| Comments on the clues |
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| 1. A jolly on returning plane sometimes provides a sandwich |
| 1. | I don't understand why jolly = marine, or why plane sometimes = bus. |
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| 2. A vehicle's turned over by a soldier operating under the surface |
| 1. | Slightly weak (imo) to clue SUBMARINE using MARINE, but a nice surface reading. |
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| 4. American sandwich bar's menu is revamped with a bit of imagination |
| 1. | Bar menu clue with a nice extra touch | | 2. | So similar to so many other BAR MENU clues. |
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| 5. Arnie's bum cracks one that's plausibly deep in sound (9) |
| 1. | Made me laugh and a cleverly disguised definition | | 2. | Surface reading is nonsensical. | | 3. | Cheeky but the unusual 'Arnie' rather gives away the anagram fodder and 'bum' is redundant to the colloquial surface story. |
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| 6. Bar menu is a mess, but might include this. |
| 1. | I would prefer "messy" in place of "a mess". | | 2. | "a mess" needs to be "in a mess" or "messy" |
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| 8. Biden's accepted Trump essentially ignoring Democratic representation as inferior in the main |
| 1. | A nice try but doesn't quite come off. | | 2. | Definition is a stretch |
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| 9. Boat. Drive coach back in English |
| 1. | Surface reading not very good unless I’m missing something |
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| 10. Bum sarnie? |
| 1. | I don’t see how a question mark on its own indicates an anagram | | 2. | Nicely succinct. | | 3. | you get a point for cheek (literally)! | | 4. | '?' doesn't indicate an anagram. Could have used 'possibly'? |
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| 11. Bus returned with drunken airmen found in boat |
| 1. | How does "found in" contribute to the cryptic reading? | | 2. | Straightforward but ticks all the boxes for a good clue. |
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| 12. Busier man surfaces victorious |
| 1. | We need some indication that "Victorious" is an example of a submarine. | | 2. | Good definition but I don't like 'surfaces' as an anagrind. |
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| 13. Correct article misrepresenting Remain constituents in Sandwich ? (9) |
| 1. | Nice idea, but the letters of 'remain' are misrepresented, not misrepresenting |
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| 14. Craft (remains principally under briny) |
| 1. | The anagram indication works only if you consider ‘craft(…)’ as some sort of function. | | 2. | Very neat and clever & lit clue – best of the bunch in my opinion | | 3. | clever double use of 'craft' | | 4. | Where's the anagram indicator? |
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| 15. Crazy semiurban or French soldier supplemented with energy first took a bus back to board this? |
| 1. | Too complicated for my taste. |
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| 16. Cryptically a ‘number’ is something you take to go under |
| 1. | Very good. Minor criticism is i’m not entirely convinced by the definition – do you “take” a submarine? | | 2. | liked the surface's allusion to crossword clues! | | 3. | Excellent. Really playing to the crowd with this clue! | | 4. | One may go under anesthesia / an anaesthetic (but not, hopefully, take one to go under) |
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| 17. Detailed attack brought back soldiers sheltering in vessel |
| 1. | I’m afraid this use of ‘detailed’ is up there with ‘redhead’ as a pet dislike. | | 2. | Liked use of 'sheltering' but surface a bit clunky |
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| 18. Dispersed sunbeam initially refracted inside drink? |
| 1. | I don't think "drink" is an adequate definition – or are we to allow "inside" to do double duty? | | 2. | Good idea but 'initially' is such a crossword cliche | | 3. | ..but 'submarine' doesn't mean sea. | | 4. | Drink doesn't mean submarine |
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| 19. Distraught man buries poor boy (9) |
| 1. | Poor boy was new to me, but makes for a good misleading surface here. | | 2. | Lovely smooth surface | | 3. | Good surface but 'poor boy' too obscure, needs a DBE indicator at least. | | 4. | I liked this – although I've only ever seen them called "po boys". Is the definition a tad too obscure? | | 5. | Good surface, but defining 'submarine' as 'poor boy' is like defining 'robin' as 'chaffinch' (similar but different). | | 6. | Very nice surface |
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| 20. Drowned man with bruise that's suspicious |
| 1. | I really like this clue but I can’t quite justify ‘suspicious’ as an anagram indicator, so it misses out on top marks. | | 2. | Good surface but not sure if 'drowned' = 'submarine' | | 3. | Sorry, couldn’t fathom the definition | | 4. | Good surface . Not convinced that 'suspicious' indicates an anagram. |
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| 21. Exchange blue shade for yellow outfit in tune with green surroundings |
| 1. | As with GLORIA last month, it’s asking a bit much of the solver to be familiar with specific song lyrics | | 2. | Too complicated. |
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| 22. Fan base in Trump case disappearing – it needs to be watertight |
| 1. | Nicely constructed wordplay and def. |
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| 23. Fancy bar menu is made for chugging through the drink! |
| 1. | Good idea, but most types of boat chug through the drink | | 2. | My favourite of the bar menu clues | | 3. | Nice idea. |
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| 24. Fancy bar's menu containing one sandwich |
| 1. | So similar to so many other BAR MENU clues. | | 2. | Surface may read better with 'contains', + justified as it refers to a (singular) anagram phrase. |
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| 25. Heartless sardine starts to unclothe beautiful mermaid consumed below the waves (9) |
| 1. | Lovely image of a beautiful mermaid unclothing (do mermaids wear clothes?) but spoilt by that sardine |
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| 27. In Subway menu primarily, what could be a sandwich! |
| 1. | I don't think that "X Y Z sandwich" can mean "X Z Y" | | 2. | The Sub in subway and in Submarine share the same root. | | 3. | The wordplay works nicely but not the stated & lit. definition (which would also include 'Subway menu primarily'). |
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| 28. Is a number scrawled on the bottom? |
| 1. | Clever definition | | 2. | Simple and effective. | | 3. | Broad definition but succinct and entertaining clue. |
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| 29. King-sized sandwich is ordered with bar menu |
| 1. | Don’t you order from a menu rather than with a menu? | | 2. | So similar to so many other BAR MENU clues. |
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| 30. Lend cash to sailor for a sandwich |
| 1. | I was always taught that splitting a compound word into its components was considered weak clueing. | | 2. | Straightforward and likeable clue. |
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| 31. Moves about evenly, remains underwater (9) |
| 1. | V good surface and wordplay | | 2. | I quite liked this but would prefer "moving". | | 3. | Positioned as it is, to make sense as an anagrind 'Moves' needs to be 'Move' (imperative)' |
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| 32. Mr. Bean is jumping around U-boat (9) |
| 1. | Nice to see a clue that's very unique. | | 2. | Although hyphened, U-Boat is one word. The clue would make sense only if there were an U boat. |
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| 33. Nimbus are rendering ship unseen |
| 1. | "Nimbus are" doesn't agree in number. "Nimbi are" or "Nimbus is". |
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| 34. "Nurse," I am beginning to blush – "trouble down below" (9) |
| 1. | Good surface, but grammatically suspect wordplay | | 2. | Clever and amusing. Personally not keen on this use of trouble as anagrind. | | 3. | A smutty surface reading, so will probably get a lot of votes. | | 4. | Laughed at the surface; 'trouble' (imperative) works as an anagrind; however the surface's punctuation doesn't fit the actual clue. | | 5. | For 'trouble' to work here grammatically as an anagrind, it needs a preposition like 'in'. Such a pity. |
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| 35. One having to go under for operation is put out with a 'number' |
| 1. | Nicely misleading surface | | 2. | A very nice clue, but edged out by a similar clue | | 3. | Different with well-disguised definition but only in cryptic crosswords does number = anaesthetic. |
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| 38. Reactionary bus sabotaging Remain; it plumbs the depths |
| 1. | ‘Remain’ is sabotaged not sabotaging. Otherwise very good. | | 2. | Excellent clue and I wholeheartedly agree with the surface! |
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| 39. Replace fat-free fish with a sandwich (9) |
| 1. | It looks more like fish-free fat to me |
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| 40. Reversing, I hit people carrier, fine’s half a sandwich |
| 1. | Surface ha ha! Wordplay good enough for 1.5 points | | 2. | Lovely surface. |
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| 43. Sandwich in bar menu is fantastic |
| 1. | Best of the bar menus | | 2. | So many "BAR MENU" clues – this one is OK but unfortunately there were better examples. |
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| 44. Sandwich, the centre of unfamiliar urban sprawl in Kent (9) |
| 1. | Nice try – almost works – but does Kent = SE ? |
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| 46. Semi-urban ground is underwater. |
| 1. | Neat – maybe a little too easy? |
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| 50. Substitute Little Mermaid’s core number with new arrangement of ‘Under the Sea’ |
| 1. | Didn't compare well with the simpler "Under the Sea" clue | | 2. | VG – the comprehensive explanation certainly helps one to understand the solidly connected surface without which many might miss it. |
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| 51. Tambourines played, but not to Boaty McBoatface? |
| 1. | Needs "for example" or similar. |
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| 53. Uber's main worry, it's often submerged in conflict. |
| 1. | Best of the Uber clues. |
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| 54. "Under the Sea" is a number that's lively |
| 1. | Smooth surface – my favourite of the under the sea clues | | 2. | Very good. |
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| 58. Waves goodbye? Only when she’s low or going to bed |
| 1. | I did not understand this clue. |
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| 59. When this elasticated top minus bra makes nipples stick out. |
| 1. | A smutty surface reading does not a good clue make. | | 2. | An enticing image but I don't know what the nipples are doing. (Apart from sticking out) | | 3. | E would need to be 'elasticated's top'. Nice thought though. |
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| 60. Where to find the special feature of a French letter? Sounds like we need a hero |
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| 61. With US backing Biden as leader, airmen prepared craft |
| 1. | 'Biden as leader' is not exactly 'B'. Biden's leader = B. | | 2. | "Biden as leader" =/= B |
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| 62. Without most of the absinthe and rum mixed in the drink |
| 1. | 'in the drink' a nice idea but the whole phrase (surface meaning) isn't great. The whole clue does not literally (lit.) define 'submarine'. | | 2. | Nice idea, but not quite executed well enough. |
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