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redpete

22nd August 2026, 12:03
ror otbers = for others!
Fat fingers strike again
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rogerm

22nd August 2026, 12:09
Hi plutocrat
The best that I can offer for 6d is that if I were [solution] I might shout ‘I’m here!’
Not very convincing, I know. I wonder if AI might do better 😉
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jono

22nd August 2026, 12:16
…or someone in the house might say … the Police are here, quick run!
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brendan

22nd August 2026, 12:19
Hi Roger,

I don't want to speak for Plutocrat, but my problem with 6d is that it's verging on gibberish. I know it has to say 'other toad' for obvious reasons, but really:

Q. "who's here"?

A. "It's the other toad in soup"

I can't recall, offhand anyway, a clue that has made less sense.
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rogerm

22nd August 2026, 12:46
Hi Brendan
I agree that it’s a terrible surface (contributing greatly to my general feeling of ‘oh well then’ about the crossword as a whole), but I understood plutocrat to be querying the parsing (specifically the last word) rather than the sense or otherwise of the clue as a whole.
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geeker

22nd August 2026, 13:07
Might 6d be some kind of allusion to "Toad of Toad Hall" or "The Wind in the Willows"? The clunkiness would then be due to working that in.
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brendan

22nd August 2026, 13:18
It's interesting you should say that Geeker. Before offering my opinion on the matter, I specifically asked Google AI if there was any story, proverb, joke, novel etc. that mentioned a toad turning up.......

The answer was 'no'

I know Google AI isn't the best, but still.
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geeker

22nd August 2026, 13:26
My Google investigation also led to a "no", Brendan. But I was hoping an allusion would excuse the forced structure of the clue.

Als (chrise and others), 21 was my COD because the expected 3-letter "parrot", though appearing in the solution, didn't parse because another "parrot" was actually used.
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geeker

22nd August 2026, 13:27
"Also" ...
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nodrog

22nd August 2026, 13:51
Perhaps 6D is simpler than it seems, i.e. "fodder (other toad), anagrind (in soup), definition (here), with the surface an allusion to "boiling a frog"
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