SOLVED - Cryptic Pyramid III

[Zag]

center of 'state' and center of 'session'

[Elethiomel]

Ok, I can see how that may be a valid interpretation so I guess I should clarify that AS is wrong. You're on to something, though.

[Zag]

Copying from Suspence for the new page.

PRESENT - 1. Show broadcast ahead of time.
HEAD - 2. First among the adults!
START - 3. Sulfur acid set in motion.
------------ 4. Sounds like the orangutan from days gone by. (6)
THREE - 5. Oddly, it chartered a crowded company.
CHANNELS - 6. Passages from a brief chapter by a frank writer codifying Lesotho.
TUNED - 7. Tango nude, as if brought into harmony.
IN - 8. Icon ends up to date.
CALM - 9. In a stoical mood!
OSTRICH - 10. Fast grounded bird with long legs; rarely scored by duffers.
PARADING - 11. Marching sounds, as if dad is invading.
JUST - 12. Jumble up something that starts precisely.
ABOUT - 13. Engaged in central state session.
ALL - 14. Every last one, even Mad Lily!
OVER - 15. Tactless overt act concluded.
WHEN - 16. While slow, he normally caught up.
YEAR - 17. Money earmarked for research into a revolutionary period.
FLIPS - 18. Mixed drinks with eggs and off-center rims.

[Thok]

A+BOUT works for 13

[novice]

Maybe earmarked is a homophone indicator.

[Elethiomel]

[novice]

17. YEAR or ONE YEAR
God, that was painful.

[Zag]

I'm willing to accept "for research into" to be the wordplay indicator, there, but why is 'a revolutionary period' a definition for 'year'?

[ralphmerridew]

One year is the period for the earth's revolution around the sun.

[Zag]

Hmmm, ~looks up revolutionary~ ok.

(updated record above)

[Quailman]

That's right, Zag. And a day would be a rotational period.

[Elethiomel]

[Zag]

revolutionary [rev-uh-loo-shuh-ner-ee]  
rev·o·lu·tion·ar·y   [rev-uh-loo-shuh-ner-ee] Show IPA adjective, noun, plural -ar·ies.
adjective
4. revolving.

re·volve   [ri-volv] Show IPA verb, -volved, -volv·ing.
verb (used without object)
2. to turn around or rotate, as on an axis: The wheel revolves slowly.

[Elethiomel]

Merriam-Webster says that revolution can refer to both the orbital motion of a celestial object, and to the rotation of an object on its axis. Thesaurus.com partly contradicts that with this usage note:

Notes: revolve and rotate are synonyms in everyday writing, but not in scientific/technical writing: the Earth revolves around the Sun and rotates upon its axis

Edit: While I'm posting, I'll note that the answer to the last remaining clue has 6 letters.

[Zag]

Q is just rubbing in a criticism he made of my "Secret Theme Mafia" game, even though I didn't bother to argue the point when he first made the comment. For him bothering to mention it, I have this definition for him.

[novice]

4. BEFORE

Sounds like B4. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sokolsky_Opening

[novice]

Level two:

Calm ostrich parading just about = ALMOST
All over when year flips = ANYWHERE

[novice]

Also:
PRESENT HEAD START BEFORE = HERE

[novice]

Finally
Three channels tuned in = THERE
Here, there, almost anywhere = ETHER

[novice]

Nice puzzle. A bit on the hard side with some esoteric definitions, wordplay indicators, and one indirect wordplay, but a nice challenge nonetheless.

Now go solve my signmaker.

[Zag]

[novice]

[Zag]

Oh, hidden word. I was trying to make it an anagram of 'there.' OK. I'm not wild about the definition, though. Perhaps if you add 'found,' as in

Here, there, almost found anywhere.

Still, it was a great and challenging puzzle, and very well-solved, novice!

Now, back to that signmaker, for which I think we might need a little more hint.

[Elethiomel]

Ahem... the final intended solution has 8 letters.

Apparently, omitting the word lengths (in combination with trying to make hard clues) is a good way to discover multiple solutions.

I wouldn't mind some constructive criticism on good/bad clues. What was the "indirect wordplay" you mentioned, Novice?

Edit: Personally, I thought "Three channels tuned in. (5)" was an excellent clue for a boring, everyday word.

[novice]

[novice]

[Zag]

The bottom line, though, is that it was solved, which means that the clues were good enough to be solved. Admittedly, the two of you, coming together from another cryptics site, seem to be both more proficient at solving them than anyone else here (especially me), but that doesn't mean you should dumb it down for our sakes (and definitely not for my sake). (Did that other site die off?)

On the other hand, I'm not sure I buy 'anywhere' as a wordplay indicator for 'hides,' nor am I wild about the whole thing as a definition of 'ethereal.' How about this, which I think works ok for the wordplay and better for the definition?

Here, there, albeit insubstantial.

[Elethiomel]

Yeah, that works pretty well, Zag. I guess I fell in love with my version because it was somewhat poetic, and convinced myself it was fair enough.

Regarding my definitions, I actually think they were pretty fair all around (except possibly for the final, inner clue). I'd say the hardest ones were "engaged in" and "up to date", and neither of those are huge reaches.

As for wordplay indicators, I feel you need to be a bit creative to avoid excessively formulaic clues that simply don't pose a challenge. "Anywhere" was weak, but I think most others were reasonably fair, although "channels" and "caught up" might be pushing it. In general, I'd say weak definitions are a bigger hazard than weak wordplay indicators.

The other site didn't die off, but our cryptics were a bit off-topic there.