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nikki

3rd November 2019, 07:32
Has anyone found a link to today's, please?
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liz

3rd November 2019, 09:29
On Observer site now.
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nikki

3rd November 2019, 14:37
Thanks, Liz - better late than never!
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drxx

3rd November 2019, 18:20
17d seems to have an extra 'a' in the anagram part.
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jacknatter

3rd November 2019, 18:33
I'm afraid that particular clue is one of Azed's rare failures - not only is there, as you say, a bonus 'a' provided by the anagram of 'paints', but 'gay deceiver' needs to be in the plural if it is to deliver the first part of the solution (see entry for 'gay deceiver' in Chambers, confirmed by OED).
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drxx

3rd November 2019, 18:39
Thanks, jacknatter - it's an awful clue all round. I really don't like the surface either (how did it get through?).
I'm a huge fan of Azed, by the way - and, as you say, it's a very rare error.
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jacknatter

3rd November 2019, 18:59
It's so bad that I did wonder if Azed had started down one track, then gone down another, and ended up with a clue that was neither one thing nor the other.

I'm glad to hear that you're an Azed fan - for those who appreciate inventive and accurate clueing (17d in this puzzle excepted on both counts!) there is surely no better regularly-published crossword.

Incidentally, Azed always tries to avoid clueing the same word twice in the same way - when you think that he has written something like 80,000 clues for his Observer puzzles that is quite a challenge, and perhaps results in the odd clue which isn't quite up to his normal standard.
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