Word Puzzle 173

Word Puzzle 173 – Solution with Explanation 

Theme: None 

Clues:  

1. Temperate landmass (9) 

     Continent, DD. 

2. The midget penning a tricky clue for insulting? (9) 

    Truculent, T (the), runt (midget), container (penning), tricky (anagram of) 

Clue, insulting (def) 

3. Remark about the Cambridge based university shows loyalty (10) 

    Commitment, comment (remark), about (container), MIT (Cambridge based university), 

   loyalty (def) 

4. Some strange men take their spouses for granted and end up in divorce (12) 

    Estrangement, in (hidden), divorce (def), rest is fodder 

5. Bug sauce? (4) 

    Gall, DD. 

6. Beat for the nicest Ad (11) 

     Outdistance, implicit meta clue of the form X for Y, beat (def), nicest Ad (target), one way 

  to get the target is via anagram (out) of “distance” 

7. Hip sightseers go berserk upon meeting the Prima Donna (4,9) 

    High Priestess, go berserk (anagram of) “hip sightseers”, prima donna (def) 

8. Complain about the flipped bottle on the wall in Paris (6) 

    Murmur, complain (def), flipped (reversal of) rum (bottle), on (juxta, x on y => xy or yx), 

    mur (wall in Paris i.e. wall in French) 

9. Term embodying the Portuguese mule’s motivation (9) 

    Stimulant, stint (term), container (embodying), Mula (Mule in Portugues), motivation (def) 

10. Provocation behind the well-organized Northam heist (4,2,3,3) 

      Shot in the arm, provocation (def), well-organized (anagram of) “Northam heist” 

11. Perks for BS? (6,8) 

      Fringe Benefits, implicit meta of the form x for y, perks (def), BS (target), one way to get  

   the target is via letter selection of 1st and last letter (fringe) from “benefits” 

12. Man!! Nashville musicians surely do enjoy a ton of nice, hidden benefits (6) 

      Mannas, hidden (hidden), benefits (def), rest is fodder. 

13. Weak and incomplete ruling against excavation (8) 

     Decrepit, weak (def), incomplete (delete last letter in) decree (ruling), against (juxta), pit 

  (excavation) 

14. Peacetime means control a street with Immigration and customs enforcement? (9) 

     Armistice, peacetime (def), arm (control), i (a), St (street), with (juxta), ICE (Immigration 

  and customs enforcement) 

15. Negotiations at prisoner’s meetings say (11) 

     Concessions, negotiations (def), con (prisoner), sessions (meetings), say (homophone) 

16. Popularity gets Ben sales (15) 

     Fashionableness, implicit meta, popularity (def), Ben sales (target), one way to get the 

  target is via, anagram (fashion) of “ableness” 

17. Trendy stores are now carrying Sony’s new flagship stereo system (7) 

      Hipster, trendy (def), stores (hidden), rest is fodder. 

18. Happening now!! (7) 

     Stylish, DD. 

19. Stocking party kind of beer or something else? (11) 

     Sockdolager, sock (stocking), do (party), lager (kind of beer), something else (def) 

20. Put down half dozen fake confines (8) 

     Vilipend, put down (def), vi (half dozen), lip (fake), end (confines) 

21. Intrinsically beautiful bug (9) 

     Persecute, per se (intrinsically), cute (beautiful), bug (def)