Independent 7569 by DAC

by

After the apprentice comes the master, sorry Tyrus no slight intended..

I had real problems typing this up and was getting ready to throw the laptop out the window,  I’m better now 🙂 Some lovely stuff here as per.

Across

1 Hombre BR in Home – Man in more Spanish parts of the US
4 Bravado V (iscount) in (ABROAD)*
9 Round Down Cryptic def Round (plump) and sad (down)
10 Let on L + ETON
11 Test Out TE(a) + STOUT
12 Finance N in FIANCE
13 Middle of the Road Like the Abbey Road cover picture.
16 Second Violinist (IS SO INCLINED TO  + V(olume))*
19 Jumpier I in JUMPER
20 Roaster No D in ROA(d)STER
22 Largo Hidden in popu(LAR GO)spel
23 Institute (SIT IN)* + TUTE(e)
24 Pension PEN + IS rev + ON
25 Septet EP + (contrac)T in SET
Down
1 Hard Times (M(illions) READ THIS)* and &LIT very nice.
2 Mauls Hom Malls
3 Red Poll (OLD LP)* after ER rev
4 Benefit Tourist (BRIEF STINT OUT E)*
5 Allende This woman I guess http://womenshistory.about.com/od/writers20th/p/isabel_allende.htm ALL + ENDE(d)
6 Antonioni This man http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000774/ (NATION)* + ON + I
7 Ounce ONCE around (bar)U(ndi)
8 Loft Conversion OFT in L CONVERSION (translation)
14 Decameron DE ( of French) + CAMERON
15 Detergent DETER GENT
17 Nairobi NOB (jack) + I around AIR to keep cool. Odd, airing cupboards keep things warm
18 Imagine I’M AGIN (against) E, I think. Not really convinced on this one.
19 Julep JP around (r)ULE
21 Trust Hom Trussed

24 comments on “Independent 7569 by DAC”

  1. Thanks flashling for the blog, and Dac, dependable as always with a nicely pitched puzzle.

    Favourites were 13A MIDDLE OF THE ROAD, 16A SECOND VIOLINIST, and 1D HARD TIMES, the latter 2 being &lits with beautiful surface readings.

    18D IMAGINE I was trying to link Orient with Leyton, Cockney London, thus ‘IM AGIN E, except that’s what you might say of an Orient rival, not what ‘e might say?

  2. 2d is surely a deliberate not-homophone. 18d doesn’t work for me at all. Other than thata very pleasant solve.

  3. Yes, this was excellent as usual. Not only had I no problems with understanding the clue for IMAGINE which I saw exactly as the blogger did, but I marked it down as a favourite today. Also esp liked ROUND DOWN, TEST OUT, JUMPIER, BENEFIT TOURIST, and DECAMERON. Re sidey’s point at comment 2, re 2 down MAULS, I think some pronounce malls just like that, certainly they do in the US, and it would have maybe spread across the pond and also be familiar from TV. Thanks for the blog, Flashling, and Dac for the puzzle.

  4. I thought imagine was OK. It doesn’t have to relate to football, if you just take Orient to be a synonym for East and agin is a way in which some people say “against”. I also liked 11 across – I thought the “a short” (i.e. short of an a) was very clever.

  5. According to the Merriam-Webster audio pronunciation thingy, mall and maul are not homophones in cousin-speak. I’m sure it’s a rather good joke, not that it matters.

  6. Chambers gives the same pronunciation as for MAUL as one possibility for MALL, highlighting the US origin of that, but I won’t get into an argument with M-W audio pronunciation for sure…

  7. Thanks flashling and Dac.

    I couldn’t see the parsing for ‘imagine’, and yours seems as satifying as it gets. Other than that, perfectly clued.

    Re ‘mall’, when I was young it was an arcade, or shopping precinct or similar. I’ve only heard it pronounced on TV, but I automatically say it to rhyme with ‘hall’. Phonetically, it’s the final ‘ll’ that drags the ‘a’ out and flattens it, as also happens in words like ‘talk’ etc.

  8. I’ve always had Pall Mall rhyming with pal but a shopping mall esp US rhyming with Paul but perhaps I just don’t speak proper 🙂

  9. Thank you flashling. Glad you got over your computer rage.

    Super puzzle as always from the Wednesday Wunderkind. IMAGINE was the one I couldn’t parse, but now that you’ve explained it, I think it works for me. HARD TIMES was exceptional, and I also liked the anagram for SECOND VIOLINIST.

    Thanks as always to Dac.

  10. Thanks DAC and flashling; I agree with your pronunciation @8.

    Those of us around in the sixties could not fail to remember Antonioni’s ‘Blow Up,’ so I didn’t need much help with that clue. Likewise, I think Isabel Allende is a pretty well-known author, even to an ignorant scientist such as me. I liked the surface of 20.

  12. Well @10 Robi I’m (only!!) 48 so around in the 60’s is technically true; hey I’m a mathematician, but I thought Allende might be less well known – I certainly didn’t know she was Chilean. Must have seen blow up but don’t remember it at all.

  13. @ Robi 11 I’ve asked my french female friend (it was 27 years ago – still grieving) and she thinks not. But who knows what was in DAC’s mind. A demain mes amis.

  14. Yes, I was around in the sixties although I think most of it must have passed me by. Thanks for your blog 🙂 – I hadn’t realised that Isabel was the niece of Chilean president Salvador Allende until I followed your link.

  15. Hi Robi@11. I think ‘de’ for ‘about’ is acceptable, as in ‘parler de’=’to talk about’ more often than ‘to talk of’

    I’ve been thinking of monosyllables ending in ‘-all’ that might rhyme with ‘Al’ as in ‘Albert’, but none came to mind:

    TALL
    SMALL
    HALL
    FALL
    SQUALL
    CALL…

    Pall Mall didn’t come to mind – could it be the exception that proves the rule, as we English teachers so often find ourselves saying?

  18. ‘Phall’ as well, if you’re into a bit of curry now and again. Not always spelt that way, I’ll admit. And not necessarily in the English dictionaries either. But … oh, never mind.

  19. I had a phall once. I like hot dishes but that was something else! It’s impossible to describe. My best shot would be the difference between that and a vindaloo would be scanning the headline in the Sun and solving a Nimrod. And take longer to digest. I know TMI.

  20. Agree with Stella Heath @16: de=about is ok ; I’ve looked in my french dictionary and of the 23 uses of “de” I can only find it in the context noted by Stella,so it’s not the most obvious.
    Excellent crossword and liked 23ac roaster.

  21. Thanks flashling.
    Usual good stuff from Dac,with,surprisingly,a couple of contentious clues – 18 and 2 down.Must be one of the first times I’ve seen any discussion here about any of Dac’s clues.
    My (very minor) quibble would be with a different aspect of 2 down i.e. a scrum is not a maul.They are 2 totally different types of play in rugby.A scrum is a set piece whereas a maul forms in open play.

  22. Scarpia, being a Leicester tigers fan I was wondering when someone would comment on that. But didn’t want to create a ruck(us). I agree though a scrum and a ruck and a maul are not the same things at all however I let that go for the blog.

  24. Thanks nmsindy for clarifying that.I checked in Chambers before posting my comment and it only mentioned the rugby definition.I know the Indy uses Collins as its dictionary of choice but I don’t have a copy.
    I should have trusted Dac,he is always so precise!

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