Ten entries must have adult animal names replaced with "not grown up" versions to fit into the grid; e.g., CAT -> KITTEN.
17 clues must have a letter added at the end of one "stunted" word to parse correctly. Those letters in clue order spell PARADOX, CAKE OR SUIT, all of which can be preceded with BIRTHDAY.
C | O | M | M | A | N | F | A | W | N | E | D | T |
U | P | V | O | T | E | S | G | O | I | T | E | R |
B | T | A | D | P | O | L | E | E | G | R | E | E |
D | E | K | E | U | N | W | I | S | E | A | P | A |
E | D | I | N | A | S | H | S | C | R | N | A | S |
D | O | T | I | N | G | E | T | H | O | S | L | O |
A | U | T | F | O | A | L | D | I | T | I | O | N |
N | Z | E | N | D | U | P | I | C | E | T | E | A |
T | O | N | S | Y | L | I | T | K | I | D | I | T |
I | F | I | A | N | T | E | E | D | P | U | N | T |
F | I | N | G | E | R | S | H | O | A | T | D | R |
L | A | G | U | N | A | H | E | N | R | Y | I | I |
U | T | I | M | E | S | L | E | V | E | R | E | T |
Across |
Clue Explanations (*=anagram; "=homophone") |
|||
---|---|---|---|---|
COMMANDEERED | 1 | Mom danced drunkenly around before being taken hold of | MOMDANCED* holding ERE | |
UPVOTES | 9 | Spout off about profile ultimately getting five online "likes" | SPOUT* + [profil]E holding V | |
GOITER | 11 | BumP that's a pain in the neck aggravated trio, e.g. | P | TRIOEG* |
TO A DEGREE | 13 | Tear geode apart, more or less (3 wds.) | TEARGEODE* | |
DEKE | 16 | Half shrieked, flipping over crafty hockey maneuver | shriEKED reversed | |
UNWISE | 17 | At university, wine's flowing -- not too smart | U + WINES* | |
EDINA | 18 | Commotion in 50% of each Minneapolis suburb | EA[ch] holding DIN | |
RNAS | 20 | Materials used for coding even components of Trans Ams | tRaNsAmS | |
DOTING | 22 | Taking care of obtaining slightly tight gagA for a grandchild, perhaps | A | DOING holding T[ight] |
ETHOS | 24 | Those troublesome shared values | THOSE* | |
AUTHOR'S EDITION | 25 | Redo thorniest audio book financed by its writer (2 wds.) | THORNIESTAUDIO* | |
END UP | 26 | Craftsmen duplicated matteR finish (2 wds.) | R | craftsmEN DUPlicated |
ICE TEA | 28 | SodA alternative is cheat, we say oddly (2 wds.) | A | IsChEaTwEsAy |
TONS | 30 | Contrary, obnoxious twerp's quite a handful, to say the least | SNOT reversed | |
GO AT IT | 33 | Agitator stripped, excited for fight (3 wds.) | [a]GITATO[r]* | |
ANTEED | 36 | Paid to see a carD savagely eaten by foremost of dinosaurs (var.) | D | EATEN* + D[inosaurs] |
PUNT | 37 | Casually give up flat-bottomed boat | double definition | |
FINGERBOARD | 38 | Foreign bard composed piece for a violin or cello | FOREIGNBARD* | |
LAGUNA | 39 | Tarry by a Spanish beach | LAG + UNA | |
HENRY II | 40 | English king's decapitated, finery torn asunder in hellO (2 wds.) | O | HI holding [f]INERY* |
TIMESHARE | 41 | Plan for a vacation in debauched harem site | HAREMSITE* |
Down |
Clue Explanations (*=anagram; "=homophone") |
|||
---|---|---|---|---|
BEARDED | 1 | Like Socrates, Darwin and Marx, live with terrible dread | BE + DREAD* | |
OPTED | 2 | ApeX scratching head at Senator Cruz getting elected | X | [t]OP + TED |
MODE | 3 | What's ChiC McBride's debut poem? | C | M[cbride] + ODE |
NEONS | 4 | Video game console sporting active, vibrant colors | NES holding ON | |
AGEIST | 5 | Tossing gamiest codA in stockroom away, favoring those that aren't so old | A | GAMIEST+ minus [stockroo]M |
NIGER | 6 | Chad's neighbor's silly grin having a flanK for entree | K | GRIN* holding [E]ntree or entr[E] |
DEEP | 7 | MadE epeeist's somewhat hard to understand | E | maDE EPeeist |
TREASON | 8 | True motivation for crime | T + REASON | |
VACATING | 10 | Clearing out monstrous, giant cave almost | GIANTCAV[e]* | |
TRANSIT DUTY | 12 | Strenuously study train carrying timber primarily for tax to be levied on freight (2 wds.) | STUDYTRAIN* holding T[imber] | |
LOTTERIES | 14 | Criminal stole tire; there's more than one way to get rich | STOLETIRE* | |
ESCROW | 15 | Not so good to return about quarter of cash in a third-party account | WORSE reversed holding C[ash] | |
ANODYNE | 19 | Novel adO featuring new gym (almost new) is harmless | O | ADO* holding N and Y + NE[w] |
ALOE | 21 | Playing a role, not getting close to wageR for soothing agent | R | AROLE* minus [wage]R |
OUZO | 23 | Liqueur that's "sludge" and "toilette water" in one's mouth | "ooze + eau" | |
ANTIFLU | 25 | AmisS aunt swallows provided bit of laudanum intended to combat disease | S | AUNT* holding IF and L[audanum] |
ULTRAS | 27 | Extremists getting upset at slur | ATSLUR* | |
ATTRIT | 29 | To weaken through constant harrassment, regularly rant at artist | rAnTaTaRtIsT | |
SAGUM | 31 | Magus shredded old Roman cloak | MAGUS* | |
TEHEE | 32 | Peg describes color, ignoring last of menU with a giggle | U | TEE containing HUE minus [men]U |
INDIE | 34 | Low-budget film climaxes in, yetI again, lurid jacuzzi scene | I | "yeti...scene" last letters |
FIAT | 35 | The author's sitting in unnecessary extra automobile | FAT holding I | |
PARE | 37 | Cut down the usual firsT in England | T | PAR + E[ngland] |