The usual excellent straightforward uncontroversial (I think) puzzle from Dac.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | BA SIC |
| 4 | REP LI(CAT)E |
| 9 | I NEX(AC)T |
| 10 | IN SHORT — ref. Clare Short |
| 11 | FINE TWIST — obviously a type of carpet, but the only dictionary I have to hand, the 1982 COD, doesn’t seem to give it |
| 13 | RepORT ONe — ref. Joe Orton, who might well be regarded as infamous |
| 14 | FOR INSTANCE — I think this is “instant” in “force” |
| 15 | S{lee}K 1 |
| 16 | S{orrowful} A{nd} D{ejected} |
| 17 | CORP ORATION |
| 19 | COW ER |
| 21 | INTIMATES — 2 defs |
| 23 | K(NOW)ING |
| 24 | WORRIED — W (I order)* |
| 25 | SHE ERNE SS |
| 26 | R(ERA)N |
| Down | |
| 1 | BRIEF — 2 defs |
| 2 | SEEING RED — (energised)* |
| 3 | CLAPTON — clap (not)rev. |
| 4 | R{e}A{c}T |
| 5 | POINTING OUT |
| 6 | IN STORE — 2 defs |
| 7 | A (DO) PT |
| 8 | EX TENSION |
| 12 | IN TERM {s}INGLE |
| 14 | FISH CAKES — (Kiss a chief)* |
| 15 | SAINTLIER — NT in (Israeli)* |
| 17 | CARRIER — 3 defs |
| 18 | A(D{ean} M{artin})IRER |
| 20 | WHOLE — “hole” |
| 22 | SE(D)AN — this battle |
| 24 | W IS — it’s in the COD, to my surprise |
John, a small typo at 14 across. It’s ‘instan’ (brief moment) not ‘instant’.
I was surprised at Wis too. It’s in Chambers as well as COD.
Yes, excellent, as always from Dac, I particularly liked KNOWING among many others. WIS and FINE TWIST were a bit unusual but Dac gave relatively easy clues to compensate.
I agree Dac is an excellent setter, but I usually find with his puzzles there are one or two clues whose cryptic grammar could be made a bit more rigorous with just a minor tweak or two. For example, for today’s SAINTLIER, I think “Holier-than-thou Israeli converts clutching part of bible” would work slightly better than “Holier-than-thou Israeli convert clutches part of bible”.