Tls

[lashley]

help please and parsing
9a slimy sort of jelly put on the rear of arm 5 G????
11a linesman from pacific state cut half time back 6 T????? tahiti?
14a those thinking to ditch married folk like burroughs?5 U????
15a simple little lad regularly gets work about coketown 4,5 ??S?/T?M?S something times?
thanks

[mallyh]

9a gunge?

[Toorak]

14a (m)users

[Lie-in King]

9a Gunky - 'KY' (jelly, on rear of) 'gun' (arm)
11a (Dylan) Thomas - 'Samo(a; cut) H(alf-)T(ime)' (all back)
14a (m)Users - ditch 'm(arried)'
15a Easy Times - 'easy (simple) (Tiny) Tim gEtS (regularly)'

I have *no* idea why the clues in italics produce the answers they do.

[Lie-in King]

Further - if there are special instructions, they're not visible on the page I get. Haven't done a puzzle for 2 weeks plus, why did I choose this one?

[Toorak]

15 hard times

[Toorak]

Easy times is better

[Lie-in King]

Hi Toorak - there are 7 clues - 15a is one - in italics & they lead to the opposite of the answer you'd think of. Wibble.

[Toorak]

Perhaps the italics indicate that the solution needs to be changed to its opposite before entering - or that the solution is the opposite of what would be expected

Eg lady Jim/ lord Jim
Easy times/ hard times

[highbury57]

True also of the Hammett clue.

[Lie-in King]

Yes, but unless there's a meaning to the use of italics I don't know (quite possible!), I don't see what the logic is - heigh-ho ;-)

[lashley]

thanks all

[Lie-in King]

Sorry, I wasn't trying to be nowty for the sake of it :-)

[smallsizenun]

Oh my -- I think the ones in italics are April Fool jokes!!