As always with Dac, a whole lot of transparently simple and elegant clues that leave one (me, at any rate) wondering how it was that they ever presented any problem. Yet some of them did, just the right amount, for they eventually fell, just as they should in a daily broadsheet cryptic.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | PACK — 2 defs |
| 3 | PA RAC(HUT)ED |
| 10 | OSMAN — (‘Nam so)rev. — founder of the Ottoman Empire |
| 11 | DREAMBOAT — 2 defs |
| 12 | PAST EU R — I was pleased to see this as I am using ‘to’ to mean ‘adjacent to’ in my January Azed clue — I had my doubts but if Dac can use it, well then it should be OK … |
| 13 | RUN-DOWN — 2 defs |
| 14 | OUT OF BOUNDS — 2 defs |
| 18 | DISTRIBUTOR — 2 defs |
| 21 | ON LEAVE — (a novel)* E |
| 23 | VER(BEN)A |
| 24 | S{candal} 1 MP LET ON |
| 25 | T{h}RACE |
| 26 | MAIN STREET — (terminates)* |
| 27 | HEAT — 2 defs |
| Down | |
| 1 | POOH-POOH — (hoop)rev. (hoop)rev. |
| 2 | C(AMPS)ITE |
| 4 | ANDERSON SHELTER — (near North Leeds)* around {fortie}s |
| 5 | A YEAR(1)N PRO VEN CE — quite brilliant |
| 6 | HE-MAN — h (name)rev. |
| 7 | THOLOS — tho’ (so{i}l)rev. — no, I hadn’t heard of it (either?) |
| 8 | DATING — 2 defs |
| 9 | UNDERFED — (refunded)* |
| 15 | SYBARITE — “sib a right” |
| 16 | ST(E’ER)AGE |
| 17 | OR(NAME)NT — there are some who would object to the use of NT for book, when the New Testament is a collection of books |
| 19 | P{ose} OS SUM |
| 20 | cALUMNIes |
| 22 | pAtRoLlErS |
Thanks, John. Absolutely in agreement – just the right amount of challenge, not a single ropy clue and some very clever surfaces.
Thanks for the blog, John. Excellent puzzle as always, esp liked RUN-DOWN, OUT OF BOUNDS, DATING.
An excellent summary of an excellent crossword. Thanks John and Dac! Loved 5D and 9D.
Another very enjoyable puzzle from a talented colleague, hitting the nina-free spot. No disrespect whatever, but I’d have clued NT by books rather than book (this is more than a theological nicety for the Church Times crossword editor!).
V. good. Don’t know why, but I really liked SIMPLETON. 🙂
I hadn’t heard of tholos either – but Google pointed me to Wikipedia; what would we do without them?
But to be a wee bit pedantic about 1ac, a group of Scouts is not a pack but a troop; ‘pack’ refers to Cubs, but as they’re officially called Cub Scouts I suppose we can let it pass.