Solution for 18 March cryptic clue

Mad Hatter sent lords soap (9,6)

Solution – Shortland Street

This one includes an anagram.  The word that suggests this is “mad” – in other clues you might find “crazy” or “mixed up” or something else that might suggest a jumbling up of letters.  You know that the solution has 15 letters so if you look at what follows “mad” you see that it can’t include all the rest of the words.  By inference the solution will be “hatter sent lords” mixed up.  So what is meant by “soap”.  I finally realised it was a reference not to a cleansing agent but to a sort of TV programme.  After that I managed to come up with “Shortland Street” which, of course, is New Zealand’s most popular and long running soap.


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