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Hi Everyone

I've not come across Jack before. I do the quick cryptic before starting the prize cryptic and I think it is hard to get my brain in gear for the latter.

I tend to agree with Rocky. It took me ages to get more than two answers and although I have nearly finished there are a lot I still can't parse eg. 2d and 18ac. The clues are very complicated and the anagrams well disguised. I've just seen the parsing for 4d that Jono explained above. Plus there are some answers I've never heard of, like 16d

I'm stuck on a couple, namely, 22ac, 20d and 21d. And 8d.

Any hints for 22ac would be most welcome as I see it is a popular COD.

Hi Roof,

22a - 5 letter "way" goes around/'to collect 3 letter "rent" - definition is "what provides opportunity for better" (think casinos)

20d - sort of "hidden" if you follow an instruction - definition is "state"

21d - homophone/'audibly' of "what an upset baby may do" - definition is "cross"

8d - I initially had the wrong final 3 letters to 10a so took much longer to do this.

3 letter "can" + 1 letter "opener used for extracting" - definition is "sharp object"

Well, my brain isn't in gear today. I'm finding this much harder than anyone else who has commented seems to have done. I have so far filled in only seven solutions so far. However, there's another one that I'm virtually certain I know, but I'm not filling it in until I get some confirmation, because I am holding out a faint hope that it's wrong. It's 17a. The solution seems obvious, but if it is then it's an appallingly bad clue because it is absolute not a hypothesis.

I've got an idea for 4a which fits "accept", but I don't see "view in court". Any gentle hints?

Sorry, forgot the parsings...

2d - 4 letter "factory worker" + 6 letter "resentful" then switch the "start of next" in the first word with the start of "rota" in the second to get "ruthless"

18a - 5 letter "information" goes around/'about' "6 letter "state" but wut with the "start of attack" moving to the end (of 'state' not the whole answer)

Hi Micky,

I'm no scientist but Chambers thesaurus gives the answer as "Formal hypothesis"

4a - You have to split the words into 4 letter "view" + 2 letter "in court" as in I'm ?? before the judge with definition, as you say, "accept"

Many thanks Brendan for your hints. I had already got 20d and with your hint filled in the answer to 22ac. But I remain challenged by 21d and 8d, though I think I may have the latter. Have I got the right crossers for 21d? I have ?U?E and can't find a word for "Cross" or a homophone for "upset baby may do this" that fits my crossers.

I had just worked out the parsing for 2d myself, but never would have got 18ac without your help

Rest assured Mickey, I found this really difficult. For example, how do the last three letters of 6ac mean "server output that's not"? Ah, I see now it's tennis!!!!

I case I never get 21d, my FOI was 1d, closely followed by 12d. My LOI will be 21d if I ever get it, otherwise 8d. As for CODs I think 9ac, 13d and 24ac

Can we have an easier one next week please, so I can get on with other things.

Thanks Roof,

21d - your letters are correct and it's "cross" as in the animal kingdom. The homophone isn't a common word and Chambers says it means to "cry feebly".

Got it. I had to look up the answer and the homophone to be sure. It took me ages to think of the noise made by an upset baby. But there is was in my hard copy of Chambers.

"an upset baby"? It's the sound I make when I can't solve a clue, or my cocoa is cold... or I fall asleep on my arm.. or mess up a guitar song... etc. etc.

As You Like It, the seven ages of man speech…

“All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms”