Puzzle 11/27/22 — Explained
The solution and explanation for this week's puzzle.
Here’s the solution to this week’s mini-puzzle, with the parsing of each clue explained and the completed puzzle below. This week has a pretty sparse Phantom Menacey theme if you’re being generous.
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 Taking pot twice with brilliant leader, pens Star Wars character (3,3,5)
JAR JAR BINKS
A charade with JAR + JAR (taking pot twice) + B (Brilliant leader) + INKS (pens).
7 Clusters inside bacon Greg ate surreptitiously (11)
CONGREGATES
A hidden clue in (inside) baCON GREG ATE Surreptitiously.
8 Fine bust hacked up by the French (6)
SUBTLE
A charade with SUBT (bust hacked up*) + LE (the French).
9 Gruesome choice between head of Gorgon and tail of Harpy (4)
GORY
“G” or “Y.” A charade with G (head of gordon) OR (choice between) Y (tail of Harpy).
11 Flipped over supermarket trolley (4)
TRAM
A reversal (flipped over) of MART (supermarket).
12 Threaten bros with great service (6)
MENACE
A charade with MEN (bros) + ACE (great service, as in Tennis).
15 See 4 Down
16 Team's recipe baked for the showstopper (11)
MASTERPIECE
An anagram (baked*) of TEAMS RECIPE.
Down
1 Steals my cards (5)
JACKS
A triple definition. Steals = Jacks (colloquially). My = Jack's. Cards = Jacks.
2 Sam and Frodo sliced up Ranger's brie (4,7)
RING BEARERS
An anagram (sliced up*) of RANGERS BRIE.
3 Nonchalantly reveal: "I love you" (6)
AIRILY
A charade with AIR (reveal) + ILY (I love you).
4/15 Devious IQ test begun, so he uses circular reasoning (4,3,8)
BEGS THE QUESTION
An anagram (devious*) of IQ TEST BEGUN SO HE.
5 Allow the state to run free Italian Zone (11)
NATIONALIZE
An anagram (free*) of ITALIAN ZONE.
6 Impertinent talk about ship (5)
SASSY
An envelope with SAY (talk) around (about) SS (ship).
10 Prepares for how one might clue Tess? (4,2)
SETS UP
A rebus clue. One might clue the word "TESS" as "Sets up*".
11 Carry medium talisman (5)
TOTEM
A charade with TOTE (carry) + M (medium).
13 One's taken in by eagle who Bert lives with (5)
ERNIE
An envelope with I (one) inside (taken in by ) ERNE (eagle).
14 Science fiction novel fitting knight inside (4)
DUNE
An envelope with N (knight) inside (inside) DUE (fitting).
