As usual an apparently perfect crossword from Dac — nothing remotely controversial, strong anagrams, sound clues with good surfaces. How he does it week after week I just don’t know.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | RUMP US |
| 5 | VISCONTI — (is con) in ITVrev. |
| 9 | AGATHA CHRISTIE — c in (Hair a stage hit)* |
| 10 | (p)REPARATORY |
| 11 | cOPY That — hidden rev. |
| 12 | HAG GIS |
| 14 | IN DEB TED — I suppose the woman is a debutante rather than Deborah, since she’s young |
| 16 | RE W RITES |
| 18 | P(L)AYER |
| 19 | FIRE — 2 defs |
| 21 | PEARL WHITE — a silent movie star of whom I’d never heard |
| 23 | CAST LES(IN)S PAIN — utterly brilliant |
| 24 | R AS PUTIN |
| 25 | P(ELM)ET |
| Down | |
| 2 | UKASE — “UK’s” |
| 3 | PHALANGER — a in (Help gran)* |
| 4 | S(CH)NAPS — I’d thought it had a double p, but Chambers gives both spellings; Google gives 2.2 million entries for Schnaps (despite questioning whether I meant ‘Schnapps’), but only just over 1.5 million for Schnapps. It seems there are other references with one p. |
| 5 | VICTORIA STATION — (visit to Croatian)* |
| 6 | STRAYED — St (ready)* |
| 7 | (c)ONSET(t) |
| 8 | TAILPIECE — “tale peace” |
| 13 | AMERICANA — a in (rain came)* |
| 15 | B EACH BALL |
| 17 | TIP PETT(y) |
| 18 | PULLS UP — 2 defs |
| 20 | ESTOP — (topes)* |
| 22 | writTEN SEntences |
I read FIRE is F IRE strong criticism but I think your explanation may be right. Good puzzle, as always from Dac.
This never occurred to me. I’m not sure which is the right explanation, since both seem OK. Perhaps the 2 defs one is marginally more likely, since f is more ‘loud’ than ‘strong’, and ire is more ‘anger’ than ‘criticism’, and these are the sort of slightly off-key synonyms that I don’t associate with Dac.
I think you’re definitely right, John.