[nik at work]

Yeah reading back it's all a bit tenuous. Sorry.

Thanks for the feedback, it's very helpful.

[johnx2]

You have the wrong meaning of instrument, I could have used the word contraption instead.

Or for a different clue with the same solution:
Contraption goes at the speed of sound to Northumberland. (7)

machine therefore includes arse!  (6)

Netherlands’ dinkiest, hyperfine thug excited lesbian

3,3,6,2,3,4

[john horscroft]

Netherlands’ dinkiest, hyperfine thug excited lesbian

3,3,6,2,3,4

Clever!   

 

[johnx2]

thanks. It's also very easy of course . Could've put an exclamation mark on the end. Electronic assistance was used. Anyway having been brought out of the woodwork by this thread I now need a rest...

[john horscroft]

thanks. It's also very easy of course . Could've put an exclamation mark on the end. Electronic assistance was used. Anyway having been brought out of the woodwork by this thread I now need a rest...

....easy yes, but it's going to be a swine to work into a clue..........   

[JamieG]

You have the wrong meaning of instrument, I could have used the word contraption instead.

Or for a different clue with the same solution:
Contraption goes at the speed of sound to Northumberland. (7)

machine therefore includes arse!  (6)

Netherlands’ dinkiest, hyperfine thug excited lesbian

3,3,6,2,3,4

I may be being dense, but i don't understand where the answer is, in the above clue. None of the words are 6 letters.

[johnx2]

thanks. It's also very easy of course . Could've put an exclamation mark on the end. Electronic assistance was used. Anyway having been brought out of the woodwork by this thread I now need a rest...

....easy yes, but it's going to be a swine to work into a clue..........   

It's very easy to work into a clue if you think Araucarian rather than Ximinean, but you can do it either way. Not everything has to be an anagram...

Or are you saying I've cruised in and spoiled the fun in a smartarsey kind of way, whilst not being as clever as I think I am? 

[johnx2]

I may be being dense, but i don't understand where the answer is, in the above clue. None of the words are 6 letters.

It's nether, in Netherlands

[john horscroft]

It's very easy to work into a clue if you think Araucarian rather than Ximinean, but you can do it either way. Not everything has to be an anagram...

Or are you saying I've cruised in and spoiled the fun in a smartarsey kind of way, whilst not being as clever as I think I am? 

Far from it old bean.  What I meant was it was going to be a swine to work the answer into a clue! 

[nik at work]

What's Araucarian? And Ximinean for that matter?

[johnx2]

they’re both setters. Ximines, taking time out from his day job as a Spanish inquisitor, defined the rules of the modern crossword.

Araucaria, who was ninety yesterday as it goes, is probably regarded as the best setter currently active, and he sets some rather more playful clues where the entire clue may also be the definition.

So say “Amundsen’s forwarding address!” (4) would be “mush”

(Not saying I can actually do them or owt.)

(and on edit - I can think of some fairly straightforward continuations. One might involve repetition, erm, linguistically if you see what I mean.)

[Duma]

Yeah reading back it's all a bit tenuous. Sorry.

Thanks for the feedback, it's very helpful.

For what it's worth I thought it'd have been fine with a stronger synonym for machine. I swallow=m_ _ _ _e was the first bit I got, and was working on anagrams of synonyms for necklace, but like tlr was thinking musical/medical/scientific.
Johnx2 - I'm not even going to attempt to write a clue with that! Nice though.

[tommytwotone]

OK - so I've got ---/---/FINGER/IN/THE/DYKE...

One of the three letter words needs to be "Boy", so what am I missing?

[johnx2]

One of the three letter words needs to be "Boy"

it doesn't

[nik at work]

Right here goes nothing. If someone comes up with something better then I'm happy to let this clue bow out but:

Mixed up boy who put his finger in the dyke lost seawater and got even smaller (6)

If nothing else at least it gets the answer down to a managable size. I think this clue is OK but it does require some general knowledge (or a google based alternative perhaps?). Have I said too much...

[tlr]

Good effort given what you had to work with. And slapped wrists for John shirking his responsibilities.

[tlr]

Shrank away from timid Edward we hear. 5

[Duma]

dammit! my first clue I'm happy with and I'm too slow! (for the record: diminish rank of the dutch dot (6))

[tlr]

Hard luck. Good clue though.

[johnx2]

Shrank away from timid Edward we hear. 5

shied away from edible shrouds confused your common interest (eight letters - this came out as a bleedin' emoticon )


(and long clues can have short answers - eg nationality of boy who put his finger in the dyke? Nationality of boy who put his finger in the dyke? Makes no sense...

(6, 5)





(double dutch)

[tlr]

Small boulder sprinted to have house decorated. 12

[Duma]

Dragon's tail pebbledashed, before knight heard. (7)

[john horscroft]

Good effort given what you had to work with. And slapped wrists for John shirking his responsibilities.

  

[Duma]

you want another clue? will be offline till 3 ish in 10 minutes...

[Duma]

I'm not going to be on much over the weekend so here's an alternate version:
Snake pebbledashed end, knight heard first (7)