h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

But Settlement fits.

Looks right! Deep Doo Doo hasn't posted this past three years (in fact not since posting his response to that clue in November 2013, it seems) so let's take it as correct.

I'll put my thinking cap on.

These days I only do the Listener, and those clues would be unsuitable here - they're full of intentional misprints, superfluous words, etc.

One type of clue which fascinates me is when they allude to the letters of the answer being part of a longer word, if other letters are included. There's probably a name for them. I'll look one up tonight in Ximenes's book.

Like Aachen being a city with a pain in its middle (noticed that from a few years back...)

The ones I'm thinking of are known as 'composite anagrams'. They're not in Ximenes - must be a modern invention.

I can't find a good example to hand, but I made this one up on the fly:

Demulsifier could be fried with this for breakfast (6)

Ah yes, muesli. The Irish Times Crossword uses these a lot. Here's another

Oho! Loot without a square here (6)

Mistake.

Oho! Loot without a novice here. (6)

Hootoo

Here's one of a different kind: the "sounds like".

British miserliness sounds like Chinese conservation of energy (12)

While I chew over that one, this week's Listener is particularly tough - and the clues are normal, too.


Fancy a stinker to have a go at?

Australian marine fears flag binding our nation with Japan (10)

Cor.

For yours, the nearest I can get is 'chinchery' - an obsolete word for miserliness.

the other one I thought of can't be right as the word's in the clue: conservation (for conserve - Asian)

Oo have I come up with a good one?

It may be spelt (6-6)

cheese-paring?

Intereting clue. It's not strictly Ximenean, as it mixes two or three different wordplay styles, so you wouldn't see too many in UK crosswords.

Give up on the Australian... clue? It's gloriously obscure.

I do. Obscure I can take but gloriously obscure is my exit cue.

It's irukandjis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irukandji_jellyfish

I'll leave you to parse it.