Word Puzzle 177

Word Puzzle 177 – Solution with Explanation 

Theme: None 

Clues:  

1. Colossal Oscar winning movie (7) 

   Titanic, DD. 

2. Hot month associated with anger? (7) 

   Febrile, hot (def), Feb (month), associated with (juxta), rile (anger) 

3. American “famous” actor from “Raising Kanan” with boat to perhaps, pay off mortgage 

   gradually? (8) 

   Amortize, Am (American), Ortiz (“famous” actor from “Raising Kanan”), with (juxta), E 

   (boat), rest is def. 

4. Soak with uninitiated potential to be thoughtful (13) 

   Retrospective, ret (soak), with (juxta), uninitiated (delete first letter in) prospective 

   (potential), thoughtful (def) 

5. It’s tragic, Hari’s main objective was to make public the contents of the appeal (8) 

   Charisma, appeal (def), contents of (hidden), rest is fodder 

6. Evil doctor Efrain attracting nothing to America (9) 

   Nefarious, evil (def), doctor (anagram of) Efrain, attracting (juxta), “ous” (nothing to 

   America) 

7. By the way, there’s a sailor around the shore (7) 

   Apropos, by the way (def), a (a), OS (sailor), around (container), prop (shore) 

8. Putting “it” in sauce, pulls you down? (7) 

   Gravity, it (it), putting ... in (insertion), gravy (sauce), rest is def. 

9. Funny bone say (8) 

   Humorous, funny (def), humerus (bone), say (homophone) 

10. Onager from the R.E.M. number (6,5) 

      Orange crush, implicit meta of the from X from Y, onager (target), rest is def, one way to 

      get the target is via, orange anagram (crush) 

11. There is no elephant parade during Christmas (4) 

     Noel, Christmas (def), during (hidden), rest is fodder. 

12. End user in touch with the shrink (8) 

     Contract, end (last letter in) user i.e. r, in (insertion), contact (touch), shrink (def) 

13. Bargain at Metro cost me badly (4,2,5) 

     Come to terms, bargain (def), badly (anagram of) Metro cost me 

14. Thirsty boars (9) 

      Absorbent, implicit meta, thirsty (def), boars (target), one way to get the target is via, 

      “absor” anagram (bent) 

15. Customized in every possible way, Gabe’s poker games are meant to fleece the innocent (7) 

     Bespoke, customized (def), in (hidden), rest is fodder. 

16. Company cover (7) 

     Concern, DD. 

17. Not up to overturn the act? (3,2) 

     Put on, to overturn (reversal of) “not up”, act (def) 

18. Punitive damages for hesitation following the listing of 3 continuous notes from the Solfege 

     system (8) 

     Solatium, punitive damages (def), um (hesitation), following (positionally coming after), so, 

     la, ti (3 continuous notes from Solfege system) 

19. Compact or small village (10) 

     Settlement, DD. 

20. Confused, Annette recoiled at the friendly agreement (7,8) 

     Entente cordiale, confused (anagram of) “Annette recoiled”, friendly agreement (def) 

21. Whip grits from field (5,2,5,4) 

      Comes to grips with, implicit meta of the form X from Y, whip grits (target), field (def), 

      one way to get the target is via anagram (comes to) of “grips with”