Better Than One: Loplop Cryptic #012 (with Aaron Riccio!)

This puzzle is a collaboration with the one and only Crossword Scholar, Aaron Riccio! Every week, Aaron writes a Cryptic Roundup which provides a thorough analysis of cryptic clues which catch his fancy. It’s always a delight to browse through the smoothest, funniest and fiendish…est clues from the cryptic world from the past week. If you’re enjoying cryptics, you’ll definitely want to check out The Crossword Scholar blog, or sign up for his newsletter.

You might call this puzzle lightly themed, if such a thing exists, but of course you’ll have to solve for the full scoop! A huge thank you to Michael Colella and Chris Evans (a.k.a. Mental Playground) for the test solves.

Without further ado — I hope you enjoy!

web / puz / pdf / solutions and annotations