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Paul @26, I'm surprised at you passing up a chance to be a bad boy.

Pet Mexican malt is brewed a mile away (4,3)

Fellow - adult! - messes up act with animal.

Max can't? Strange, pet.

Max can't advance the Knight? Petty.

I enjoyed looking through the 28 clues from 11 setters. I am currently visiting the Isle of Man and had Manx cat in mind as a possibility, but when on Monday I parked on the quayside at Peel Harbour the boat below me was named Manx Cat, a small motor catamaran, so that clinched it.

Clues ranged from the extra pithy (paul@5 and fieryjack@13 showing good local knowledge, and chris@3 getting in early as usual with a witty idea) to the essay by aristo@27. I liked fieryjack's clever subtractive anagram @32 and jono's homophone @25. Jono@18 also had a superb creation with 'Wow times on small yacht found docked in Douglas' but I would have preferred to see 'apparently' inserted before 'docked'.

Once again, though, it was mattrom who came through on top, and not only because I was beguiled by the chess theme in both her @7 and @15. I adjudge the winner to be her succinct @7:

Pet piece by jazz fan (4, 3)

Congratulations, mattrom, and apologies to setters who have not been mentioned - I was impressed by so many ideas.

The prize won't be a surprise but it's not too long.
https://youtu.be/XKE-2-sAaKk

Congrats mattrom - where does the X come from?

Thanks, and for the mention, paulH. I take exception to "cat people or dog people". We have both (though I have to admit that the dog and one of the cats don't get on).

Ah, x is "times" - very clever!

Congrats Mattrom and thanks Paul, enjoyed the challenge. I did wonder if you had watched Only Connect on Monday night when Manx cat appeared in one round. Thanks for the mentions, I knew ‘docked’ was in need of some qualification!

Sorry, I meant times is "by".