this by taking your PEN and putting it back [reflected] in IT. Not as awkward as some of the other clues! |
9 |
New threat involving English playhouse (7) |
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THEATRE - Anagram [new] of THREAT + E (English). |
10 |
Reversal of decline in fossil fuel (3) |
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GAS - The decline here is SAG and you apply the [reversal] instruction to get the fuel we've been taking from the North Sea for so long that there can't be much left. It's time someone invented the solar-powered cooker. Oh. Wait a minute. What about feeding my family in the evening at this time of year? Cold meats and salad it is then. |
11 |
Country importing a Greek scent (9) |
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FRAGRANCE - Bonjour tout le monde... Our favourite next-door-neighbour country (perhaps) is FRANCE and we stick GR (Greek) in it [importing] to get a bit of a whiff. Smell is a sense not to be underestimated.. How do you rouse a sleeping deaf person alone in a hotel room in the case of a fire? With wasabi in the air-conditioning, that's how! I'm not kidding. It was an Ig Noble award winner in 2011. |
13 |
Fury as old car fails to start (5) |
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ANGER - If your {b}ANGER (old car) [fails to start], you might not be very happy. Being furious, though, is a bit of an over-reaction. An old banger needs LTC to keep it going. (A bit like me). |
14 |
Hot in pleasant corner (5) |
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NICHE - A neat and concise clue - perfect for a QC, I think. Here we learn how to do an insertion... H (hot) is inserted into [in] NICE (pleasant) to get the shallow recess in the wall where you might display your Dresden china shepherdess, if you had one. |
16 |
All right to be carried by the man on lorry leaving plant (9) |
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ARTICHOKE - And now we get to do a bit of a tricky building job. Hard hats on. This is OK (All right) inside [to be carried by] HE (the man) after [on] ARTIC (lorry) leaving you with a (to my mind) strange vegetable that comes in three, quite different, varieties : globe, jerusalem and chinese. Which, if any, do you like? None of them ever appear on my shopping list, I'm afraid. |
17 |
Take steps in a court (3) |
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ACT - Devilishly simple. A + CT (court). Just do it. |
19 |
The height of women's fashion? (7) |
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HEMLINE - I'm not sure why this took me so long. My second last one in. For ages I thought it must be HER + something meaning fashion. But no. Woof! Woof! Barking up the wrong tree again. It's a straight cryptic definition. And a famous predictor of stock market prices to boot (Is that boot to ankle, knee, thigh?). |
21 |
Ingrained dirt, dreadful by end of aisle (5) |
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GRIME - Not as I initially read it, an anagram of DIRT + E, but, more straightforwardly, GRIM (dreadful) + [end of] {aisl}E. That was me trying to be too clever by 3/4 as my Dad would say. |
22 |
Interceptors faulty, on reflection (2,10) |
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IN RETROSPECT - (Interceptors)*. Not too hard an anagram, thinking about it afterwards. *cough*. |