Cryptic crossword No 3,888
Sun 6 Sep 2026, set byPatanoia
Special Instructions: Many thanks to Heron/Turnstone and Prak/Void for their very generous feedback and suggestions. However, all errors and brazen liberties are my own.
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Thanks Patanoia, I think I’m tuning in better to your style and appreciating it more. Lots of great clues here, including 9a, 14a, 17a, 23a, 2d (new device for me but a goodun , if maybe a bit clunky), 8d great but is the definition a *thing*? 13d - I like shucking too! and 19d (nasty but cleverly embedded seed!)
First of yours I've done, I think. It took a while to get how your brain works, but persistence was well rewarded with immense enjoyment and many chuckles along the way - many thanks! Hard to pick favourites among this sea of left field definitions and tricky charades but here are a few: 12a, 17a, 24a, 2d, 6d, 13d, 19d. Extra kudos for magnificent theme work!
This was a stylish and enjoyable 1a. Took me a while, spread over a few days, to get there, and I'm glad I kept at it. 2d, 15a, and 22d were amongst my most interesting favs, each pushing a boundary in a different way (secondarily's old usage; the combination of techniques in 15, and using 'both' as part of the fodder rather than the instruction). I enjoyed the puzzle quite a bit and face-palmed when I read the theme notes. Thanks Pat
Hi Pat! Definitely beaten by a couple of these - some new words to me and some knowledge outside of my ken. I definitely enjoyed some of your cryptic definitions (11a and 23a standouts for me) and devious wordplay. Maybe a couple of things a little less fair (e.g. 15a having a plural definition and singular solution) but still solvable.
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