Independent 7,223 by Dac
Posted by Simon Harris on December 9th, 2009
I found this mostly quite straightforward, with lots of double definitions and simple charades. Still the final four took about as long as the rest put together.
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | FIVE TO – F + I + VETO. |
| 4 | SPATLESE – LES in PATÉS*. A potentially troublesome one, but several student years behind the counter at Victoria Wine served me well here! |
| 9 | ALLIER – dd/cd. Had to guess this one, but a quick check of the atlas confirms this to be an area – and river – in the Auvergne. |
| 10 | AIRSPACE – AIRS PACE. |
| 12 | TRATTORIA – TART< + hom. of "tory" + A. |
| 13 | MIDGE – (EG + DIM)<. |
| 14 | SPREADSHEETS – dd. |
| 18 | REGIME CHANGE – REGIME is EMIGRE*. Nice reverse cryptic. |
| 21 | CHINA – [ma]CHINA[tions]. |
| 22 | GIN PALACE – IN in (G + PAL + ACE). |
| 24 | ROUNDS ON – ROUND SON. |
| 25 | MAKE DO – dd. |
| 26 | RETIRING – RE-TIRING. |
| 27 | WREATH – hom. of “Reith“. |
| Down | |
| 1 | FLATTISH – LATT[e] in FISH. |
| 2 | VOLTAIRE – TA in OLIVER*. |
| 3 | TREAT – dd. |
| 5 | PRIVATE MEANS – PRIVATE + MEANS. |
| 6 | TEST MATCH – TEST + MATCH. |
| 7 | ELANDS – E. LANDS. |
| 8 | ELEVEN – [hot]EL EVEN[tually]. |
| 11 | DRESSING DOWN – dd. |
| 15 | ALEXANDER – dd. |
| 16 | IN CAMERA – AMERICAN*. |
| 17 | BEHEMOTH – BE + HE + MOTH. |
| 19 | SCORER – dd. |
| 20 | PIQUET – P + QUIET*. |
| 23 | ADAIR – hom. of “a dare”. Paul “Red” Adair, legendary firefighter. |
December 9th, 2009 at 10:32 am
Good one this – like you, Simon, I found it a bit more difficult to finish off than usual for Dac.
18ac is a great clue
December 9th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Loved 18 across! What a lovely and straightforward puzzle, enjoyed throrughly.
December 9th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
Great puzzle, as ever, from Dac. This one I found was on the easy side. Top marks from me too for REGIME CHANGE.
December 9th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
Yep, great stuff as ever from Dac. Had to guess at SPATLESE, but seemed the most obvious answer from the letters I had.
Loved 18A too!
December 9th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Thanks, Simon. Like you, got off to a good start but found the last half dozen or so more tricky. But a very enjoyable puzzle – and yes, 18ac is very clever now I see what’s going on.
December 9th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
I liked REGIME CHANGE too. Though a reverse cryptic, surely this is a good example of why there’s nothing wrong in principle with nouns as anagram indicators.