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Each answer is the title of a famous novel. A few of the titles are split into two clues - you should find those clearly marked.

Crossword - novels

Across

3 Think of the Phoenician, a possible drench, bleached prisons, or beach spindles (8,7)

Consider Phlebas ('Think of'=consider, Phlebas the Phoenician, three anagrams)

6 Three women (under training) - Russian tragedy (4,8)

Anna Karenina (Anna, Karen, Nina, under a train)

9 Before playing the numbers on an Air Serbia flight (9) (after 1 down)

Prejudice (Pre, airline code JU, Dice)

10 Fabric, for the (French) Nordic funeral (11,4) (after 23 across)

Huckleberry Finn (Huck, Le, "Bury Finn")

12 Liquid vessel sunk - in Hampshire? (9,4)

Watership Down

14 Ennobled for misplacing files (4,2,3,5)

Lord of the Flies

15 Impressive detective; an annoying producer of electronic music (4,4)

Moby Dick

17 A member of a Gallic mendicant religious order, spun unluckily - don't be silly (5) (before 4 down)

Sense (ROT13:FRAFR - abbrev:Friar, abbrev:France)

18 See a snotty cold; a dripping nose, it looks like. (1,4,4,1,4)

A Room With a View ("Rheum")

20 Terrifying German lunch assembled from parts: sausage'n'tankard (12)

Frankenstein (Frank 'n' Stein)

21 A number of Winston's wartime exploits (6,4) (second half, after 7 down)

Eightyfour

22 Agricultural earthquake in Filipino city (6,4)

Animal Farm (Anagram:MANILA, Farm)

23 After year zero, invests risk capital (10) (before 10 across)

Adventure (AD Venture)


Down

1 She's got a ticket to Ryde - starting at Portsmouth (5) (before 9 across)

Pride (P, "Ryde")

2 Anticipate the arrival of you, seen, with half a drum, floating downriver (3,10,2,3,6)

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Advent, "Saw yer", Tom-tom)

4 Sensitiveness, aesthetic appreciativeness, capacity of emotion (11) (after 17 across)

Sensibility

5 Initially rebellious sheep undertake a silent infantry operation, inside a small enclosure, or so I'm induced to believe (10)

Persuasion (initials "rsuasio" within "pen")

7 A number of Winston's wartime exploits (8) (first half, before 21 across)

Nineteen

8 Little-known Beatles song (without straw) (4,3,7)

Jude the Obscure ("Hey Jude" without "hay", little-known = obscure)

11 Computerised socialite gazes at beverage, a monarch writes (2)

It ('It' girl, information technology, eye tea, Stephen King)

13 Mr President, you sailed beyond the sunset to the sheltered end of the oceans, I've heard? (7)

Ulysses (You Lee Seas, quote from Tennyson's Ulysses, Ulysses S Grant)

16 Oscar eats a food rich in iron, then dances to Chubby Checker (6,5)

Oliver Twist (O, Liver, Twist)

19 Makin' twice as many female pronouns, in Ireland (9)

Dubliners ("Doubling Hers = Doublin' 'ers")

21 A tenth of a centimetre of MDMA for the electric André-Marie - clueless? (4)

Emma (E, mm, Ampere, 'Clueless' movie has plot of Emma)

Do ask if you have any questions, either in the comments or ping me on chat with an '@AE'.

In the spirit of teamwork, partial answers are very welcome.

Answers providing constructive feedback on the puzzle itself - how hard it is, what could be improved - are also very welcome. This puzzle took me ages to compose, so please be kind! ;)

Update:

All answers now added. Thanks to all the solvers! :)

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  • $\begingroup$ If someone gets the final two clues, do they get the bounty, even after all Geobits's hard work in getting so many of the others? $\endgroup$ – Rand al'Thor Mar 10 '15 at 10:28
  • $\begingroup$ @randal'thor, yep, just on the basis that the final clues to be solved must be the hardest - particularly since it's been such a long time. The fantastic solving contributions by others including Geobits and Roger don't go unnoticed though. :) There's just no way to split the bounty. $\endgroup$ – A E Mar 10 '15 at 10:30
  • $\begingroup$ You said "each answer is the title of a famous novel". Consider Phlebas, famous?? :-( $\endgroup$ – Rand al'Thor Mar 12 '15 at 0:54
  • $\begingroup$ @randal'thor, eh, famous enough. Best-selling at least. Future classic. ;) $\endgroup$ – A E Mar 12 '15 at 9:44
  • $\begingroup$ 23A is only 9 letters, not 10 :-) $\endgroup$ – Joe May 22 '15 at 21:05
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Just getting it started with a few (okay, so I've gotten more since writing that...):

  1. Makin' twice as many female pronouns, in Ireland (9)

The females pronoun is 'ers, from "hers", and Ireland points to Dublin (along with "doubling" for making twice as many), so it's:

Dubliners by James Joyce

  1. Oscar eats a food rich in iron, then dances to Chubby Checker (6,5)

O for Oscar, liver is rich in iron, and Chubby Checker is famous for the Twist, so it's:

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

  1. Liquid vessel sunk - in Hampshire? (9,4)

Liquid is water, vessel is ship, and when a ship sinks, it goes down. That adds up to the name of a hill in Hampshire:

Watership Down by Richard Adams

  1. Computerised socialite gazes at beverage, a monarch writes (2)

When you gaze at a beverage, you might eye tea. Being computerized you know all about Info Tech. Another term for monarch is king, so we have:

It by Stephen King

  1. A tenth of a centimetre of MDMA for the electric André-Marie - clueless? (4)

A tenth centimeter is a millimeter (MM), MDMA can go by either E or X, depending on where you are, and the electric André-Marie has to refer to Ampère, so we'll use the abbreviation A for amperes. And today I learned the the movie Clueless is loosely based on this novel, spelled with the abbreviations used in the rest of the clue:

Emma by Jane Austen.

  1. Three women (under training) - Russian tragedy (4,8)

Three female names: Anna, Karen, and Ina. A famous Russian tragedy fits this quite well, but I can't figure out why they're "under training". Either way, I can't see it being anything but:

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

  1. Anticipate the arrival of you, seen, with half a drum, floating downriver (3,10,2,3,6)

Anticipating the arrival of a person could be advent, combined with "yours" makes adventure. Half a drum (tomtom) is Tom, and when you're seen, I could say I saw yer. Floating downriver seems to point to the content of the book instead of the title, which is:

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

  1. Agricultural earthquake in Filipino city (6,4)

Agriculture points to farm. The most well-known Filipino city is Manila. If an earthquake hit that word, it would certainly scramble things up, so let's look for anagrams. How about:

Animal Farm by George Orwell

  1. Ennobled for misplacing files (4,2,3,5)

Credit to Roger in comments: "Misplaced files" = FLIES. To be ennobled for that would be to be made:

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

  1. Terrifying German lunch assembled from parts: sausage'n'tankard (12)

Credit to Roger in comments: A sausage is a frank, and a stone tankard is a stein. Put them together and you get a novel about a frightening monster assembled in Germany:

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

7 A number of Winston's wartime exploits (8) (first half, before 21 across)
21 A number of Winston's wartime exploits (6,4) (second half, after 7 down)

A book about (perpetual) wartime, with numbers as the title? Maybe one with Winston as the main character? It can only be:

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

I'll admit, at first wartime with Winston had me looking at Churchill. Nicely misdirected, sir ;)

23 After year zero, invests risk capital (10) (before 10 across)
10 Fabric, for the (French) Nordic funeral (11,4) (after 23 across)

After year zero is AD, and a venture could mean you're investing; that part is pretty straightforward. I got the second part of the title, but I'm shaky about the reasoning for the clues. Since we're talking Nordic funerals, I'm thinking of floating on a raft/boat. With Finland, that led to Finn, but I really don't know what the other has to do with it. I assume it's some sort of cloth/fabric, but my Google-fu is failing on that one. Either way, it's:

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

  1. Mr President, you sailed beyond the sunset to the sheltered end of the oceans, I've heard? (7)

The sheltered end of something is the lee side, and oceans are also seas. So it sounds like "you lee seas", and something to do with a president:

Ulysses by James Joyce

As far as feedback on the puzzle goes, the clues seem well done to me. Of course, I may be biased since I can only really judge the ones I've figured out. Either way, there seems a good mix of short/long, and there's just enough in the clues to make me want to figure them out without being completely frustrated.

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    $\begingroup$ It would be awesome if we could get a Stack Snippet that would show these interactively as people get clues right. $\endgroup$ – Set Big O Jan 2 '15 at 16:42
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    $\begingroup$ Oh damn, got it. One of my favorite King books. Let me edit... $\endgroup$ – Set Big O Jan 2 '15 at 17:26
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    $\begingroup$ 14 - "Misplaced files" = FLIES. To be ennobled for that would be to be made LORD OF THE FLIES. $\endgroup$ – Roger Jan 2 '15 at 18:18
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    $\begingroup$ @Roger Beautiful. Added it in :D $\endgroup$ – Set Big O Jan 2 '15 at 18:21
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    $\begingroup$ 20 - Sausage'n'tankard = frank'n'stein. You can take it from there. ;) $\endgroup$ – Roger Jan 2 '15 at 18:23
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5 Initially rebellious sheep undertake a silent infantry operation, inside a small enclosure, or so I'm induced to believe (10)

Answer in spoiler below

Persuasion by Jane Austen
"Initially" is an indicator to take the first letters of words, in this case all words up until the next comma. This yields the letters "rsuasio"
"Inside" is an indicator that the letters that were already found are going to be placed within the letters of the answer to the next clue. A "small enclosure" is a "pen". Given these letters the only question is where to place the "rsuasio" within "pen". The options are "prsuasioen" or "persuasion".
The last statement is "or so I'm induced to believe". To induce someone to believe is to persuade them, so the solution solves the clues.

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  • $\begingroup$ yay! that's the last one. The system won't allow me to award the bounty for another 20 hours, but I will do when I can. $\endgroup$ – A E Mar 10 '15 at 14:10
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    $\begingroup$ The funny part is that I've never done a cryptic crossword before :) $\endgroup$ – LeppyR64 Mar 10 '15 at 18:21
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    $\begingroup$ @JasonLepack Could you expand on the explanation of this answer? I understand what it means (because I spent ages struggling with this clue myself), but it's still quite cryptic to people not involved with the puzzle. $\endgroup$ – Rand al'Thor Mar 11 '15 at 17:00
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    $\begingroup$ I have updated it. Is it more useful? $\endgroup$ – LeppyR64 Mar 11 '15 at 17:17
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    $\begingroup$ Thanks for editing! This explanation is great. (The meaning of the "induced to believe" part hadn't actually clicked with me until now!) $\endgroup$ – Rand al'Thor Mar 11 '15 at 17:29
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1 & 9: She's got a ticket to Ryde - starting at Portsmouth (5)

Before playing the numbers on an Air Serbia flight (9)

Starting with Portsmouth (P) and on to Ryde (RIDE), before (PRE) playing numbers (DICE) on Air Serbia (IATA code: JU). Put it together and you get:

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

17 & 4: A member of a Gallic mendicant religious order, spun unluckily - don't be silly (5)

Sensitiveness, aesthetic appreciativeness, capacity of emotion (11) (after 17 across)

Not sure about the French monk, suspect an anagram somewhere... but "don't be silly" = have some SENSE. To be sensitive, to appreciate aethetics and to be capable of emotion are all different ways to have SENSE ABILITY, so putting those two together gives us:

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

  1. See a snotty cold; a dripping nose, it looks like. (1,4,4,1,4)

Still working on the reasoning, but based on the lengths and the filled in letters, I'm pretty sure it's:

A Room With a View by E.M. Forster

  1. Impressive detective; an annoying producer of electronic music (4,4)

A detective is often called a private DICK, and whether you think he's annoying or not, MOBY is certainly known for his electronic music sound. The resulting creature is certainly impressive:

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

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  • $\begingroup$ Those are looking good, Roger. 17 across is a pretty unusual one but as you have the answer already from the last part you might be able to work backwards to explain the mendicant... $\endgroup$ – A E Jan 2 '15 at 21:16
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    $\begingroup$ I just figured out 17/4 when you posted. Sensibility by itself works for the second word. Haven't yet figured out the mendicant either, though ;) $\endgroup$ – Set Big O Jan 2 '15 at 21:17
  • $\begingroup$ Yeah, I made the second half pretty straightforward to balance it up, because the 'mendicant' bit is so cryptic. ;) $\endgroup$ – A E Jan 2 '15 at 21:19
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    $\begingroup$ Dead right on the electronic music! Re 'annoying', that's just intended as a way of referring to the pejorative sense of the second word (without being too rude). Interestingly the musician himself is actually descended from the author, that's how the nickname arose. Oh, and 'impressive' is a slang meaning of the first word of the novel title too (e.g. see the jargon file). $\endgroup$ – A E Jan 7 '15 at 10:09
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3) is

Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks
Think of = consider
Phlebas is the drowned Phoenician sailor in T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land
the whole name is anagram of those 3 phrases

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  • $\begingroup$ That's right - well done! Just the rebellious sheep to go now... $\endgroup$ – A E Mar 10 '15 at 14:05
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Partial answer to the last two outstanding clues. (Well, the first one is more like a guess.) Really the main purpose of this answer is to bump this excellent question back onto the P.SE front page. It's been around for a long time without being fully solved!

3 Think of the Phoenician, a possible drench, bleached prisons, or beach spindles (8,7: *******R *H*****)

Interpreting "the Phoenician" as

not someone from ancient Phoenicia but someone from Phoenix, Arizona,

I found that

the most famous person from Phoenix is surely Muhammad Ali.

Now for the rest:

"a possible drench", "bleached prisons", and "or beach spindles" are all anagrams and 15 letters long (credit to @Roger for putting me onto this), so the final answer is probably also an anagram of these.

How about the other one?

5 Initially rebellious sheep undertake a silent infantry operation, inside a small enclosure, or so I'm induced to believe (10: ****U*****)

"Initially rebellious" gives

R (the first letter of the word "rebellious"),

and "sheep" could mean

U (as in ewe).

So I'm getting something like

Ru[?]pen[?]

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  • $\begingroup$ Hi rand, thanks for the bump. ;) No joy on 3 but you have started to make a little progress on 5. If it helps, both of those clues are intended to be in the Ximenean style. $\endgroup$ – A E Mar 9 '15 at 11:18
  • $\begingroup$ Don't forget - you've got a few letters for them already from the ones that are already solved (10A, 1D, 2D). $\endgroup$ – A E Mar 9 '15 at 11:31
  • $\begingroup$ @AE Edited. I'm not familiar with Ximenes; does "Ximenean style" mean anything other than "clear and precise with no unnecessary stuff"? $\endgroup$ – Rand al'Thor Mar 9 '15 at 12:10
  • $\begingroup$ "Ximenean style" means each clue has two parts, a straight definition and a cryptic indication, and that there aren't any red herrings. See: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derrick_Somerset_Macnutt#Influence BTW suggest you take another look at which letter of 5 down is clued by 10 across.. $\endgroup$ – A E Mar 9 '15 at 12:14
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    $\begingroup$ For 3, I noticed that "bleached prisons" and "or beach spindles" both have 15 letters (8,7) and are anagrams of each other. Possibly they're also both anagrams of the correct answer, but I haven't been able to figure it out. $\endgroup$ – Roger Mar 9 '15 at 17:43
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Ok so this is a huge long shot given the other answers, but I can't think of anything else that fits, so here goes...

8 Little-known Beatles song (without straw) (4,3,7)

I'm basing this on two Beatles songs, "I Will (Parenthetical)" and "Strawberry Fields Forever" (No straw). Right, that's it. I have uh...

Love You Forever by Robert Munsch (A children's book?)

-

Edit: So yeah, "little-known" = obscure, and "without straw" = no hay/hey. Beatles song is "Hey Jude"... Or

Jude The Obscure by Thomas Hardy. Extra credit points for the other one though. :D

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5 Initially rebellious sheep undertake a silent infantry operation, inside a small enclosure, or so I'm induced to believe (10)

I don't know the answer for this but "Initially rebellious sheep" makes me think of Jews ("like sheep to the slaughter"), and "inside a small enclosure" could easily refer to a concentration camp. "So I'm induced to believe" implies some kind of dream or hypnosis. Or just a really convincing liar.

3 Think of the Phoenician, a possible drench, bleached prisons, or beach spindles (8,7)

Also don't know this one, but "Think of the Phoenician" probably refers to a phoenix (or the alphabet, I suppose), and "bleached prisons" is almost certainly "white cells".

[If my thoughts-but-not-answers are inappropriate, let me know and I will remove them.

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  • $\begingroup$ aw, +1 for nice try EFrog, but I'm afraid none of them are the intended answers. What else could "Initially" mean? What's another word for 'straw'? (Ignore 'Strawberry Fields', it's not that song, although I can totally see why you might think it was). There's quite a bit of wordplay in the second and third ones by the way. ;) $\endgroup$ – A E Jan 12 '15 at 16:34
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    $\begingroup$ @AE 'tis fix'd. :) $\endgroup$ – EFrog Jan 12 '15 at 16:39
  • $\begingroup$ Hooray! That's right, on the Beatles one. Nice work! :) $\endgroup$ – A E Jan 12 '15 at 16:55

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