Puzzle 10/3/22 — Explained
The solution and explanation for this week's puzzle.
Here’s the solution to this week’s “Punctuation” puzzle, with the parsing of each clue explained and the completed puzzle below, with the themed solutions highlighted. This week’s puzzle has a theme of punctuation marks!
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 Keen on admitting blunder with report that asks a startling question (11)
INTERROBANG
An envelope of INTO (keen on) around (admitting) ERR (blunder) + BANG (report).
7 As queen, you texted The Scarlet Letter (3)
QUA
A charade of Q (queen) + U (you, texted) + A (The Scarlet Letter).
9 Attach with a tiny nut (5)
PIÑON
Double definition. PIN ON and Piñon (a pine nut).
10 Mark found with 7 headless tent-dwellers. So? (9)
AMPERSAND
A charade of CAMPERS minus (headless) C + AND (so). The ampersand is "found with 7" on a traditional keyboard.
11 Way to fix a run-on sentence! Monocle is popping off! (9)
SEMICOLON
An anagram (popping off*) of MONOCLE IS.
12 Scare typist a bit with sharp edge for adding words (5)
CARET
Hidden word (a bit) in sCARE Typist.
13 Toilets exploded. That's an understatement. (7)
LITOTES
An anagram (exploded*) of TOILETS. Litotes is a rhetorical term for deliberate understatement.
15 Alone, he soars with the Falcon (4)
SOLO
Double definition. Solo can mean both "alone" and Han Solo, who pilots the Millennium Falcon.
18 Hurry, this means something's coming (4)
DASH
Double definition. Dash means "hurry," and a dash in punctuation means that more is coming.
20 They brought Saruman down, bottom first, to nods of approval (7)
ASSENTS
A charade with ENTS (they brought Saruman down, famously, in the battle of Isengard) after ASS (bottom first).
23 Why weapon is found on a plane (1-4)
Y-AXIS
A charade of Y (why) + AX (weapon) + IS (is).
24 A queasy holiday in Blade Alley (4,5)
SICK LEAVE
A charade of SICKLE (blade) + AVE (alley).
26 What the owl did frequently - turned in, then scampered off (9)
HOTFOOTED
An envelope of OFT (frequently) reversed (turned) inside (in) HOOTED (what the owl did).
27 One lobe sliced up by daggers (5)
OBELI
An anagram (sliced up*) of I (one) + LOBE.
28 Not yet indoors every second (3)
NOR
A letter selection clue with every other letter (every second) of iNdOoRs.
29 Drag Gungan leader to torture on flower shelf (7,4)
LUGGAGE RACK
A charade of LUG (drag) + G (Gungan leader) + RACK (to torture) after (on) AGE (flower, as in “bloom” or “grow”).
Down
1 Naughtily suggest I sashay with no clothes inside (8)
IMPISHLY
An envelope with I (I) + SH (saSHay with no clothes) inside (inside) IMPLY (suggest).
2 Make this: Can he? (8)
TINSMITH
Cryptic definition. A tinsmith makes a can.
3 At first read, utter nonsense I see in text of this type (5)
RUNIC
A letter selection clue with RUN (at first: Read Utter Nonsense) + IC (i see in text), and an &lit. Definition.
4 Visions of Greek hero. He's gone for an egg. (7)
ORACLES
A subtraction clue with HERACLES (Greek hero) minus HE (he's gone), which is replaced by O (for an egg).
5 Keep down beers around Sneezewort and Edelweiss (7)
ALPINES
An envelope with ALES (beers) around (around) PIN (keep down). Sneezewort and Edelweiss are alpine plants.
6 Reproductive material found in Munich prison without a name (4,5)
GERM CELLS
A subtraction clue with GERMAN CELLS (munich prison) minus (without) A N (a name).
7 Maybe deer extract? (6)
QUARRY
Double definition. Quarry could be a deer (when hunted) or "to extract" as from a mine.
8 Golden day! It's the IRS enforcement process (6)
AUDITS
A charade of AU (golden) + D (day) + ITS (it's).
14 Fungus found in old, old toast soup (9)
TOADSTOOL
An anagram (soup*) of O (old) + OLD TOAST.
16 Old American male ages privately for a judge (2,6)
IN CAMERA
A charade of INCA (old American) + M (male) + ERA (ages).
17 Beg Father Time to go back inside star (8)
ASTERISK
Envelope with SIRE (father) T (time) reversed (to go back) inside (inside) ASK (beg).
19 Pot label for a pound (7)
HASHTAG
A charade of HASH (pot) + TAG (label).
20 Song interrupted by snake from Eden (7)
ARCADIA
An envelope with ARIA (song) around (interrupted by) CAD (snake).
21 Excitement about hot noun used in compound word (6)
HYPHEN
An envelope with HYPE (excitement) around H (hot) + N (noun).
22 Gabriel maybe loses head for old flame at boys' school (6)
EXETER
A subtraction with PETER (Gabriel, maybe) minus P (loses head), which is replaced by EX (old flame).
25 Free English facilities to the East (5)
LOOSE
A charade of LOOS (English facilities) + E (to the East).
