New Year’s Eve Toughie No 277 by Elgar
2 + 9 = 15
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Elgar gives us yet another treat and a completely unexpected theme linking all of the answers.
SPOILER ALERT – only reveal the next sentence if you are really stuck
{All answers contain at least one instance of the letters RE, which are ignored in the wordplay – except for 10a, which is odd (unless I’m missing something). The first number in brackets refers to the number of letters used in the wordplay.}
My favourite clues are shown in blue (although it feels like a slightly odd thing to do – normally I’d highlight such clues only if they adhere to standard cryptic format).
For the utterly bamboozled, answers are shown within curly brackets – click and highlight to reveal them. And please chip in and let us know what you thought of the puzzle.