Word Puzzle 78

Word Puzzle 78 – Solution with Explanation

Theme: Thematic answers contain pair of consecutive letters such as “aa” or “bb” etc.

1) Unknown articles found in a close out store (6)

a) Bazaar, z (unknown), AA (articles), found in (insertion), bar (close out), store (def)

2) Money sack hidden in the taxi boat (7)

a) Cabbage, money (def), bag (sack), hidden in (insertion), cab (taxi), E (boat)

3) Bill demanded to be saluted (9)

a) Acclaimed, AC (Bill), claimed (demanded), saluted (def)

4) Edit to reverse the general course of events (4,3,4)

a) Turn the tide, implicit meta, edit (target), rest is def, one way to get it is via reversal (turn) of the “tide”

5) Penny and her boyfriend eluded the break up at sea (9)

a) Befuddled, break up (anagram of) D (Penny) + BF (boyfriend) + eluded, at sea (def)

6) Blackout of bawdy sex pun Gene cracked on the family show (7)

a) Expunge, blackout (def), of (hidden), rest is fodder

7) Brash though not quite secure in India, being married to the thing (10)

a) Indiscreet, brash (def), not quite (delete last letter of) screen (secure), in (insertion), Ind (India), it (the thing)

8) Tie topless swimmer to dry? (11)

a) Standoffish, standoff (tie), topless (delete first letter in) fish (swimmer), dry (def)

9) Quiet puzzler with the girl could be sanctimonious (8)

a) Priggish, could be (anagram of) P (quiet) + Girish (puzzler) + G (girl), sanctimonious (def)

10) Reach the shore with arrogance? (4,5)

a) High horse, reach (meta), shore (target), arrogance (def), one way to get shore is anagram (high) of “horse”

11) NY basketball pro with a flair for novelty (10)

a) Knickknack, Knick (NY basketball pro), knack (flair), novelty (def)

12) English doctor with God-awful topless dress? (9)

a) Embellish, trim (def), E (English), MB (doctor), hellish (god-awful), topless (remove the first letter),

13) Enable performance (10)

a) Commission, DD

14) Charlie at hotel in New York joining Bob (11)

a) Ninnyhammer, Charlie (def), inn (hotel), in (insertion), NY (New York), hammer (Bob)

15) At liberty to pay the ballpark (9)

a) Footloose, at liberty (def), foot (pay), loose (ballpark)

16) Put down the drink on the hutch (8)

a) Suppress, put down (def), sup (drink), hutch (press)

17) Upset Cinderella reneged on her promise to the prince, some broad!! (7)

a) General, upset (reversal), some (hidden), broad (def), rest is fodder

18) Blasphemous northern priest forced to retire (10)

a) Irreverent, blasphemous (def), forced (anagram of) N (northern) + Rev (priest) + retire

19) Top secret laid out (10)

a) Classified, DD

20) Fatso perfect in game of hoops (10)

a) Butterball, fatso (def), utter (perfect) in (insertion), B-ball (game of hoops)

21) Politician can use money? It’s a gradually changing but endless sequence (9)

a) Continuum, con (politician), tin (can), UU (use), m (money), rest is def