Thank you, manxman. You weren't at home, so I let myself in to get the belt.

Amazing fact about iron strike (6)

Affect = strike - anagram (amazing) of fact containing (about) fe (iron)

Probably being dim here, but are "affect" and "strike" synonyms?

I agree that it seems a bit of a stretch, but if a thought strikes you then it will be close in meaning to being affected by something, and of course it may not be the correct answer to Helmer's clue...

sorry Helmer but Canada Post has been slow delivering the belt ===[**CDM**]===

Ya got it, Lex! ===[**CDM**]===

PS: Both 'affect' and 'strike' are listed as primary synonyms of each other (definition "to act upon"). My reference is the online thesaurus at merriam-webster dot com.

Thank you: I am, in effect, deeply affected!

Oscar received by actress cast as philosopher (8)

Socrates - anagram of "actress" with O (Nato phonetic alphabet for "Oscar")


Apologies, Helmer - I tend to use thesaurus.com, and they're not listed as synonyms there

Here is your alternative Oscar: ===[**CDM**]===

Thanks, Lex!

Lynx, duck and pet (6)

Hint time...

Direct on the left, wordplay 3 + 3

bobcat

Talk about synonyms!

Synonyms schmynonyms - what does it matter as long as they're in the thesaurus

Can't come up with a punny handover, so good solve! ===[**CDM**]===

No argument from here!

Sign up, Captain (4)

Nemo

At least it wasn't "Kirk"...

Baaaaah ha ha ha haaaaaa......



I mean, that solve was written in the stars, Helmer! ===[**CDM**]===

Will I never learn...

Thank you, Pandora.

Stop panda exploit (5)

I see that Patrick Stewart once played Captain Nemo, so there is a tenuous connection...

Hint: Contains unconventional wordplay element

Pause = stop - p + (and) a + use (exploit)

Denis would approve!

Nice clue and nice solve!

Denis did approve, Lex! (He'd said it was cute.)

Thanks: ===[**CDM**]===

Thank you Mr H

One that quite amused us recently:

Man squeezed into lift closer, unfortunately, for the present (8,6)