Independent 7659 / Dac
Posted by Gaufrid on May 4th, 2011
It looks as if something has prevented RatkojaRiku from being with us today so here is an analysis of the clues. In the interest of having something posted without too much further delay I have not added any commentary.
| Across | ||
| 1 | RIBALD | RIB (bone) *(LAD) |
| 4 | COLOSSAL | LOSS (deficit) in CO (company) A L (large) |
| 9 | VACANT | CAN (container) in VAT (another {container}) |
| 10 | SETTLING | L (lake) in SETTING (area) |
| 12 | RUNG | RUN (ladder) G[ingerly] |
| 13 | THEOLOGIAN | *(GOT IN A HOLE) |
| 15 | AIR-SEA RESCUE | A *(SEE A CRUISER) |
| 18 | ARCHITECTURE | A [schola]R CHIT (note) [l]ECTURE (university session wanting first) |
| 21 | ALLHALLOWS | HALL (room) in ALLOWS (sanctions) |
| 22 | STIR | hidden in ‘deepeST IRan’ |
| 24 | PACK IT IN | KIT (clothes) in PACIN[g] (walkin’ up and down) |
| 25 | DORADO | DORA (woman) DO (party) – “the coryphene, a large edible marine fish, so called from its iridescent gold/blue colour when dying” or “the so-called golden salmon, a S American river fish (genus Salminus) of the Characinidae” (Chambers) |
| 26 | EMERGENT | REME (soldiers {Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers}) reversed GENT (man) |
| 27 | CRONIN | R[omances] in CON (read) IN (popular) – A J Cronin |
| Down | ||
| 1 | REVERSAL | RSA (arty group) in REVEL (celebration) – RSA: “Royal Society of Arts (officially the Royal Society for encouragment of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce)” (Chambers) |
| 2 | BACONERS | C (cold) ONE in BARS (pubs) |
| 3 | LANE | [p]LANE (tree lopped) |
| 5 | ONE-HORSE TOWN | cryptic def. |
| 6 | OUT TO LUNCH | cryptic def. & def. – ‘one sandwich short of a picnic’ and ‘out to lunch’ both mean slightly crazy |
| 7 | SKIP IT | SKI PIT (concealed danger on piste) |
| 8 | LEGEND | LEG (match) END (goal) |
| 11 | CHURCHILLIAN | H (aspiration) in CUR (rogue) CHILLIAN homophone of ‘Chilean’ (from South America) |
| 14 | RETREATING | double def. |
| 16 | QUATRAIN | QUA[d] (enclosed yard almost) TRAIN (rail) – “a stanza of four lines, usu rhyming alternately” (Chambers) |
| 17 | TEAR DOWN | [hous]E A RD (a road) in TOWN (urban area) |
| 19 | MAGPIE | double def. – “a hit on the penultimate outermost division of a target (shooting)” (Chambers) |
| 20 | CLOCHE | CLOC[k] (timepiece almost) HE |
| 23 | MOOR | homophone of ‘more’ (extra) |
May 4th, 2011 at 4:39 pm
Thank you so much for explaining the archery meaning of Magpie. A very slight anticlimax, if I’m honest, but good to have it settled – I suspected something like it but couldn’t find it anywhere online. I was beginning to wonder if there was a Radio 4 character called Mag Archer who’d been hit by a pie recently.
May 4th, 2011 at 4:48 pm
Indeed thanks Gaufrid as I couldn’t find anything for magpie either. Some normality returns with Dac back in his rightful place.
May 4th, 2011 at 5:24 pm
Good as always, my favourite being ONE-HORSE TOWN, esp the pun on ‘stable’. Nice to be reminded too of AJ Cronin, most of whose books I read quite a long time ago, but who seems to have faded somewhat from attention in recent times. Thanks, Dac, and Gaufrid.
May 4th, 2011 at 5:39 pm
Only got as handful out but should have got more.
7d I have never heard of ski pit -crevasse yes (but that would be off piste) in any country or resort I’ve skied in.
13d For me more is pronounced moar and moor is pronounced moo (as in cow noise)-er
Hadn’t come across baconers, cronin or quatrain .
Thanks for stepping in Gaufrid.
May 4th, 2011 at 6:33 pm
Re 7D, Bamberger, I think the ? in the clue is there to suggest the “SKI PIT” is fanciful.
May 4th, 2011 at 7:01 pm
Thanks Gaufrid for the blog, and Dac for his usual fine puzzle.
Last one in was MAGPIE whose 2nd definition was confirmed in the dicts. Favourites were 5D ONE HORSE TOWN, 6D OUT TO LUNCH, and 18A ARCHITECTURE.
Hi bamberger@4, I think that setters love to make up words like “ski pit”, which do not exist outside crosswordland, in furtherance of their craft!
May 4th, 2011 at 7:03 pm
Sorry nmsindy, crossed with your #5. Hate this iPad keyboard, takes ages!
May 4th, 2011 at 11:01 pm
Thanks Gaufrid and Dac for the usual faultless puzzle.
For those that couldn’t find it,the definition for MAGPIE is given on Chambers online
http://tinyurl.com/4ywk8fa
May 4th, 2011 at 11:45 pm
Good stuff as always from Dac, but I was unhappy with 12ac: ‘Step gingerly at first onto ladder’: Quite apart from the ‘onto’ which I don’t like and feel, despite dictionary evidence to the contrary, should be two words, it seems that ‘onto’ is a rather weak link-word. [Wordplay] onto [Definition] doesn’t seem right.
May 5th, 2011 at 12:04 am
I didn’t have a problem with 12a Wil. ‘Step’ is the def for RUNG, then there’s the G of ‘gingerly’ which goes ‘onto’ RUN (ladder). It’s largely accepted now that on(to) in an across clue indicates a juxtaposition instead of (as it was in the bad old days) offering a choice between left/right of the preceding fodder.
May 5th, 2011 at 1:20 am
Liked Pack it in particularly and architecture but was delayed a bit by initially putting ‘more’ rather than ‘moor’ in for 23d down. Seems that from the clue alone either could have been the entry. Is there anything in the precise wording of a clue like this that tells you which homophone to choose?
May 5th, 2011 at 7:56 am
Thanks, Gaufrid for the explanation of RUNG – I’d temporarily forgotten run=ladder and thought ‘step’ was doing double duty as definition and a doubtful synonym for ‘run’.
Bamberger @4: baconers are pigs intended for bacon, as opposed to porkers – those intended for pork. You would hear the term used in the market reports in ‘The Farming Programme’ (if they still have them – I’ve not heard the programme for years).
May 5th, 2011 at 10:37 am
Re ele’s comment at #11, MOOR did require some thought as to which to choose but I think it was unambiguous with ‘for’ leading from wordplay to definition. If it was the other way round, a link such as ‘of’ or ‘from’ would have been appropriate. In case clue is not ready to hand it was “Extra having audition for Othello, perhaps (4)”
May 5th, 2011 at 1:07 pm
Thanks to Gaufrid for plugging the gap. This shamefaced blogger simply got his days wrong – on account of the public holiday, no doubt – and turned up with his Dac blog today instead of yesterday. Am glad you enjoyed the puzzle in my absence and hope to be back with a blog next week, hopefully on the right day.