Query

[Athelney]

Hello. I am new to The Inquisitor so I am very much learning the ropes. Could someone tell me how you knew that the two clues with the extra words started with Esso.... and Celebrates....? Thanks

[roslyn251254]

Parsing 11a was
s = ess
+ anagram of seen
+ less (not so much)
...which meant that OCURT was extra
similar if you parse 19a ...SREAL was not included in the word play

[ProfessorMaisie]

The wordplay for 19dn requires the 's' to be removed from 'Celebrate(s)' changing the tense of the subsequent synonym ('obSerVe' rather than 'observes'). The following word 'real' also becomes superfluous, and the next instruction 'exchanging sides in ViewS', means V+E are to be swapped giving OBVERSE.
The trick is to 'weed' out the superfluous letters so that the clue correctly leads to the answer.
In 11dn removing 'curt' leaves 'ailing' which is the anagram indicator

[ProfessorMaisie]

...sorry, V+S (not V+E) are swapped.

[Athelney]

Thanks for answering what was probably a very basic question. I can see that this crossword requires a completely different mindset to the more conventional ones.

[ProfessorMaisie]

Athelney - they all start off the same, solve the clues and fill the grid, but then they move on to the 'endgame'. Often a few extra obstacles are added to make solving/grid filling that bit harder too.

Do you do the Azed crossword in Sunday's Observer? That's how I got interested in advanced cryptics (as they're known). Azed uses some quirky devices from time to time that help develop the mindset.

I'm sure you'll quickly get into the way of solving IQ if you try a few and then check their solutions - unfortunately, that involves waiting a couple of weeks for the solution to be printed. And they are quite time consuming, which can be off-putting. Good luck if you carry on.