Independent 7,438/Dac

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There’s never a chance of a bad (or even average) puzzle with Dac, but he does like to throw in the occasional tricky one. I came completely unstuck on the NW corner here, due in no small measure to my inability to spot the double definition at 1A. There were one or two other tricky clues and slightly more obscure words as well, but all perfectly fair.

Across
1 COMPACT – Double def.
5 GAMBLER – AMBLE in belGRade
9 QUARTER PAST – QUART + REPAST with head spinning
10 WIN – W[-olves] + IN (home)
11 INCURIOUS – I think this is a cryptic def. though it’s a bit lost on me
13 HIPPO – HIP (in) + PO (river)
14 LATEX – LATE + X (ten)
15 JOAN MIRO – J(ack) +[-vettrian]O + (A MINOR)*
17 UNVARIED – (RUDE + VAIN)*
19 COTTA – Hidden reversal in thAT TO Clergyman’s
21 HEART – “Hart”
22 BOMBARDON – (MOB)* + BARD + ON (playing)
24 RUT – Initial letters of Routine Unremittingly Tedious
25 GREEN PLOVER – GREEN (inexperienced) + P(ressure) + LOVER (boyfriend)
27 BARRACK – R(epublican) in BARACK
28 ABSINTH – (IN BATHS)*
Down
1 COQUILLE – ILL in COQUE[-t]
2 MOA – MOA[-n]
3 ANTHRAX – AN + HR. in TAX
4 TURCO – (COURT)*
5 GRASSLAND – ASS + L(eft) in GRAND
6 MITCHUM – MIT + CHUM
7 LOW-SPIRITED – Cryptic def.
8 RUNYON – RUN (unrestrcited access) + YON (to that place)
12 COTONEASTER – TONE in COASTER
15 JAILBREAK – J(udge) + AIL + BREAK
16 FAR NORTH – A RN in FORTH
18 ANTIGUA – ANTI + GUA[-rd]
19 CHABLIS – CHA + BLIS[-s]
20 CHERUB – HER in CUB
23 MONZA – Hidden in leMON Zabaglione
26 VAN– VA[-1]N

13 comments on “Independent 7,438/Dac”

  1. Similar experience here, with the NW corner defeating me in the lunchhour – 1ac and 1dn were both tricky, I felt. 11ac is ‘incur-ious’, probably not the first time this has been used but enjoyable all the same.

  4. My usual lack of blinking before submitting….

    But I will add that the pangram helped me, when I was looking for an “F” in one of my last few answers, but when I got FAR NORTH (which made me realise I had 19A COTTA wrong – DATED? Well, it’s a bit retro and there’s DD there, errr…) I ran out of aid for the few in the NW corner I didn’t get (like most people it seems).
    Enjoyed this a lot more than the G this morning.
    Thanks to Dac & Ali and also to Jake for the
    http://www.crosswordsolver.info/
    link yesterday which makes getting it on paper when you haven’t the actual newspaper so much easier.

  5. Thank you for several explanations Ali.
    I had trouble spelling 12.
    For 11, I put in IOUS from debt, and added the rest ‘cos it fitted. Of course it’s INCUR.
    For 23. ‘stored’ seems to be extra to the hidden.
    Not heard of 1d, 4, and 22 I think.

  7. Another perfect puzzle from Dac. Every single surface smooth, elegant, unforced, economic and not a doubtful answer anywhere. Plus the bonus of a pangram to help! What more could anyone ask?

  8. Yes, tip-top puzzle, particularly liked how the wordplay was more straightforward for the new words (to me anyway) eg COTTA, BOMBARDON.
    Did not find it too difficult, favourite clues QUARTER PAST, CHABLIS.

  9. Thank you, Ali. I had a bit of a moan about a few clues in last week’s Dac, but the boy done good with this one, for sure. The only one I couldn’t see was RUNYON (for no good reason). INCURIOUS and HIPPO were brilliant (even if they have been done before, I’ve never seen them), but it’s the overall standard of the clueing that is a joy.

    I got GREEN PLOVER but then thought I’d look him up and found that it’s another name for the Lapwing, or Peewit. There are also a number of dialect words for the little fellow, including, somewhat alarmingly, HORNYWINK (Devon). Punk, where art thou?

  11. Not come across cotoneaster before but guessed from the clue. NMS never heard of a hornywenk either 🙂

    Unlike some didn’t have much problem with top half except for lack of knowledge of Joan Miro.

    At least this gave us a chance to finish it, so tomorrow do we get the usual thursday nightmare?

  12. Thanks Ali.
    Usual spot on puzzle from Dac(Mr. Consistent!).I even spotted it was a pangram(unusual for me).
    I often find Dac’s puzzles lead me on to further investigate some of the answers,which can often lead to some interesting finds.I knew of BOMBARDON as a kind of tuba but now know a bit more of it’s history
    http://factoidz.com/serpent-ophicleide-and-bombardon-ancestors-of-the-tuba/
    Myrvin re. 1 down – Have you never eaten Coquille(s)St.Jacques?
    Is Dac a geography teacher? His puzzles always seem to feature some geographical answers.

  13. Just finished this one in the i repeat. Much more solvable – and therefore enjoyable – than yesterday’s Mordred. Several words were new to me (bombardon, coquille, turco), but the clues made me pretty sure of them so I was happy with my answers. 🙂

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