Simple Rounds Solution

by Ata Gurpinar

All of the clues in this puzzle are cryptic crossword clues. More information about them has been included in the matriculation packet.

The fifteen clues in sound effect balloons are ordered alphabetically by entry. Divisions between parts of each clue have been added with pipes (and connecting words, if present) in bold.

• Swell! | Blue moat is missing wild emu (5)
  • Both SWELL and BLOAT mean "to become larger".
  • "Wild emu" means to anagram EMU to UEM. When that is removed from BLUE MOAT, BLOAT is left over.
• Swedish Chef's line |of| utensil goes from failure to above-average (4)
  • Swedish Chef is a muppet that famously says "Bork!"
  • The "utensil" is FORK. "goes from failure to above-average" is in a grade sense, changing from F to B to get BORK.
• Mobile | market sound (4)
  • Both MOBILE and CELL can be used to refer to a cell phone.
  • A sound heard at a market might be SELL. That is a homophone of CELL.
• Watch for one | carbon bolt (5)
  • A watch is a type of CLOCK.
  • "Carbon" can be abbreviated to C. A bolt is a type of LOCK - particularly on doors. Putting these together gets CLOCK.
• Mature | evening attire worn by Romeo (5)
  • A GOWN is "evening attire." "Romeo" is the NATO letter for R. "Worn by" is the container indicator, saying to put R in GOWN to get GROWN.
  • "Mature," both with regards to crops and humans, can mean GROWN.
• This violence! (4)
  • This clue is &lit, which means that the entire clue is both the definition and the wordplay.
  • HITS is a type of violence.
  • THIS anagrammed (as indicated by "violence"), can give HITS.
• Sharpen | sweet substance, not yellow (4)
  • To HONE something is to sharpen it.
  • The "sweet substance" is HONEY. "Yellow" can be abbreviated with Y. Removing Y from HONEY gives HONE.
• Innkeeper | decapitates apparition (4)
  • An innkeeper is a HOST in the sense of someone who receives other people as guests.
  • An "apparition" is a GHOST. To "decapitate" it, remove the first letter to get HOST.
• Observe | powdered kind of aid coming back (4)
  • "Observe" is another word for LOOK.
  • A kind of powdered aid would be KOOL (as in Kool-Aid). "Coming back" is a reversal indicator to get LOOK.
• Victoria's line |of| soft red (4)
  • This is a double definition, so both sides are definitions for the word.
  • PINK is a line of clothing from Victoria's Secret.
  • PINK is a type of soft red.
• Fast | fingernail part (5)
  • This is a double definition, so both sides are definitions for the word.
  • "Fast" is another word for QUICK.
  • The QUICK is part of the skin under the fingernail.
• Second one might be mad |at| record action (7)
  • "Second" can be abbreviated as S. "One might be mad" refers to the Mad HATTER. Putting them together makes SHATTER.
  • An action one can do to a (world) record is to SHATTER it.
• Fly high, | like your throat after shouting loudly (4)
  • To "fly high" is to SOAR.
  • "Like your throat after shouting" is SORE. "Loudly" is a homophone indicator, making SORE into SOAR.
• Theodore's taking bottom | beat (7)
  • A nickname for Theodore is TED. Another word for a bottom (as in a butt) is RUMP. "Taking" is a container indicator, putting RUMP into TED to make TRUMPED.
  • TRUMPED is a word used in card games when a player beats all of the cards currently in a trick by playing the trump suit.
• I'm having fun with loss |of| titular game show equipment (5)
  • The sound WHEE is often said by someone having fun. "Loss" can be abbreviated by L. Put together these make WHEEL.
  • The titular game show is "Wheel of Fortune".

As specified by the flavor text, the fifteen cryptic clues above the See N' Say toy have two wordplay parts and no definition. The definitions are provided by the animal images below the toy, which are provided in alphabetical order by entry. Divisions between parts of each clue have been added with pipes (and connecting words, if present) in bold.

• Wizard has constant | gravity in terrain diagram, in other words (6)
  • A "wizard" is a MAGE. One famous constant is PI. "Has" is a container indicator making MAGPIE.
  • "Gravity" is abbreviated as G. A "terrain diagram" is a MAP. "In" says to put the G in MAP to get MAGP. Another way to say "in other words" is `IE`. Stick the two parts together to get MAGPIE.
• No oil comes back |by| fibbin' loudly (4)
  • "No" is abbreviated as N. NOIL "comes back" to form LION.
  • Another word for "fibbin' is LYIN. A homophone of LYIN is LION.
• Stalk last three | low drifts (3)
  • Another word for "stalk" is PROWL. The last three letters of PROWL is OWL.
  • "Drifts" indicates to anagram LOW to get OWL.
• Deity returns |to| do good (3)
  • A "deity" is another name for a GOD. GOD reversed is DOG.
  • "Good" can be abbreviated as G. Put after DO gives DOG.
• Heartlessly got those | slimes' energy (5)
  • "Heartlessly" means to remove some letters from the middle. GOT THOSE with some letters from the middle removed is GOOSE.
  • "Slimes" are GOOS. "Energy" is abbreviated as E. Combined, these two make GOOSE.
• Act surprised | at copyright on top (3)
  • ACT anagrammed (as indicated by "surprised") gives CAT.
  • The copyright symbol is the letter C. When the C is "on top" of AT, it forms CAT.
• Reba’s crazy |and| naked, reportedly (4)
  • REBA anagrammed (crazy) gives BEAR.
  • Another word for "naked" is BARE. "Reportedly" indicated to take the homophone to give BEAR.
• Grumpy, not by | removing outer layers of lycra bikini (4)
  • Another word for "grumpy" is CRABBY. Remove the letters BY to get CRAB.
  • "Removing outer layers" indicated to remove letters from both the front and back of LYCRA BIKINI to get CRAB.
• Eau mixes with gin and swine |for| visual software feature like some tides, I guess (6 3)
  • EAU anagrammed with GIN gives GUINEA. Another word for "swine" is PIG. Combined, this gives GUINEA PIG.
  • "Visual software feature" is GUI. "Some tides" are NEAP tides. An abbrevation for "I guess" is IG. Combined together, this gives GUINEA PIG.
• HBO’s fantasy GRRM series has a | green light and a twenty (4)
  • "HBO's fantasy GRRM series" is GOT. Put A into it to make GOAT.
  • A "green light" means GO. Add A and T (T is the 20th letter) to make GOAT.
• Up-and-down, upside down, Calvin Klein | replaces airway's tons with kilos (4)
  • "Up" is abbreviated as U. "Down" is abbreviated as D. These two letters flipped upside down (aka reversed) gives DU. "Calvin Klein" is abbreviated as CK. When the two halves are put together, it makes DUCK.
  • A type of "airway" is a DUCT. "Tons" is abbreviates as T and "kilos" is abbreviated as K. When T is replaced with K in DUCT, it makes DUCK.
• Ukulele phantom has | the panel destroyed (8)
  • "Has" is a hidden word indicator. Inside UKULELE PHANTOM is ELEPHANT.
  • "The panel" destroyed (anagrammed) is ELEPHANT.
• Push hay forward eight steps |to become| half a city bird (3)
  • "Push ... forward eight steps" is indicating to Caesar shift the letters of HAY by eight to get PIG.
  • A "city bird" is a PIGEON. Half of the word PIGEON is PIG.
• Small mixup in property? No thank you; | I love to follow up on question in text you answer (5)
  • Another word for "property" is QUALITY. A small mixup can make QUAILTY. "No thank you" removes the letters TY to get QUAIL.
  • "I love" can be abbreviated as IL. This follows up "question" (Q), "in text you" (U), and "answer" (A) to get QUAIL.
• Fret over Grey's Anatomy predecessor |and| enter referee's secret in reverse (6)
  • "Grey's Anatomy predecessor" is ER. The word FRET is put around ER to get FERRET.
  • "Secret" is a hidden word indicator, and "in reverse" is a reversal indicator. FERRET is hidden backwards in ENTER REFEREE.

Each sector of the toy features blanks that match one of the sound effect entries. As hinted by the title (SIMPLE ROUNDS to SIMILE SOUNDS) and the flavor text (FILCHER-PRIZE to FISCHER PRICE), each sound effect entry can have its given letter changed to form a noise the animal in that position of the toy makes:

Animal	Balloon Word	Sound	Letter
MAGPIE	SHATTER	CHATTER	C
LION	SOAR	ROAR	R
OWL	HOST	HOOT	O
DOG	BORK	BARK	A
GOOSE	HONE	HONK	K
CAT	HITS	HISS	S
BEAR	GROWN	GROWL	L
CRAB	CLOCK	CLICK	I
GUINEA PIG	WHEEL	WHEEK	K
GOAT	BLOAT	BLEAT	E
DUCK	QUICK	QUACK	A
ELEPHANT	TRUMPED	TRUMPET	T
PIG	PINK	OINK	O
QUAIL	CELL	CALL	A
FERRET	LOOK	DOOK	D

The replacement letters, read in clockwise order for the arrow spell the solution CROAKS LIKE A TOAD.