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What a novel device from Stick Insect. It was probably harder to write the "crass" clues than the normal ones. Not as daunting as it seemed at first.

I've just had a quick read through Buddy and agree, it looks a very entertaining and original puzzle - looking forward to getting stuck in.

Totally agree Buddy. That was great fun.

And agreed from me too. Very clever of Stick Insect to make what would otherwise have me spitting nails into a source of fun. And the inclusion of 1d was icing on the cake.

Thanks to Stick Insect, that was a most enjoyable puzzle, and thanks to Jack for spotting the relevance of 1d:-)

I greatly enjoyed this and think i have the 3 normals, but also seem to see some other clues which appear normal.

Maybe it's just me?

Hi Piffleworthy,

I had the same thoughts initially, especially when I'd solved all the clues but had about 5 or 6 of them ticked correct rather than 3.

However, on looking at it again, I think there are only 3 clues where the wordplay is 100% correct.

1a for example, looked ok but now I see that "troubled" should precede "Lupercal" rather than "man".

16a is another where all the wordplay elements are present but the definition is in the middle of the clue rather than the beginning or end.

21a has perfect wordplay but the number of words in the answer is wrong.

25d another where the answer is clearly shown but lacks the obvious indicator.

I may be wrong, of course, but I'm confident that Stick Insect has managed to keep the 100% correct clues to 3 as per the preamble.

But I'd be interested to hear what your good self and others think.

I had several question marks.
23a I thought I'd seen ct as an abbreviation for caught, but I can't find it.
9d Oh is the postal code for Ohio, but Wicki gives O as a common abbreviation, in which case I can't find a fault.
29d filled bun could be a roll in my local bakery.
Then again, my grasp of English is not the best.

I initially had these as candidates for the 3 but after checking I think there's a flaw in all of them...

23a - Like you say, I can't find any justification for
'ct' as "caught"

9d - I think in "willing" you need to exchange Australia for Ontario to get the answer so they should be switched.

20d - is a misprint - Chambers gives the answer as a herring fillet so "filled" is the mistake.

Thank you, Brendan. I didn’t keep the crossword - it went off in the recycling van early on Monday morning. But I did recall that all but the necessary 3 would have given Ximenes a bad case of toothache !