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The answer to this puzzle is a list of ten thematically related words or proper names or phrases. Each of these is clued cryptically, and the theme is to be determined. In this puzzle, the clues are in a specific order which also relates to the theme. Since the definition part of a cryptic clue would give away the theme, these cryptic clues use a family member (e.g., mom, sister) to stand in for the definition part of the clue. So for example, if the theme of the puzzle were chemical elements, "Sister picking at nit" would clue "tin". I hope you enjoy!

  1. Cousin's park for tigers has need after volatile countries' embargo of llama tails (11,6,2,7)
  2. Hesitation in a letter from Greece a clue for granddad (6)
  3. Mom's mom is rising (4)
  4. Criminal rings broadcast untruth about uncle (6)
  5. Brother will be in the house in 24 hours (7)
  6. Sister solves density differential equations linearly, selectively skipping steps 1, 2 and 3? (8)
  7. United arranging travel, Pop gets to Granny (5,5)
  8. Mom is behind scrape up with Dad (5)
  9. Nephew and steamfitter's leader manipulating vote, with one Roman and one Parisian radical (6,5)
  10. Auntie tosses oily guavas (10)
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    $\begingroup$ +1 even just for clue 1 - insane...! :) $\endgroup$
    – Stiv
    Commented Jul 24, 2020 at 18:35
  • $\begingroup$ Was just kidding. I figured it would be -1 otherwise! :-) Now I know why you liked the AC/DC puzzle. $\endgroup$
    – Jeremy Dover
    Commented Jul 24, 2020 at 18:37
  • $\begingroup$ @JeremyDover What's AC/DC? $\endgroup$
    – Scratch---Cat
    Commented Jul 25, 2020 at 3:01
  • $\begingroup$ @Scratch---Cat A musical group. One of my previous puzzles that Stiv solved was based on their song titles. $\endgroup$
    – Jeremy Dover
    Commented Jul 25, 2020 at 7:56
  • $\begingroup$ @JeremyDover lt wasn't related to this puzzle. $\endgroup$
    – Scratch---Cat
    Commented Jul 25, 2020 at 8:00

1 Answer 1

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1   Cousin's park for tigers has need after volatile countries' embargo of llama tails (11,6,2,7)

CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA — park for Tigers = CO__MERICA + (NEED AFTER)* + countries (STATES) + embargO oF llamA tails

2   Hesitation in a letter from Greece a clue for granddad (6)

PERSIA — hesitation (ER) in a Greek letter (P__SI) + A

3   Mom's mom is rising (4)

SIAM — (Ma is)<

4   Criminal rings broadcast untruth about uncle (6)

CEYLON.... criminal (C__ON) rings with broadcast untruth (sounds like lie) -> (LYE)< around (flip indicator) inside

5   Brother will be in the house in 24 hours (7)

DAHOMEY — house (HOME) in 24 hours (DAY)

6   Sister solves density differential equations linearly, selectively skipping steps 1, 2 and 3? (8)

RHODESIA — density (RHO) + diff eqs (DES) + lIneArly (Linearly — skip the first, take the I, skip 2, take the A, skip 3. If this is correct, it’s genius)

7   United arranging travel, Pop gets to Granny (5,5)

UPPER VOLTA — united (U) + (travel pop)*

8   Mom is behind scrape up with Dad (5)

BURMA — Mom (MA) behind scrape (RUB) up (backwards - BUR)

9   Nephew and steamfitter's leader manipulating vote, with one Roman and one Parisian radical (6,5)

SOVIET UNION — steamfitter’s leader S with (vote)* + Roman one (I) plus French one (UN) plus radical (ION)

10  Auntie tosses oily guavas (10)

YUGOSLAVIA — (oily guavas)*

And uneasy lies the head, for these are all

Former names of countries who had name changes in the 19th-20th centuries. As such, the clues are in order of the date of the name change!

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  • $\begingroup$ Doing great! Thanks for nailing the wordplay on #6...I was worried it was going to flop. A couple clues still to find...also, can you figure out why the clues are in the order they are in? $\endgroup$
    – Jeremy Dover
    Commented Jul 24, 2020 at 17:53
  • $\begingroup$ 1’s definitely the trickiest, @JeremyDover — think I’ve got the rest now! $\endgroup$
    – El-Guest
    Commented Jul 24, 2020 at 18:05
  • $\begingroup$ You're getting there on #1! All the rest are pretty much correct. In #6 rot13("evatf" vf hfrq gb vaqvpngr gur vapyhfvba, "nebhaq" gb vaqvpngr gur syvccvat bs ylr) $\endgroup$
    – Jeremy Dover
    Commented Jul 24, 2020 at 18:26
  • $\begingroup$ How does this look for parsing, @JeremyDover? Just not sure on how to get rot13(FGNGRF) out of countries’ embargo, to be honest LOL $\endgroup$
    – El-Guest
    Commented Jul 24, 2020 at 18:29
  • $\begingroup$ Close! I had rot13(rzonet(B) b(S) yynz(N) gnvyf)...does that feel closer? $\endgroup$
    – Jeremy Dover
    Commented Jul 24, 2020 at 18:33

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