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My second crossword has a mini theme!
Click the blacked out text for answers and reasoning or hit to reveal it all!
Mini-theme: There are a bunch of hops hidden in the answers: SUMMIT, TARGET, CASCADE, CITRA, GALAXY, AMARILLO and HOPS itself.
Please do give me feedback via @huggie@social.earth.li on mastodon or email if you hate it, like it, dislike a particular clue etc. I'm very interested in what people think so I can try and improve.
| Clue | Answer | Reason | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Posed university thesis about a fruit (7) | SATSUMA | SAT [posed] (U MS)* An anagram of U [university] and MS [manuscript/thesis] A. |
| 5 | Bag holding three notes goes to tumble (7) | CASCADE | CASE [bag] around CAD [three notes C, A and D] for one of the hops |
| 9 | Point horse around overseas flower (5) | MARNE | MARE [horse] around N [North, a point] for an overseas flower or river in France |
| 10 | About old flame be clear: they’re hateful (9) | EXECRABLE | (EX BE CLEAR)* An anagram of EX [old flame] BE CLEAR |
| 11 | Minted poet changed but unchanged by multiplication? (10) | IDEMPOTENT | (MINTED POET)* An anagram of minted poet for a maths term for being unchanged by an operation on itself. |
| 12 | Shop around for flavouring (4) | HOPS | (SHOP)* An anagram of shop |
| 14 | Company uprising beheaded development of hunters and prey (11) | COEVOLUTION | CO [company] rEVOLUTION [uprising without its first letter] |
| 18 | A slip one makes after short time in US city (11) | MINNEAPOLIS | MIN [short time] (A SLIP ONE)* followed by an anagram of a slip one |
| 21 | Bring herd back for grass (4) | REED | DEER [herd] backwards |
| 22 | About doing a lot: a problem in the mouth (10) | ODONTALGIA | (DOING A LOT A)* An anagram of doing a lot for toothache |
| 25 | Familiar jockey riding Diamonds in Midlands (9) | LEICESTER | LESTER [Piggott; a familiar jockey] around ICE [diamonds] |
| 26 | 12 for paintings in chargeback (5) | CITRA | ART [paintings] IC [in charge] all backwards for a hop (12) |
| 27 | Alternative chat with extreme mates gives best times (7) | ORGASMS | OR [alternative] GAS [chat] MS [Extreme letters of MateS] |
| 28 | City: Static half empty say of joy (7) | ECSTASY | EC [City of london postcode] STA [first half of STAtic] SY [SaY empty - i.e. with the middle letter] |
| 1 | Problem with German peak (6) | SUMMIT | SUM [maths problem] MIT [With in German] for one of the hops |
| 2 | Sailor to have goal (6) | TARGET | TAR [sailor] GET [have] for another hop |
| 3 | Peacekeepers attended and surprised (10) | UNEXPECTED | UN [peace keepers] EXPECTED [attended] |
| 4 | One man is representative (5) | AGENT | A [one] GENT [man] |
| 5 | Carbon, meagre carbon monoxide and aluminium form this chemist’s lie (5,4) | CLEAN COAL | C [Carbon] LEAN [meagre] CO [carbon monoxide] AL [Aluminium] |
| 6 | Browse froth (4) | SURF | Double definition |
| 7 | Forgetting brothers replace console gives sweet delight (8) | AMBROSIA | AM(NES)IA [forgetting] with BROS [brothers] replacing NES [console; Nintendo Entertainment System] |
| 8 | Flat tune at service? (8) | EVENSONG | EVEN [flat] SONG [tune] |
| 13 | Things reserves keep: position (10) | SUBSTANCES | SUBS [reserves] around [keep] STANCE [position] |
| 15 | Old sport start to drag: it teasingly ever slowly hastens (9) | EXPEDITES | EX [old] PE [sport] first letters [start] to Drag It Teasingly Ever Slowly |
| 16 | Spoil one in Rene’s phone greeting to US city (8) | AMARILLO | ALLO [Rene from Allo Allo or a generic Frenchman's phone greeting] with MAR [spoil] I [one] inside it for another hop |
| 17 | Violently enraging? (8) | ANGERING | An anagram of (ENRAGING)* but also an &lit-ish clue |
| 19 | Woman’s master throws hat (6) | AGATHA | AGA [master] (HAT)* An anagram [throws] of hat |
| 20 | Ball axes stars (6) | GALAXY | GALA [ball] XY [X and Y axes] for another hop |
| 23 | Northern or home counties invader (5) | NORSE | N [northern] OR SE [home counties] |
| 24 | Some pollination should be essential for insects (4) | BEES | Hidden answer [some] in be essential |