Independent 8659 / Dac

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It’s Wednesday – it’s Dac

 

 

 

This puzzle is  a good puzzle for the less experienced solver.  I think solvers with long experience of Dac will have found this towards the easier end of his spectrum.  The wordplay was not too complex, the most detailed being BOUQUET (28 across) and CALLAGHAN (2 down) which each had three components and a construction other than straight additive.  For me, a couple of the definitions were a bit wooly – e.g. conveyance for SHIPMENT and GEOF for Boycott in the wordplay for IN CHARGE OF.  I have always thought it to be GEOFF for Boycott, put perhaps the question mark in the clue permit the single F.     Afternote: As Kathryn’s Dad correctly points out at comment 1, there is a bit of the clue I just didn’t read. The bit about ignoring one female ( F) clearly omits the second F. The parsing below has been updated

My last one in was SLAP as I debated with myself whether SNAP might do, but I decided SLAP for ‘make-up’ was the better bet.

It was good to see a triple definition – GRASS at 16 across.

Across
No. Clue Wordplay Entry
1

 

 Queen perhaps confronted going round estate? (4,4)

 

 FACED (confronted) containing (going round) CAR (possible an estate CAR)

FACE (CAR) D

 FACE CARD (a Queen is a FACE CARD in a deck of CARDs)

 
5

 

 Beastly types in job, wasting time (6)

 

 HIP (knowing; in) + (POST [job] excluding [wasting] T [time])

 

 HIPPOS (animals; beastly types)

 
10

 

 Exotic tales in a small collection of books (6)

 

 Anagram of (exotic) TALES contained in (in) (A + S [small])

A (TLASE*) S

 ATLASES (although a single ATLAS is a collection of maps, it is itself a book so the plural ATLASES is a collection of books)

 
11

 

 Turned on former partner summoned to appear in court (7)

 

 EX (former partner) + CITED (summoned to appear in court)

 

 EXCITED (turned on)

 
12

 

 Make-up? Exactly (4)

 

 SLAP (exactly or directly [Collins])

 

 SLAP (stage make-up [theatre slang])

 
13

 

 A Liberal leads diplomatic mission, it’s claimed (10)

 

 A + L (Liberal) + LEGATION (diplomatic mission)

 

 ALLEGATION (something that is claimed)

 
15

 

 Conveyance making them spin about (8)

 

 Anagram of (spin about) THEM SPIN

 

 SHIPMENT (consignment; is ‘conveyance’ really a definition of ‘shipment’?)

 
16

 

 German writer that could be bent, one tells the police (5)

 

 GRASS (reference Günter GRASS [1927 – date], German author); GRASS (bent is a type of GRASS)

 

 GRASS (one who informs [the police])  triple definition

 
19

 

 Former tennis champ‘s aim to join in leagues (5)

 

 END (aim) contained in (join in) (L [league] + L [league] to give leagues)

L (END) L

 LENDL (reference tennis player Ivan LENDL, a champion predominantly in  the 1980s)

 
20

 

 Fascinating joint, say, getting endless attention (8)

 

 HYP (sounds like [say] HIP [joint]) + (NOTICE [attention] excluding the final letter [endless] E)

 

 HYPNOTIC (fascinating)

 
23

 

 Room temperature acceptable for red wine (10)

 

 CHAMBER (room) + T (temperature) + IN (acceptable)

 

 CHAMBERTIN (a dry red Burgundy from the vineyard of that name near Dijon.)

 
25

 

 One crosses top of mountain peak (4)

 

 ACE (one) containing (crosses) M (first letter of [top of] MOUNTAIN)

AC (M) E

 ACME (highest point; peak)

 
27

 

 Little-known book required in complicated course (7)

 

 B (book) contained in (required in) an anagram of (complicated) COURSE

O (B) SCURE

 OBSCURE (little-known)

 
28

 

 Smell of perfume that’s French, grabbed by British abroad (7)

 

 QUE (‘that’ in French) contained in (B [British] + OUT [abroad])

B OU (QUE) T

 BOUQUET (perfume given off by wine)

 
29

 

 Strongly Conservative constituent ultimately rather puny (6)

 

 T (last letter of [ultimately] CONSTITUENT) + WEEDY (puny)

 

 TWEEDY (predominantly upper class, a class strongly associated with the Conservative party)

 
30

 

 Father makes appeal to landlord, lacking pounds (8)

 

 BEG (appeal) + (LETTER [landlord] excluding [lacking] L [pounds sterling])

 

 BEGETTER (father)

 
Down
1

 

 Strawberry brandy is included in a variety of fare (6)

 

 IS contained in (included in) an anagram of (variety of) FARE

FRA (IS) E*

 FRAISE (a white brandy distilled from strawberries)

 
2

 

 Former PM completely aghast?  Not half, when thrown into jail (9)

 

 (ALL [completely] + AGH [first 3 of 6 letters of {not half} AGHAST]) contained in (thrown into) CAN (jail)

C (ALL AGH) AN

 CALLAGHAN (reference James CALLAGHAN [1912 – 2005], Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1976 – 1979)

 
3

 

 Container of wine from Corsica – sensational (4)

 

 CASE (hidden word in [from] CORSICA SENSATIONAL)

 

 CASE (container of wine)

 
4

 

 Be determined to give crossword another go (7)

 

 RE (again] + SOLVE [finish a crossword] – give crossword another go

 

 RESOLVE (be determined)

 
6

 

 Boss over popular daily?  Boycott, perhaps, if only one female is employed (2,6,2)

 

 IN (popular) + CHAR (cleaner; daily) + GEOFF(reference GEOFFrey Boycott, cricketer) excluding (if only one) F (female)

 

 IN CHARGE OF (boss over)

 
7

 

 Recipe I used with favourite sort of dish (5)

 

 PET (favourite) + R (recipe) + I

 

 PETRI (a shallow glass dish with an overlapping cover used for cultures of bacteria)

 
8

 

 African appeal to recruit some Europeans (8)

 

 SUE (appeal) containing (to recruit) DANES (some Europeans)

SU (DANES) E

 SUDANESE (African)

 
9

 

 Setter – that’s me in the money (6)

 

 ME contained in (in) CENT (money)

CE (ME) NT

 CEMENT (anything that makes two substances or objects stick together; setter)

 
14

 

 Bewitched, a Hitchcock film (10)

 

 SPELLBOUND (a film [1945] directed by Alfred Hitchcock)

 

 SPELLBOUND (bewitched) double definition

 
17

 

 Car outing, touring battle site (9)

 

 Anagram of (touring) CAR OUTING

 

 AGINCOURT (site of battle [1415] in the Hundred Years War)

 
18

 

 During attack need censorship of information (8)

 

 LACK (need) contained in (during) BOUT (attack)

B (LACK) OUT

 BLACKOUT (censorship of information)

 
20

 

 Injured fellow had to nurse limb (6)

 

 HE’D (fellow had) containing (to nurse) ARM (limb)

H (ARM) ED

 HARMED (injured)

 
21

 

 Under pressure, subject is easily influenced (7)

 

 P (pressure) + LIABLE (subject to and obligation)

 

 PLIABLE (easily influenced)

 
22

 

 Guide me over northern peak (6)

 

 ME + N (northern) + TOR (hill or rocky peak, especially on Dartmoor)

 

 MENTOR (guide)

 
24

 

 Passage I shall read aloud (5)

 

 AISLE (sounds like [read aloud] I’LL [I shall])

 

 AISLE (passage)

 
26

 

 River discovered by famous explorer (4)

 

 OUSE (hidden word in [discovered by] FAMOUS EXPLORER)

 

 OUSE (name of various river in England)

 

 

7 comments on “Independent 8659 / Dac”

  1. Morning Duncan – thank you for blogging.

    I agree with you – a fine puzzle that might not have detained experienced cruciverbalists for too long, but good for improving solvers. Plenty to enjoy: Dac’s clear clueing, a wide variety of devices, and as always, smooth surfaces.

    IN CHARGE OF works because ‘if only one female is employed’ is telling us to remove the last F from GEOF[F].

    I’m sure you meant to underline strawberry brandy as the definition in 1dn. I’d never heard of this, but since FRAISE is French for ‘strawberry’ then it didn’t detain me long once I’d checked it.

    Thanks to Dac for another pleasing puzzle.

  4. Agree that it was at the easy end, but still enjoyed. Thought ‘conveyance’ could be a noun meaning that which is conveyed, but not so, apparently, according to Chambers, so your reservation over this one is justified. Only a slight hiccup though.

    Thanks both.

  5. Fraise, along with Framboise, Poire etc is a clear eau-de-vie, sold in tall tapering bottles. The good stuff is excellent, the less good more akin to firewater.

  6. Another excellent Dac puzzle, although I agree it was towards the easier end of his spectrum. The online OED has CONVEYANCE as both a verb and a noun, and the first of its noun definitions says “the action or process of conveying” so the clue for SHIPMENT is fine. SLAP was my LOI after I considered but discounted “snap”.

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