Not the easiest Dac puzzle, I thought. The explanation of two or three answers still eludes me, but no doubt someone will explain. The two symmetrical pairs of eight-letter answers look significant, but perhaps it’s just that the pairing is neat.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | C(AT L)OVER — I had to cheat on this |
| 6 | DETACH — (the cad)* |
| 9 | ART IE R — Art Garfunkel (even I knew that) |
| 10/11 | COMPOUND INTEREST — co m{oney} pound in (street)* |
| 12 | NO BALL — n{ot} o{ut} “bawl” |
| 13 | R(ED)T OP |
| 15 | LECTER{n} — ref Hannibal Lecter |
| 17 | DRY ROT — (tory rd)rev. |
| 19 | L A(HO)RE |
| 21 | BAS(QU)E |
| 22/24 | NATIONAL TREASURE — (leaves Tarantino)* sure |
| 25 | BRIG ID |
| 26 | AD HERE |
| 27 | S T(ENG)UNS |
| Down | |
| 2 | ARRANGER — but I can’t see why, apart from the fact that an arranger puts things in order |
| 3 | LEICESTER SQUARE — 2 defs |
| 4 | goVERNEss |
| 5 | RECITAL — another one whose explanation defeats me |
| 6 | DO MINI CAL{m} I think, although calf=skirt doesn’t quite ring true and perhaps it’s something else (Rubbish) |
| 7 | T(ROUBLE SH)OOTING |
| 8 | C(AND L{ight})E |
| 14 | PER SE CUTE |
| 16 | CROATIAN — (in a coat) around {Ma}r{ch} |
| 18 | TENDERS — 2 defs |
| 20 | WAR(RE)D |
| 23 | TA(B{aby})LE — how does table=dummy? |
I think arranger is rang in [c]arer, but also lost on why table=dummy.
6 is cal[m] rather than calf and 5 is rec (short for recreation ground, I think) ahead of Ital[y].
I raced through most of this but then got a bit stuck with 1,5,15,23 (because I didn’t understand it) and 25. Getting 1 got me going again and I managed to finish it. I was a bit confused by the homophone in 12 across because ball can also mean to shout, but you’ve explained it for me. In 25, I’d slightly criticise the use of ID as a synonym for passport, since clearly lots of other things (driving licences, ID cards) can be used as ID. I’d have certainly got the answer more quickly if it had said “passport, perhaps” as I wouldn’t have been sitting there thinking there is no synonym for passport.
Thanks for the blog, John.
On 1a, a COVER is a recording of song by someone other than the original artist, in full a cover version which then goes round AT L as per your explanation. That said, I don’t associate a cat lover with a queen fan…
I think 2d is CARER less C around RANG (called) and I think 5d is RECreation (park area) + ITALy.
I can’t improve on your explanation of 6d…
In 23dn, table=dummy as in the card game Bridge (confirmed in COED under dummy).
RE 23down: I assumed this was a reference to bridge (the card game) where “dummy” lays his/her cards on the table and those cards might be referred to as being “the table.”
By the time I’d finished typing, NealH had already posted his explanations – must type faster…
That’s why I posted it as lots of separate comments. I knew that if I didn’t press submit quickly, someone would beat me to it. In 2, the cal[m] is still shortened and mini is the skirt.
Lesson learned for next time!
Queen = adult female cat and a good prog band that sold out. Table = dummy eludes me and Collins. So far.
I’m going backwards at the minute – apart from Glow-worm on Monday, don’t seem to have finished an Indy for ages, and this Dac was too tough for me today. Hey ho …
I found this fairly easy until I came to my last three answers which took me quite a while, CAT LOVER, RECITAL, LECTER (that took me ages). Enjoyable and all stacking up as always from Dac. Favourites, CAT LOVER and RED-TOP.
I thought the run of clues from 7 to 18 down very good
I always enjoy Dac’s puzzles. The clues are accurate and meaningful and tend to use relatively straightforward constructions. We’ve been crossword colleagues for decades. This puzzle was indeed one of his harder ones, and I enjoyed it all the more. One little niggle — I really don’t like i.e. being defined by ‘that’s’. If you apply the subsititution test for a definition, I really do think you need the full version: ‘that is’. Pedantic maybe? Yes, but I’ll stick to my guns on thisnone.
Yes, that was sloppy, NealH. Of course skirt = mini and calm = still. Silly of me. I’ll adjust the blog.
Happy to have completed almost half of this puzzle!
Moose, you’re a mystery to me – to get all bar one of yesterday’s challenging Nestor but only half of what seemed to me like a much easier Dac today… well, it must prove something!