| Comments on the clues |
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| 1. A cereal? Blimey, give them stick everywhere except west. |
| 1. | The surface doesn't make much sense! | | 2. | The surface is meaningless, the wordplay does not fairly indicate that flak is INSIDE the compass points, and "give them" is not clued. |
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| 2. American fools scare northern folk terribly |
| 1. | Almost excellent, I read it as Americans in the North of US scared by Trumpism in the South. | | 2. | "Northern folk" is very vague. |
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| 3. American nuts and cereal for breakfast |
| 1. | Perfectly good DD but lacks wow factor |
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| 5. Awful continental breakfast habit tenant dropped for UK fave (10) |
| 1. | I'm afraid long subtractive anagrams are a pain in the neck. And there's a rogue H | | 2. | Clever idea but unfortunately this is trying to subtract an “h” that isn’t there | | 3. | This doesn't work because there is no "h" in "continental breakfast". I find the Anagram Artist program (free) useful for checking. | | 4. | The comp. anag. is faulty. No H in ‘continental breakfast’ | | 5. | Lovely construction, but sadly the anagram fodder doesn't work correctly (no 'h' in 'continental breakfast') |
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| 6. Breakfast pastries stuffed with alternative new filling loathed initially (10) |
| 1. | Nice clue except for 'initially' which is an overused indicator | | 2. | OR would need to be "alternatively". |
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| 7. Breakfast sets clean forks |
| 1. | "Breakfast" can't set anything. | | 2. | How can breakfast set anything? |
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| 8. Characters to scare folk, the core of QAnon mob? |
| 1. | Is 'mob' meant to be an anagrind? | | 2. | Original idea, but I'm not keen on "characters to" meaning "characters of", or "mob" as an anagrind. | | 3. | Nice idea. I think the definition is a bit oblique | | 4. | Every month there is a clue referencing US politics. Its not as amusing to the rest of us. |
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| 9. Clean forks added for our morning cereals? |
| 1. | I'm not sure how 'added' can serve as an anagrind | | 2. | What is the anagram indicator here? Added? | | 3. | Unlike "addled", "added" is not an anagrind. |
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| 10. Clean forks aren't in order when you have this basic breakfast |
| 1. | The implication that dirty forks would be OK is strange. |
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| 11. Clean forks arranged for breakfast? |
| 1. | The neatest of the 'clean forks' brigade! |
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| 13. Clean forks set out for having breakfast cereal (10) |
| 1. | The rather bizarre explanation is a bit off-putting, and there are too many "clean forks" clues anyway for this to stand any chance. |
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| 14. Cocaine rejected by sensitive souls preferring something banal for breakfast |
| 1. | Cocaine v cornflakes is an implausible choice. |
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| 15. Confused falconer's eating hawk's tail for breakfast |
| 1. | The implausible surface lets it down a little | | 2. | My favourite of the falconer+k anagrams for its slightly surreal quality | | 3. | This and 21 are very similar, and equally implausible. |
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| 16. Conkers flourishing around Florida are nuts indigenous there |
| 1. | a = are is one of those crossword conventions I really dislike. | | 2. | Having to use a specific US state weakens this clue slightly, and I'm not keen on the anagrind. | | 3. | Original idea with a cogent surface |
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| 17. Crazy folk near South Carolina? |
| 1. | Very economical &lit | | 2. | Simple and effective | | 3. | Having to use a specific US state weakens this clue slightly, and I'd prefer "silly folk" – not keen on mental health related anagrinds. | | 4. | Neatest of the & lit. clues |
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| 18. dandruff falls from ears into cereal |
| 1. | Yuk! Good image, but 'falls from' seems a bit dodgy as 'follows', and dandruff falls from the hair rather than the ears | | 2. | This is just silly. I'm afraid. | | 3. | Delicious! | | 4. | Doesn’t make much sense even cryptically |
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| 19. Ears boxed for eating noisily at the breakfast table ? (10) |
| 1. | Well disguised cryptic definition. | | 2. | I like this, though feel the ears is a little too far to garner more points. | | 3. | Winner for me. Would not be out of place in a published crossword. | | 4. | I’m pretty sure it’s just the seeds and not whole ears that go into cornflakes | | 5. | Great definition | | 6. | By the time they're boxed they're not ears any more | | 7. | Unique – I like it. |
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| 20. Essentially wholesome snack for student perhaps |
| 1. | A good idea but I really don't like 'essentially' as an indicator | | 2. | L stands for learner, not student, just as C stands for cold, not chilled. (L can't mean "student perhaps" because perhaps is the anagrind.) | | 3. | More of a meal than a snack surely? |
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| 21. Falconers roughly grabbing hawk’s tail? They’ll get eaten for breakfast! |
| 1. | The two halves don't quite knit. Who will get eaten? The falconers? | | 2. | This and 15 are very similar, and equally implausible. |
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| 22. Fat rascals perhaps scoffing flan or duff ignoring a breakfast dish |
| 1. | Very cleverly constructed to get a plausible surface | | 2. | Clever wordplay, but requires slightly obscure knowledge of Yorkshire cuisine. (As extolled on TV recently by Nadiya Hussain.) |
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| 23. Flans and Coke laid out with starter of rice (usually eaten with milk) (10) |
| 1. | "It is" (usually eaten with milk) has to be inferred. I'm not a fan of this technique. |
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| 24. Folk dancer’s giddy daughter went nuts for Orlando |
| 1. | Well constructed and disguised | | 2. | Orlando is rather ambiguous – it could be Orlando Florida, Orland Bloom, or the novel by Virginia Woolf, for example. | | 3. | Not keen on ‘went’: ‘has gone’ would work better in the wordplay | | 4. | I think 'going' would be better than 'went' |
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| 26. Folks are extremely certain about choice of breakfast |
| 1. | 'Extremely certain' is a tautology |
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| 27. For starters: Crab on ramen noodles. For later: a Kinder Egg surprise. They'll set you up for the day. |
| 1. | A smooth surface, much better than most acrostics. | | 2. | Arbitrary and unpleasant menu too obviously devised just to create an acrostic. |
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| 28. Fork's clean crazy for what you should eat with spoon! |
| 1. | I give this a merit for common sense and for not being "clean forks". | | 2. | Just shades it for me amongst the clean forks anagrams | | 3. | Best of the clean forks by some distance |
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| 29. Frank Close had these for breakfast! |
| 1. | Arbitrary personal names are not convincing, even more so when there are two of them. | | 2. | Can’t see how ‘had’ indicates a mixing of letters | | 3. | Unfortunately I'd never heard of him |
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| 30. Fruit loops, or an alternative? (10) |
| 1. | Unfortunately the breakfast food is "Froot Loops" (with a capital L) so the clue falls a bit flat. |
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| 31. Hard blistering scattershot attack best to dismiss those facing early bowling? |
| 1. | I really like this, just a bit dubious whether 'early bowling' is a fair definition | | 2. | If the definition is meant to be "early bowling?" it doesn't work. |
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| 32. Impatiently cleans fork and spoon for these |
| 1. | Impatiently doesn't work for me as an anagrind despite the fact that impatience could result in disorder. |
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| 33. Incredible number of chocolate bars eaten for breakfast |
| 1. | and "of"…? | | 2. | "It is" (eaten for breakfast) has to be inferred. I'm not a fan of this technique. And "of" is not clued. | | 3. | Nice idea but I think the “of” is superfluous | | 4. | 'Eaten' could be left out |
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| 34. King and Knight tuck into alfreso style breakfast for some |
| 1. | Pity about the typo (easily done) but the anagram indicator is weak and the last two words are unnecessary. |
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| 35. Light snack for little eaters primarily |
| 1. | Very neat clue. It's a pity it's such an obscure anagrind. As you say it's in Chambers, but why? Is it light as in set on fire? | | 2. | My Chambers doesn't justify "light" as an anagrind. (Giddy is closest, but I don't think synonyms of anagrinds are acceptable.) | | 3. | I don't like light as an anagrind. |
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| 36. Meal alfresco finally OK, lockdown relaxed |
| 1. | Nicely topical surface. Meal feels slightly vague as a definition. | | 2. | A brilliant topical reference. Could easily win, although "relaxed" isn't a particularly convincing anagrind. | | 3. | This one jumped out at me for its neat hospitality. | | 4. | Almost my winner being topical and different but 'meal' (not breakfast) as a definition is stretching it a bit. |
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| 37. Meal slight eccentric makes when the sun goes down? |
| 1. | Neat, but does one “make” cornflakes? |
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| 38. Mealie chips for morning meal. |
| 1. | There's hardly anything cryptic about this. | | 2. | This is really just a straight def. | | 3. | Ek glo die regte woord is 'mielie' |
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| 39. Meal/snack prepared with or without a dash of milk tastes fine |
| 1. | Why not the simpler "Meal or snack prepared without a dash of milk tastes fine"? although it's still not an &Lit. |
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| 40. Misguided falconers fed kestrels primarily roasted maize and nuts |
| 1. | Nice clue, but 'primarily' is a pity, it's so obvious an indicator | | 2. | "Primarily" can result in a slightly clunky surface, as it does here. |
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| 41. My extremely naff film is about the French female's morning ritual (10) |
| 1. | Vague definition – a "morning ritual" could be almost anything. |
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| 42. My freakish fans like no one's fare (10) |
| 1. | Ingenious wordplay, but the surface doesn't make much sense. |
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| 43. My new friends (at first) Constance and Victoria say they’re into bowls in the morning |
| 1. | Nice idea for the lakes | | 2. | I like the reference to the lakes, but the definition is unconvincing, and "at first" only confuses the surface reading. | | 3. | Some good ideas but the surface ends up rather forced |
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| 44. My snake perversely eats crust of falafel for breakfast |
| 1. | A bizarre and implausible image. |
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| 45. New Orleans KFC breakfast? |
| 1. | Very clever | | 2. | Equal points to this and 66. I don't think they do serve cornflakes, but this is neater. | | 3. | Nice anagram, the possibility of which had occurred to me as well – but they don't serve cornflakes for breakfast – I checked! | | 4. | Lovely concise anagram clue | | 5. | The winner for me – and in 4 words – brilliant! |
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| 46. Old-fashioned swindles surrounding Latin breakfast food |
| 1. | I don't thinks swindles are quite the same thing as fakes, and the clue's overall meaning is hard to understand. | | 2. | ‘Corn’ isn’t an adjective meaning ‘old-fashioned’, but a noun meaning ‘something old-fashioned’ |
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| 47. Pastries stuffed with boiled lemon skin for a healthy breakfast (10) |
| 1. | Nice clue. I'm not sure how healthy they are though | | 2. | Lemons have peel and pith, not skin. Finely CHOPPED lemon peel would taste better (preferably organic). |
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| 48. Podiatrist’s breakfast? |
| 1. | Evokes a very unpleasant image – foot fetishism taken too far? | | 2. | I’d prefer a crossword clue to a riddle | | 3. | good humour! | | 4. | Yuk, but raised a giggle! | | 5. | Yuk |
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| 49. Popular breakfast cooked alfresco outside of kitchen |
| 1. | Best of the 'alfresco' clues | | 2. | You don't cook cornflakes, and alfresco would be outside the kitchen by definition. | | 3. | Good idea, wish the anagram indicator had been something like 'prepared' instead of 'cooked' | | 4. | Nicely done alfresco clue | | 5. | Neat and effective. |
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| 50. Popular breakfast snack for the French can be bananas (10) |
| 1. | I like it; although I think 'is bananas' is better? | | 2. | This is a slightly unnatural way of saying "Bananas can be a popular breakfast snack for the French." (When?) |
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| 51. Put clean forks out for breakfast (10) |
| 1. | Probably the best of the clean forks ones | | 2. | Best of the 'clean forks' clues. | | 3. | Put has no role in the wordplay or definition |
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| 52. Salad forks? Clean spoon is needed to eat this dish |
| 1. | "Salad" is not an anagram indicator. |
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| 53. Seamen are stuck with endless fish and chips for breakfast |
| 1. | Lovely idea, not sure the positiondicators quite work | | 2. | Good spot. Not convinced by “are stuck with” as containment indication. “Tucking into”? | | 3. | "Seamen get stuck into…" would correct the wordplay and improve the surface. |
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| 54. Sentimental prose fails to show up in first feed of the day. |
| 1. | Why on earth should it? I can't imagine a context in which this would make sense. |
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| 55. Set clean forks for breakfast (10) |
| 1. | Definition is a stretch |
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| 56. Set out clean forks in preparation for breakfast |
| 1. | "in preparation" could be omitted. But then we'd almost have 55. |
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| 57. Silly Americans! I'll have them for breakfast! |
| 1. | What's going on? Lacks context. |
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| 58. Slacken for cooked breakfast? |
| 1. | The suggestion of loosening one's belt is creative but vague. | | 2. | Effective and humorous. |
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| 59. Sort of scran eaten primarily with semi-skimmed milk? |
| 1. | Not sure about semi-skimmed. Arguably the milk here is doubly-skimmed. |
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| 60. Spill the beans, mostly about religious leader with limited involvement of Superior, perhaps to expose goofs in America. |
| 1. | Too long! | | 2. | Much too long. See comment number 2 from February. (Not mine). | | 3. | Unnecessarily long clue |
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| 61. Spooner's breakfast? Two bob buns. |
| 1. | It only works if 'florin' is pronounced 'florn' | | 2. | No, they are florins, not florns. Poor old Spooner. | | 3. | That's not how you pronounce cornflakes | | 4. | Corin-flakes? | | 5. | Florin cakes -> Corin flakes ? |
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| 62. Stirring this cereal about could constitute uncool breakfast. |
| 1. | Good comp anag but not totally convinced by the definition | | 2. | It can be hard for composite anagrams to sound natural, and this doesn't really manage it. |
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| 63. This is a bit tough – peelings for breakfast! (10) |
| 1. | Excellent surface, nicely original | | 2. | To get "corn" from "This is a bit tough" is asking too much of the solver. | | 3. | Clueing as CORN+FlLAKES takes away cryptic element. Shared etymology |
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| 64. Trimming rings from flowing Afro locks, one put in a bowl for breakfast (10) |
| 1. | Eating hair would be bizarre, and the clue needs to indicate that only two O's should be removed, not all three of them. | | 2. | A pity the surface doesn't make sense |
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| 65. Undecided on KFC's real breakfast favourite. |
| 1. | I don't think "undecided" is a good anagram indicator, and the surface doesn't quite work – who is undecided? | | 2. | A rather strange anagram indicator |
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| 66. Unlikely menu item in New Orleans KFC? |
| 1. | Good idea, but better executed in clue 45 | | 2. | Neatly done – best of the KFCs | | 3. | Equal points to this and 45. I don't think they do serve cornflakes, but 45 is neater. | | 4. | More credible than 45 but the definition is a bit too wide in scope |
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| 67. Unruly flock's near – a rooster indicates their presence? |
| 1. | Nice original idea and definition | | 2. | Refreshingly different definition | | 3. | Excellent idea, but I don't think the question mark works, so I'd prefer "a rooster could indicate their presence". | | 4. | Enjoyed the definition, nicely tied to the wordplay |
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| 68. Use clean forks for ready-to-eat breakfast (10) |
| 1. | I wouldn't describe cornflaked as "ready-to-eat" (without milk?) and it doesn't add anything useful to the clue. |
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| 69. What many usually eat in the morning, or when ending oddly full, in between pastries (10) |
| 1. | Surface not smooth | | 2. | Seven words is a lot to define "cornflakes", and the clue doesn't read smoothly. |
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| 70. What may be bowled with floated delivery? (10) |
| 1. | CD is a bit too much of a stretch for me | | 2. | Relies on "bowled" to mean "put into a bowl". Without a dictionary reference to support it, it's too whimsical. |
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| 71. Who'd have thought footballers swilled sake for breakfast? |
| 1. | Would be better with "American footballers" |
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| 72. With this cereal, a chef baked French loaf and cakes |
| 1. | Does anybody enjoy composite anagrams? I suppose the voting will tell! | | 2. | Another unconvincing composite anagram. | | 3. | Very nice. I would have been happy even without 'cereal' in the surface. |
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