grimpixie -
bro - Ken - heart - Ed
and, jjimm, I had come up with “smelling salts”, too, but I couldn’t figure out why “humming” = “smelling”.
Oh, Lordy, Hemlock, I’ll never get any work done today 
Oh yeah, and some words indicate other things in the clue. This is annoying, because they are things you have to learn. For example, “unfortunately” and “strange” often mean “anagram” - thus:
Innocent guests, ill unfortunately
Innocent = actual clue
guests, ill = letters to be used in the anagram
unfortunately = “this is an anagram”
For this reason, the Strange goatherd’s pit we’re in says to me:
Strange = this is an anagram
goatherd’s pit = letters to be used in the anagram (add them up and they equal the total number of letters in the answer: 8-4).
we’re in = ???
I haven’t a clue. Maybe goatherd’s pit isn’t an anangram. Maybe strange goatherd is the clue, and we’re in is how to solve it. Stumped.
Oh and Hemlock, nice try, but if someone solves them all, what are you going to do on the MTR on the way home?
Thanks dono - didn’t see “Ed” :o
Gp
Probably UK-centric slang.
- Grain found in prehistoric earthwork (4)
rice
- Gun for Hunter S (8)
thompson
- Devil sounds unwell - it’s Vlad’s work (8)
impaling
- Criminals use publicity campaign after middle of retrial (6)
Triads
Also, Hemlock’s first clue is a rather nice example of the word being found within other words:
Grain found in prehistoric earthwork (4)
Grain = clue
“found in” = look inside the next bit for the answer
Answer = rice (“prehistoric earthwork”)
Wish I had time to have a go at them all now!
GP, since you are in the UK you may want to find the Chamber’s guide to solving crytic crosswords. It’s quite good.
Incidentally, my personal demon is the Guardian. I’m lucky if I can do 5 clues in that little bastard.
And Private Eye. yeargh.
pan
I can’t believe no one got this one yet:
straight dope
Ah fer feck’s sake! Very good. Very, very very good.
BTW, how do you do the groovy tables?
How about some of the ol’ chestnuts:
HIJKLMNO (5)
Jammed cylinder (5,4)
Die of cold? (3, 4)
Spoils of war (4)
Where sailors once relaxed, back in Hong Kong (7) ([brag]I thought of this one![/brag])
BTW the Guardian crossword online edition is fantastic (dunno if the URL is the same every day) and it also has a primer for solving cryptics.
Meanwhile
- Prayer for Li, sunburnt youth leader (6)
litany
- Being unconcerned about other people, elf tends screens incorrectly (4-11)
self-centeredness
- Diddley or Peep expires in trunks (6)
bodies
- Egghead in ancient Afghanistan has cell (8)
scientist (I appear to have one too many letters)
I can’t believe that I didn’t get “Straight Dope”!
Told you I was no good at anagrams!
pan
There are maybe 10 or so devices used in cryptic clues. For example…
Sprinted around yours truly to get instant noodles.
Sprinted = RAN. Put it around ME (yours truly) = RAMEN, noodles
Goat’s head encountered during journey on horseback in range of hills.
Journey on horseback = RIDE. Goat’s head = the letter G. G during RIDE = RIDGE, a range of hills
Utensil for cooking swallow’s tail? Fine!
Swallow’s tail = the letter W. Fine! = OK! = WOK, a utensil for cooking
Rob, a drink carrier.
= MUG a pun.
Burnish two rings, not expecting rings’ yellowness at first - it’s a prank.
Burnish = BUFF. Two rings = OO. Not Expecting Rings’ Yellowness at first = NERY. = BUFFONERY, a prank
Insular arrangement for toilets
= URINALS, anagram of insular
Some smirks irritate
= IRK, irritate (some smIRKs, geddit?)
Lost in Paris, Freud repeats elements backwards
= PERDU (French for “lost”) (elements of freUD REPeats backwards)
Third person - publicity guy - is the chief.
Third person = HE. Publicity guy = ADMAN. = HEADMAN, chief
Cat, perhaps, with state’s dish.
Cat, perhaps = PET State = RI. PETRI, a type of dish
Own up - ran out of tamarind, sadly.
Anagram of tamarind minus RAN = ADMIT
It’s said one was acquainted with Hokkaido natives.
“One was acquainted with” = “I knew”. “said” means sounds like. = AINU, native of Hokkaido, pronounced “I knew”
International body heard to have pursued the non-virginal.
International body = UN. “heard” means sounds like, so “to have purused” = chaste (pronounced “chased”) = UNCHASTE, non-virginal
Toss Mexican bread in French aircraft for a hobby.
Mexican bread = TACO. Toss it, you get OCAT. Put in the French for aircraft, AVION, and you get AVOCATION, a hobby
Gee, you see? See? I have a designer label
= GUCCI (G-U-C-C-I)
Even bits of sprout motif form island.
The 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th 10th letters of “sprout motif” = POTOI, an island off Hong Kong
…I compile my crossword for a lawyers’ magazine. If they can do it (and they do) anyone can. Of course, it’s much easier to answer them when you have a grid with some letter already filled in. It helps not to have a life.
I’ll post the answers to the ones above within 24 hours, in the unlikely event SDMB geniuses don’t get them.
HIJKLMNO (5)
I know this already so shan’t spoil it for everyone.
Jammed cylinder (5,4)
swiss roll
pats self on back
Die of cold? (3,4)
ice cube
pats self on back again
**Spoils of war (4) **
I couldn’t get this so I cheated. Won’t put it here.
Where sailors once relaxed, back in Hong Kong (7)
???
That’s cool though - the Airtight Pods Message Board.
-
Continue pulling virago (6)
I want to say Amazon, but don’t see how it’d work. -
Dictator has dirt about first leader (6)
Stalin (stain + L)
-
After game, set pol awkwardly beside French tower in appeal to voters (11, 4)
whistlestop tour -
Reprobate should be stamped on (4)
heel -
Continue pulling virago (6)
dragon -
Woman manipulates media with odd bits of theory (8)
? I can get ‘diameter’, but that can’t be right
Sorry to be gone so long - work intruded.
I got a few while I was gone (bet people were wondering what was on that paper I was studying so hard in the meeting), but they’ve all been posted except this one:
Where sailors once relaxed …
Cool one, Usram - you should be proud. So cool, in fact, I’m going to post it as a spoiler, in case others want to think on it some more:
hammock
And I am truly ashamed of myself for not getting goatherd’s pit, especially after Hemlock’s “close to home” clue.
Skirt the edge and bit of hair poison (7), I have to sleep on the rest of these. GAMES’s cryptic crosswords usually take me several days to solve. Even then, I sometimes have letters as clues. Thanks for adding to my mental quagmires today.
Somebody tell me how you do the spoiler table. Pleeeeze.
I think it is, but not entirely sure - the ‘odd’ bits of theory are letters 1,3, and 5: ‘ter’. And woman = Dame? Dunno how the I fits in.