I thought this was definitely a bit tougher than an average Dac. I struggled with a few of the lower answers here and I’d say 6D is not far from impossible without a decent geographical knowledge of France.
That being said, it’s Dac, so there’s plenty to admire. Of particular note are the very clever use of ‘fan’ and ‘wheels’ as anagram indicators, a lovely &lit. at 17A and, well, lots of great clues all over the place really.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | DUPER – (DUPER)* |
| 4 | BAFFLING – A FF (pair of females) in BLING |
| 8 | GEORGE HARRISON – (HEARS E.G RINGO OR)* |
| 10 | SALADIN – ALAS rev. + DIN |
| 11 | ICEFALL – (CAFE)* in ILL |
| 12 | DISCONTENT – N(ew) TENT attached to DISCO |
| 13 | BERG – Hidden in weBER German |
| 15 | YULE – Odd letters of YoU sLeEp |
| 17 | MEDICATION – C(old) in MEDIATION – &lit. |
| 20 | DEMONIC – DEMO + NiC[-k] |
| 21 | INDIGOS – IN (at home) + DIG (like) + OS (big) |
| 23 | PATERNITY LEAVE – Cryptic def. |
| 24 | UTILISER – IS in TILER joining U(nion) |
| 25 | PSEUD – “Sued” |
| Down | |
| 1 | DEGAS – S(ingular) + AGED rev. |
| 2 | POODLES – P(ressure) + OODLES |
| 3 | RIGADOON – RIG (dress) ON (being worn) without ADO |
| 4 | BEHIND THE SCENES – Cryptic def. |
| 5 | FOREIGN MINISTER – FOR + (STEERING)* on outside of MINI |
| 6 | LOIRET – I + RE: in LOT |
| 7 | NEONATE – N(ote) + ATE after EON |
| 9 | FLAGON – FLAG (colours) + ON |
| 12 | DRYADS – DRY (boring0 ADS (commercials) |
| 14 | HANDCLAP – HAND (offer) + C(old) + LAP (drink) |
| 16 | LAMBAST – LAMB + A ST(one) |
| 18 | INGRATE – I.N.G RATE! |
| 19 | UNREAL – (LAUREN)* |
| 22 | SPEED – S[-eemed] + DEEP rev. |
I found this easier than last week’s Dac, but I seem to be in better form at the moment than in recent weeks. 17 was the last one I got, but worth the wait when you saw how the clue worked. I also found 23 quite amusing, even though I’m not normally a fan of CDs.
Thanks, for the blog, Ali, and Dac for the puzzle. My favourite clue was POODLES. Did not find it esp hard, but did have to look up those French départements referred to in 6 down. Found it quite easy apart from one or two. I thought there was maybe a double element to 4 down with definition maybe being ‘in camera’ and the rest wordplay – it was a very good clue anyway which I got pretty quickly.
I had similar problems to Ali and Neil, with Loiret and Medication being the last in. I did get Loiret from the wordplay, never having heard of it, but this does not negate Ali’s point as I had heard of Lot.
I got medication after considering about 20 other –ation words. I thought it was just a feeble CD so thanks Ali for explaining the wordplay. Like NMS, I also saw Behind the Scenes as a DD.
I did enjoy the Paternity Leave CD.
Many thanks, Ali. Like you, I found this a bit more difficult than the usual Wednesday Dac, and had to come here for your explanations for two or three. I too was reduced to finding a list of French départements for LOIRET. But an enjoyable and well-clued puzzle nonetheless.
I don’t think anyone has mentioned that your anagram in 1 across should be prude*.
I’m among those who found this not especially hard; maybe I was just on Dac’s wavelength. My only hangup came in the northwest corner, needing RIGADOON to crack SALADIN and then POODLES, my last three in. My favorite clue was 8a, both from the use of ‘fan’ as an anagrind and from finding a Ringo in George Harrison.
Loiret’s certainly pretty tough for a normal weekday cryptic. I was helped by the fact that I used to stay in an incredibly cheap hotel in the centre of Paris called Grand Hotel du Loiret – it’s still there, but they made the disastrous mistake of refurbishing it, so it isn’t cheap any more. It’s a good clue though – he must have thought it was worth the (i.e. our) pain, as he could easily have had “loiter” instead.
Didn’t get Loriet as did this on the train with no reference books or internet to help.
Liked the steering wheels device.
Thanks Ali and Dac
Me too, ‘steering wheels’ a corker. A good solid Dac this one I think, and ‘hears eg Rongo’ my favourite for today.
Thanks for the blog. This is the first time I’ve tried an Indy crossword online (didn’t realise until now that they were available) and the first time for a couple of years that I’ve tried one at all. I’m not in good form at the moment, but even so was quite surprise how tough I found this. Struggled on quite a few clues, ended up putting guesses in to a few, and gave up completely on 6d, LOIRET.
Glad to find there’s another set of crossies I’ll be able to tackle each day.
This definitely seemed harder than the usual Dac and in the absence of references I didn’t get 6d – plumping for the mythical departement of Loisel as there is one called oise I think. Poodles was the last one in and I liked 4d and 23ac. Not being great on deducing things from wordplay alone I like double defs and cryptic defs. Thanks to Ali for the blog and Dac for another enjoyable puzzle.
I just posted but for some reason it got lost.
Had to look up Lot/Loiret. Otherwise easier than usual I thought, not that I was all that fast (23 minutes).
‘Stop’ is used in 17ac (Form of intervention to stop cold} to mean ‘going round’, rather than ‘filling’ as in stopping a tooth. Where is there a simple sentence that uses ‘stop’ in this way?
Started well, with 1a, 4a, 8a going in straightaway, but then took a while with the SE corner needing wordfinder assistance. Appropriate that PSEUD should be in a corner?