Independent 7,294/Dac
Posted by Ali on March 3rd, 2010
It’s been a tough week so far in the Indy, but a good one. Dac’s puzzles are generally on the easier side, but never anything less than brilliant. I found the right hand side quite tricky in parts here. There are some great clues as always, 5A being my particular favourite.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | COPPED – P in COPED | |
| 5 | PARAGUAY – A in PARA GUY | |
| 9 | HARASSES – ASS in HARES | |
| 10 | GRAHAM – (ARMAGH)* | |
| 11 | BOTTLE – Cryptic def. | |
| 12 | KREUTZER – Double def. I had to cheat on this one, having never heard of the sonata or the medieval coin! | |
| 14 | GROUNDSHEETS – ROUND SHE in GETS | |
| 17 | OPEN SANDWICH – OPEN (golf tourney) + SANDWICH (golf course) | |
| 20 | MONTAGUE – U in MONTAGE | |
| 22 | POPPET – POP + PET | |
| 23 | CINEMA – (MEN)* in C.I.A | |
| 25 | ACADEMIC – CADE in AMI + C | |
| 26 | IMPARTED – 1 M, then PARTED | |
| 27 | ENSIGN – Hidden reversal in traiN GIS NEarly | |
| Down | ||
| 2 | ORATOR – Hidden in mORATORium | |
| 3 | PLANTAGENET – PLANT (works) + A GENET | |
| 4 | DESDEMONA – DEMO in (DANE’S)* | |
| 5 | PUSHKIN – PUSH KIN | |
| 6 | ROGUE – [-b]ROGUE | |
| 7 | GOA – GO A[-t] | |
| 8 | AMARETTO – A.M + OTT ERA rev. | |
| 13 | TREEHOPPERS – [-c]HEER rev. in TOPPERS | |
| 15 | SAILPLANE – (PAL IS)* + LANE | |
| 16 | APHORISM – HO. in A PRISM (character in The Importance Of Being Earnest) | |
| 18 | DIE HARD – (I HEARD)* + D | |
| 19 | HEWING – [-t]HE WING | |
| 24 | ETA – Double def. | |
March 3rd, 2010 at 2:29 pm
Great blog, Ali, and great puzzle, quite difficult esp on the RHS from 12 across downwards. I’d to go for help with that too tho there is apparently a fairly recent film called the 12 across sonata. Favourites COPPER, POPPET, SAILPLANE, HEWING.
March 3rd, 2010 at 2:34 pm
Thanks, Ali. I did find this quite tricky and had to quit with four or five left in the NE corner. I guessed 13dn had to be something ending in HOPPERS, but couldn’t see it; and 5dn was amusing. I’ve only come across PET for ill humour in crosswords; here in rural Derbyshire you’re in a MARD, resulting in the excellent compound noun MARD-ARSE to describe someone for whom not all is well with the world.
Very good as always from Dac.
March 3rd, 2010 at 4:27 pm
Another excellent puzzle which confirms the wisdom of my switch to the Indy from the Times – hard to do after a lifetimes addiction to the Times crossword.
March 4th, 2010 at 1:10 am
The usual excellent stuff from Dac. My own fault really, but I took ages to get the Beethoven sonata: for some unaccountable reason I assumed it was a piano sonata, so could only think of Pathetique, Moonlight, Waldstein etc.
March 4th, 2010 at 6:22 am
As usual, Dac served up a delightful dish. My only query is POPPET … Chambers does not support “fit of ill humour”
March 4th, 2010 at 7:58 am
KREUTZER had me baffled for a bit, but as soon as I got the K from PUSHKIN I could have kicked myself. Useless information dept: Puskin’s compatriot Tolstoy wrote a short story called “The Kreutzer Sonata”.
Back to the crossword: Favourite clue APHORISM.