Yeah, this was a stretch.
Deleting “e” from “honey” is fine. “All over” is also fine. But the “appendage” fodder is too much of a stretch - it’s a crossword clue, not a cryptic clue. They needed a synonym indicator near it for it to be a cryptic.
In my experience synonym indicators are the exception, not the standard.
Even more so when the clue fodder is set up as a charade type.
I also find with minute cryptic that the only hint I typically need is the fodder one. From that, I can almost always suss out the definition and the wordplay indicators.
I find it interesting that the fodder hint counts the same as the others. Especially considering the definition hint gives absolutely no other help. You still have to figure out which is the fodder and which is the wordplay indicators.
If I don’t solve it with 0 hints I almost always solve it with the fodder being shown.
“Too many!” you said, leaving a throuple arrangement (8)
Got it after just a bit of work.
Thanks for posting them, it’s a pain to go back up to find the link (I don’t do these regularly).
A relatively straightforward one.
Today’s was a bit out there and underwhelming.
_ < 20? (10)
Oh, I liked it a lot!
It’s a groaner for me - but only because I couldn’t figure it out. Makes sense and fits the category of minute cryptic - I’ll definitely store away that definition of “20”. I kept trying to come up with words with 2 Xs!
Let’s talk openly.
Underscore <–that’s the answer?
I get that 20 is score and the less than symbol(= under score) and I get that the dash at the start literally was an underscore.
What was the (10)?
That’s the number of letters in the solution - it’s in every puzzle. If the answer is “super” the clue will have “(5)” at the end. If the answer is “super duper”, the clue will have “(5)(5)” at the end.
Ha, I do know that. Man am I a fool. I got thrown off by math.
Primate couples with priority in boarding Noah’s boat? (6)
bonobo
I…don’t get it.
BOarding NOah’s BOat.
This is a very difficult one, and it is also not how I would have phrased that clue.
Just…“Primate with priority in boarding Noah’s boat?”
I’m calling lame on this one.
I’ve been doing cryptics for about 50 years, and I’d rate this one poor-to-mediocre.
The clue does have nice surface sense what with animals and Noah’s ark and twosomes and all.
It does. I just took the dog for a walk and spent it thinking about how I might word it differently, but didn’t quite get it.
It has to be “couples with priority” because it’s the first two letters in the subsequent word that are needed.
I have sort of a weakness for clues of that type. One of the first I ever got was
Picasso beginning to paint a blue lake orange (5)
Pablo!
I’ve come around on the clue above, at least to mediocre. I just felt like it could have been written more cleanly. Maybe
Primate pairs lead in boarding Noah’s boat. That at least, for me, avoids the confusing construction of “couples with”.
Eva and Ruth - runners up to Miss World (5)
I found this one incredibly easy in the sense I just sort of guessed and got it on second try.