Puzzle 10/22/22 — Explained
The solution and explanation for this week's puzzle.
Here’s the solution to this week’s fruity mini-puzzle, with the parsing of each clue explained and the completed puzzle below, with the themed solutions highlighted.
Definitions are italicized, “clue-type” indicators are shown in parentheses, and anagram indicators are additionally marked with an *.
Feel free to comment or reach out if you liked something, didn’t get something, or spotted an error!
Across
1 Exercise a right for fruit (4)
PEAR
A charade of PE (exercise) + A (a) + R (right).
3 Grandma pursuing college degree in fruit (6)
BANANA
A charade of NANA (grandma) after (pursuing) BA (college degree).
8 Struck by French word in southern England (5)
SMOTE
An envelope with MOT (French word) inside (in) S (southern) E (England).
9 Generous British politician buried in beer (5)
AMPLE
An envelope with MP (British politician) inside (buried in) ALE (beer).
10 Fruit concealed in meatloaf, I guess (3)
FIG
A hidden word (concealed) in meatloaF I Guess.
11 Shelter in street from freezing rain (5)
SLEET
An envelope with LEE (shelter) in (in) ST (street).
13 Throw out each joke eager comedian tries to start with (5)
EJECT
An acrostic (to start with) from Each Joke Eager Comedian Tries.
15 Dissident, greedy university leaders covered in fish eggs (5)
ROGUE
An envelope with GU (Greedy University leaders) inside (covered in) ROE (fish eggs).
18 Cut back on fruit (5)
PRUNE
A double definition ("fruit," "cut back on").
20 Time, that is, to draw (3)
TIE
A charade with T (time) + IE (that is).
21 Cheap cocktail fruit (5)
PEACH
An anagram (cocktail*) of CHEAP.
22 Pharaoh gets it back together, musically (5)
TUTTI
A charade with TUT (Pharaoh) + a reversal (back) of IT. (Tutti is the musical term for “play together,” as in a symphony.)
23 Hairy chest has new smell (6)
STENCH
An anagram (hairy*) of CHEST containing (has) N (new).
24 See fruit (4)
DATE
A double definition ("fruit," "see").
Down
1 There's nothing beyond these picket lines? (11)
POSTSCRIPTS
A cryptic/double definition of POST (picket) SCRIPTS (lines).
2 Woke up a flower (5)
AROSE
A charade of A (a) + ROSE (rose).
4 Yikes! A revolutionary proverb (5)
ADAGE
A reversal (revolutionary) of EGAD (yikes) + A (a).
5 Penny left in parrot's fruit (5)
APPLE
An envelope with P (penny) + L (left) inside (in) APE (parrot).
6 Stupefy with preposterous teen hat size (11)
ANESTHETIZE
An anagram (preposterous*) of TEEN HAT SIZE.
7 Large newt deserted (4)
LEFT
A charade of L (large) + EFT (newt).
12 You and me going north with flightless bird (3)
EMU
A reversal (going north) of U (you) + ME (me).
14 Rattle glass (3)
JAR
A double definition ("glass," "rattle").
16 Yawn about rare fruit (5)
GRAPE
An envelope with GAPE (yawn) around (about) R (rare).
17 Mix up the one hundred Roman principles (5)
ETHIC
A charade with ETH (mix up* the) + I (one) + C (hundred Roman).
18 Cats maybe level up (4)
PETS
A reversal (up) of STEP (level).
19 Artful traitor conceals radical (5)
ULTRA
A hidden word (conceals) in artfUL TRAitor.
