It’s been a tough week so far in the Indy, but a good one. Dac’s puzzles are generally on the easier side, but never anything less than brilliant. I found the right hand side quite tricky in parts here. There are some great clues as always, 5A being my particular favourite.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | COPPED – P in COPED | |
| 5 | PARAGUAY – A in PARA GUY | |
| 9 | HARASSES – ASS in HARES | |
| 10 | GRAHAM – (ARMAGH)* | |
| 11 | BOTTLE – Cryptic def. | |
| 12 | KREUTZER – Double def. I had to cheat on this one, having never heard of the sonata or the medieval coin! | |
| 14 | GROUNDSHEETS – ROUND SHE in GETS | |
| 17 | OPEN SANDWICH – OPEN (golf tourney) + SANDWICH (golf course) | |
| 20 | MONTAGUE – U in MONTAGE | |
| 22 | POPPET – POP + PET | |
| 23 | CINEMA – (MEN)* in C.I.A | |
| 25 | ACADEMIC – CADE in AMI + C | |
| 26 | IMPARTED – 1 M, then PARTED | |
| 27 | ENSIGN – Hidden reversal in traiN GIS NEarly | |
| Down | ||
| 2 | ORATOR – Hidden in mORATORium | |
| 3 | PLANTAGENET – PLANT (works) + A GENET | |
| 4 | DESDEMONA – DEMO in (DANE’S)* | |
| 5 | PUSHKIN – PUSH KIN | |
| 6 | ROGUE – [-b]ROGUE | |
| 7 | GOA – GO A[-t] | |
| 8 | AMARETTO – A.M + OTT ERA rev. | |
| 13 | TREEHOPPERS – [-c]HEER rev. in TOPPERS | |
| 15 | SAILPLANE – (PAL IS)* + LANE | |
| 16 | APHORISM – HO. in A PRISM (character in The Importance Of Being Earnest) | |
| 18 | DIE HARD – (I HEARD)* + D | |
| 19 | HEWING – [-t]HE WING | |
| 24 | ETA – Double def. | |
Great blog, Ali, and great puzzle, quite difficult esp on the RHS from 12 across downwards. I’d to go for help with that too tho there is apparently a fairly recent film called the 12 across sonata. Favourites COPPER, POPPET, SAILPLANE, HEWING.
Thanks, Ali. I did find this quite tricky and had to quit with four or five left in the NE corner. I guessed 13dn had to be something ending in HOPPERS, but couldn’t see it; and 5dn was amusing. I’ve only come across PET for ill humour in crosswords; here in rural Derbyshire you’re in a MARD, resulting in the excellent compound noun MARD-ARSE to describe someone for whom not all is well with the world.
Very good as always from Dac.
Another excellent puzzle which confirms the wisdom of my switch to the Indy from the Times – hard to do after a lifetimes addiction to the Times crossword.
The usual excellent stuff from Dac. My own fault really, but I took ages to get the Beethoven sonata: for some unaccountable reason I assumed it was a piano sonata, so could only think of Pathetique, Moonlight, Waldstein etc.
As usual, Dac served up a delightful dish. My only query is POPPET … Chambers does not support “fit of ill humour”
KREUTZER had me baffled for a bit, but as soon as I got the K from PUSHKIN I could have kicked myself. Useless information dept: Puskin’s compatriot Tolstoy wrote a short story called “The Kreutzer Sonata”.
Back to the crossword: Favourite clue APHORISM.
PET = fit of ill humour
GOA from GOAD = Drive
Well spotted, Bryn Jones!