The usual high-class Dac puzzle, with as always a succession of natural and deceptively simple surfaces.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | SNOWDRIFTS — (winds frost)* — frost? I suppose in the sense that snow itself is caused by a sort of freezing process |
| 7 | M(IS)O |
| 9 | S(TRIP)E |
| 10 | LEAF SPOT — (fleas)* pot — I’m not quite sure how this works: ‘pot’, surely not ‘pot plant’, is cannabis, but since the definition is presumably ‘fungal disease’ then I suppose it really is ‘pot plant’, although all the dictionaries give pot = cannabis. |
| 11 | W RAP |
| 12 | SMOKE ALARM — (Korma meals)* |
| 13 | P(L)UT ARCH |
| 15 | O READS |
| 17 | MY O PIC |
| 19 | R UR A LIST — is this ‘a list’ [= an inclination] following ‘R’ [river] ‘Ur’ [city]? Not sure |
| 21 | CHIC HE STER{n} — Sir Francis Chichester |
| 24 | GO ON |
| 25 | O P(TIM IS)M |
| 26 | thirD-RATE Pyrotechnics — hidden rev. |
| 27 | GO SH{y} — def. ‘My’ as in ‘My!’ |
| 28 | UNSALARIED — (ladies run a)* — here ‘group’ is in the imperative |
| Down | |
| 2 | NATURALLY — 2 defs |
| 3 | WHIP PET |
| 4 | REELS — 2 defs |
| 5 | FEL(L)ON HARD TIMES |
| 6 | STAGE DOOR — aged in (Roots)* |
| 7 | MOSELLE — (OM)rev. selle{r} |
| 8 | S{pray} POOR — here and in 10ac Dac uses ‘on’ in a way that some people disapprove of: they say that ‘A on B’ can only be ‘BA’, but evidently Dac (as well as Azed) disagrees with this pedantic injunction; so do I, for what it’s worth. Actually this is a down clue, so ‘on’ here means ‘on top of’, but even if it were an across clue it would still in my opinion be OK. |
| 14 | RICHE LIEU — which is I think the French for ‘wealthy environment’ |
| 16 | DISCOURSE — “diss coarse” |
| 18 | PECKISH — ref. Gregory Peck |
| 20 | LIGHTER — 2 defs |
| 22 | steamsHIP POssibly |
| 23 | RE(P)EL |
Excellent puzzle from Dac, a little easier than sometimes. Saw RURALIST as you did. Re SPOOR, no problem at all in a down clue with ‘on’ as used here.
26.Petard.
It may produce some third-rate pyrotechnics if backfirig (6)
In addition to being a hidden word reversal, I got a giggle out of the use of the term ‘backfiring’.
Petard comes from an old French French word for ‘expulsion of intestinal gas’
Excellent as always, although RURALIST defeated me until I came here!
RICHE + LIEU is just “rich” + “place”, I don’t think it’s a real term in French per se, but I could be wrong.
I wasn’t sure how SPOOR could be “scent”: both Chambers and Collins have it as being somebody’s trail, but specifically a visible one, as opposed to a smelly one.
1a is an anagram “winds frost”. I enjoyed this puzzle.
26ac Joseph Pujol, anyone?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_P%C3%A9tomane
My only slight quibble was with oreads. The good really threw me because I was convinced the second letter had to be a g. I’m not sure how justified the good is: I’ve heard people refer to a good book as “good read” but I’ve never heard anyone just say that it was a read.
Chambers Thesaurus gives
follow the scent
track, trail, trace, spoor
Dac outdid himself; with several clues qualifying as &lit