He can really make a Toy Poodle's tail pound loudly | ELF | E + L + F |
Best friend of dog returns for war briefly | NAM | man reversed |
Girl lost without Doberman at the front | SHE | shed curtailed |
Chihuahua's well being? Unfortunately, not good | BIEN | being* - G (definition = well in Spanish) |
Reportedly, not many will feed a Greyhound? | FUEL | few'll homophone |
Head of hair on a Chow Chow by the ears | MAIN | mane homophone |
Officially mark animal that barks and does tricks with a ball | SEAL | double definition |
Basset hound bears third son | SETH | hidden |
Asta really holds on to celebrity | STAR | hidden |
Feminine side of tailless dog, for example | ANIMA | animal curtailed |
Trunk comes from pooches' torsos | CHEST | hidden |
TV dog living in Seattle found in whirlpool by the Sound | EDDIE | eddy homophone |
It's a lucky thing Britain is surrounded by more than half of fleas | FLUKE | fle containing UK |
Gets better commands for a dog to follow when spoken | HEALS | heels |
Playwright's rabid Boston Terrier losing to terror | IBSEN | (Boston Terrier - to terror)* |
Go walking around for a word with Rover | RANGE | double definition |
Note mangy dog come up a second time | RECUR | re + cur |
Taunt Zero as "transparent" partially | ROAST | hidden |
Twenty judge a dog show, perhaps | SCORE | double definition |
In Europe, regionally elevated dog food shortage in east | ALPINE | Alpo curtailed + IN + E |
Dogs of an African breed lacking as movie dogs | BENJIS | basenjis - as |
Six Airedales in the lead in a vehicle with fancy food | CAVIAR | car containing (VI + A) |
It has parts that are bent like a dog's leg — sounds rough | COURSE | coarse homophone |
Pointer barked and he muttered obscenities | CURSER | cursor homophone |
Confronted, I'd feed mongrel | DEFIED | (I'd feed)* |
When you're dog tired you need this: Hawaii, then start tour in Australia | HIATUS | HI + AUS containing T |
Whipped and ordered a sled with husky in the lead | LASHED | (a sled H)* |
Mastiffs primarily upset makeshift cradle | MANGER | M + anger |
Jewish texts speak of a sign in the sky northwest of Canis Major and Orion | TORAHS | Taurus homophone |
A Vice Admiral with Red Setter attending Church of England is a sin | AVARICE | A + VA + R + I + CE |
Mathematicians and chefs at times put up resistance to people who control their dogs | CURBERS | cubers + R |
Made a dog into a God, for example... or the other way around; it's the same thing | DEIFIED | same both directions |
Great Dane's tail entrancing ER staff is relevant | GERMANE | G + E containing ER + man |
Again bring into line strange forces overwhelming Underdog initially | REFOCUS | forces* + U |
Chinese breed drops plush tail for a massage | SHIATZU | Shih Tzu with H changed to A |
Dog measurement taken by hand — in other words, length | SPANIEL | span + i.e. + L |
Arizona is getting short mixed breed with height and angles used to locate points | AZIMUTHS | AZ + IS containing (mutt curtailed + H) |
Disdainful spelunker takes Boxer | CAVALIER | caver containing Ali |
Running out of energy, drinks water like a dog in last part of spring | ELAPSING | P + leading, D changed to S |
The answers can be arranged into sets of transdeletions with three words. The letter removed for the first transdeletion runs from A-M. By ordering the sets by these letters, the words can be arranged into a Laddergram style grid:
ANIMA | A | MAIN | I | NAM |
CURBERS | B | CURSER | S | RECUR |
CHEST | C | SETH | T | SHE |
LASHED | D | HEALS | H | SEAL |
GERMANE | E | MANGER | M | RANGE |
REFOCUS | F | COURSE | U | SCORE |
ELAPSING | G | SPANIEL | S | ALPINE |
TORAHS | H | ROAST | O | STAR |
DEIFIED | I | DEFIED | F | EDDIE |
BENJIS | J | IBSEN | S | BIEN |
FLUKE | K | FUEL | U | ELF |
CAVALIER | L | AVARICE | E | CAVIAR |
AZIMUTHS | M | SHIATZU | Z | HIATUS |
The letters removed in each second transdeletion in this order spell the answer: ISTHMUS OF SUEZ