Jumbo 1336 Cryptic

[stevenj]

Wow! This was certainly a tough one!!! I have answers for all of the clues but some I would not bet my pocket money on. But can I ask about a couple please?

The first is "Major preceding brutal soldiers is a cheat" The only word I can make fit is "adulteress" which is a cheat. And I suppose Adult =major but the rest?
The next is "Ready to tour Basra, not content in Arab city area". The answer is either Casbah or Kasbah (I remember Ali Baba and the 40 thieves...) but which and why (except they mean Arab city areas)
and finally. "Criticise the writer's book covers as dumb entertainment" I think the answer is pantomime and I see pan and mime but can't fit the rest.

As ever, I'd be grateful for help

Btw Thank you Lie-in King for last week's advice on keeping busy to make the time fly. SWMBO didn't say so but kept me doing things. Along with the holiday job it helped...

steven

[Lie-in King]

Hi Steven - glad you're muddling along ok :-)

40a Adulteress - 'adult' (major) + 'ere' (preceding) 'SS' (brutal soldiers)
45a Casbah - 'cash' ("ready", to tour) 'B(asr)a' (not content)
22d Pantomime - 'pan' (criticise) + 'tome' (covers) I'm (writer's)

[Mamyalynne]

"Criticise the writer's book covers as dumb entertainment"


Criticise - Pan
The writer's (setter) - I'm (in)
Book - Tome

[dannyk13]

Adult + ere(preceding) + SS(brutal soldiers)
B(asr)a inside cash(ready)
Pan(criticise)+ i'm (Writer's) inside tome(book)

[stevenj]

thank you to all three of you. You are fantastic!
When you explain it all seems so plain but , for example, I tried desperately to work out what eress had to do with brutal soldiers. Duress? But why? No reason: it was the wrong logic. And similarly "mime" was not part of the working out.
But now I see how they build up. Thank you.
And yes, muddling along about sums it up. But I'll get there.
steven

[Mamyalynne]

You will Steven.

[stevenj]

Thank you Mamyalynne.