Word Puzzle 62

Word Puzzle 62 – Solution with Explanation

Theme: Thematic answers are part of the Halloween vocabulary

1. Necromancer, NE (Tyneside), CR (King), admitted (container), romance (affair), charmer (def)

2. Banshee, Hiding (hidden), genie (def), rest is fodder

3. Cadenza, Virtuoso’s brilliant solo finale (def), c (college), a (advanced), den (study), za (for in Slovenian)

4. Vampire, Vamp (Beguiler), ire (rage), predator (def)

5. Mausoleum, Countryseat (def), disrupted (anagram of) Museum + o (opening) + LA

6. Mostly sunny, How to get to (meta), GA (Georgia is the target), typical southern California weather (def), one way to get GA is deleting last letter from (mostly) gay (sunny)

7. Coppice, Covert (def), Cop (lawman), pi (Greek character), CE (church)

8. Witchcraft, On (position), craft (yacht), w (wife), itch (lust), mojo (def)

9. Bogeyman, Tailless (delete last letter from), moneybags (fat cat), could be (anagram of) moneybag, horrible (def)

10. Skeleton, Keel (ship), at sea (anagram of) keel, amidst (insertion), endless (delete last letter of) stone, structure (def)

11. Flawless, Ideal (def), F (female), lawless (criminal)

12. Sepulchre, P (Power), hammered (anagram of) P + Hercules, tomb (def)

13. Pumpkin, Pump (tap), kin (relative), holiday dessert ingredient (def)

14. Cauldron, Somehow (anagram of) run (operate) + a + cold, canteen (def)

15. Mirage, Ignis fatuus (def), up (reversal of) rim (skirt), age (grow up)

16. Poltergeist, Ist (first), L (apprentice), transformed (anagram of) Ist + L + protégé, spirit (def)

17. Conjuring, Con (jailbird), injuring (hurting), miss (deletion of), in (being at home), praying (def)

18. Petrified, Pet (family dog), heads (acrostic i.e. first letters of) “right into flaming improvised explosive devices” i.e. rified, castrated (def)

19. Goose bumps, Implicit (no indicator) meta clue, nut jars (target), cold sweat (def), one way to get the target is Goose (nut as in silly person) + jars (bumps as in forceful coming together of two things)

20. Puerile, Pure (absolute), about (anagram of) pure + lie, inexperienced (def)

21. Zaftig, Built (def), bespoke (anagram of) gift + za (heartless Zola i.e. remove middle letters)