For all we know it could be a current setter who's discarded that pseudonym...

I think these ones are decent:
🦸Superheroes kiss and make up endlessly (1-3)
🪖Army fellow's dangerous op with scout (7)
🛥️Suspect on board showboat (7)
🐤Alan loses his head in lofty surroundings, the home of the Canaries (8)

(If any of that's wrong then I'm just never going to understand it and will *actually* move on 😄)

Sorry, me again. If "To mislead", "To speak dishonestly", "To behave like R" are all verbs, they can all be conjugated incl into PP form (even if that form requires aux verbs elsewhere in the sentence). These -ing forms are synonyms as each fits "That liar is currently doing the action of ______".

Thanks for taking time to explain but still don't see why it a def in present participle form is obliged to provide the auxillary verb necessary to a full sentence (any more than it's obliged to provide the subject). This nuance will just have to pass me by.

Still with you. But this is where I lose the arg: unsure how "behaving like Reeves" differs from other verb phrases like "speaking dishonestly"

Yes, no problems with any of that

I'm probably missing s/t, but how can "behaving like x" (as a whole) be adverbial? I can't think of a verb that could be modified by that phrase. Isn't it a verb phrase including an adverb? And as long as the verb is "behaving" the def still gives a present participle

It can be intransitive too, no? "I don't trust that fellow. He misleads. In fact, he behaves like Reeves". Not the most natural usage obvs

Still going over this head, I'm afraid. Is the issue that she's only being misleading temporarily? Would "behaving like Nixon" for the same word be any different? What about "acting like the Artful Dodger" = PICKPOCKETING?

Cheers!

Cheers! Those who follow the ecclesiastical calendar rather than the chocolate one may disagree...

Ha!

I agree - was just pointing out that this sort of behind-the-scenes discussing must look bafflingly killjoyish to a lot of people!

On the other hand MC would say that they prioritise fun over dry-seeming rules, and that their approach is vindicated by hundreds of comments saying "this one was fun!" and close to 0 saying "wrong part of speech" etc

IMO it's not telling the complete story. The solver has to go "maybe this def works if I mentally add 'something which is...' to the start". Being upfront about part of speech is a basic part of the offering to solvers along with enumeration IMO

Obviously I knew about the anagram already, so popping to the loo before boarding the train a few years ago and seeing *that* was almost a religious experience