So, it’s the Don filling Dac’s last Wednesday of the month slot this time.
We found this trickier than the average Quixote, with several head-scratching moments, particularly over the parsing of 1d. However, all the clues were fair and there were two good cryptic definitions – or should we call them ‘&lits’?
We’d never come across one of the definitions in 3ac, so we needed a bit of help from Chambers for that. Otherwise, some good surfaces and an enjoyable Wednesday challenge.
| Across | ||
| 1 | Plant book rating only 4/10 | |
| OKRA | Hidden within the clue boOK RAting – The 4/10 refers to the fact that only 4 letters are used out of a possible 10! | |
| 3 | No-hope candidates giving messages better not received? | |
| SPOILERS | Double definition – although we had to check this! Apparently, in the US, a spoiler is a third candidate in a two-way election who only stands in order to reduce the number of votes for one of the main contenders. | |
| 10 | Helpful type married a woman in hospital | |
| SAMARITAN | M (married) + A + RITA (woman) in SAN (hospital) | |
| 11 | Bill, drunk, knocked over operatic singer | |
| TOSCA | AC (bill) + SOT (drunk) reversed or ‘knocked over’ | |
| 12 | After playing, pianists shared bits of food | |
| DANISH PASTRIES | An anagram of PIANISTS SHARED – anagrind is ‘after playing’ | |
| 13 | Tree as located at front of enclosure | |
| ASPEN | AS + PEN (enclosure) | |
| 15 | A bit of carpentry maybe in naughty dance club? | |
| LAP JOINT | A play on the fact that a LAP JOINT is used in carpentry but could also possibly describe a club where lap dancing takes place. | |
| 18 | Commanding Officer leads something going down, holed vessel | |
| COLANDER | CO (Commanding Officer) + LANDER (something going down) | |
| 19 | Skin in the morning inflamed, when seen in reflection | |
| DERMA | AM (morning) + RED (inflamed) reversed or ‘seen in reflection’ | |
| 20 | Tiredness apt to be modified by a new sort of drug | |
| ANTIDEPRESSANT | An anagram of TIREDNESS APT – anagrind is ‘modified’ after or ‘by’ A + N (new). We were confused for quite a while thinking that ‘to’ was part of the anagram. | |
| 24 | Crime of minister leader ignored | |
| ARSON | ||
| 25 | I will need to celebrate with girl, that’s clear | |
| ISINGLASS | I + SING (celebrate) + LASS (girl) | |
| 26 | Determined about what this puzzle should be | |
| RESOLVED | RE (about) + SOLVED (what this puzzle should be) | |
| 27 | List not full | |
| LEAN | Double definition | |
| Down | ||
| 1 | Rock’s alleged King of Scotland’s set up in Scottish port | |
| OBSIDIAN | IDI’S (referring to Idi Amin, who is alleged to have declared himself the last King of Scotland) reversed or ‘set up’ in OBAN (Scottish port) | |
| 2 | Maybe Caesar and soldiers heading north over isle | |
| ROMAN | OR (other ranks – soldiers) reversed or ‘heading north’ + MAN (isle) | |
| 4 | Yearns for something useless | |
| PANTS | Double definition | |
| 5 | This could be changed in dingier store | |
| INTERIOR DESIGN | Cryptic definition – An anagram of IN DINGIER STORE – anagrind is ‘this could be changed’ – the interior design of a dingy store would probably be changed | |
| 6 | Oriental season with emperor briefly appearing | |
| EASTERNER | EASTER (season) + NER |
|
| 7 | Stamp shows mammal | |
| SEAL | Double definition | |
| 8 | In terms of how things are put across, there could be potential snare | |
| PRESENTATIONAL | An anagram of POTENTIAL SNARE – anagrind is ‘could be’ | |
| 9 | Dotty old Bob was an habitual boozer | |
| STIPPLED | S (shilling – the pre-decimal shilling (5p) was referred to as a ‘bob’ – remember ‘Bob-a-job week’?) + TIPPLED (was a habitual boozer) | |
| 14 | Poor signs could make this look bad | |
| PROGNOSIS | Another cryptic definition – an anagram of POOR SIGNS – anagrind is ‘could make this look bad’ – poor signs would make a prognosis look bad! | |
| 16 | Picture left – artist finishing with it | |
| PORTRAIT | PORT (left) + RA (artist) + IT | |
| 17 | Quiet worker may be biased | |
| PARTISAN | P (quiet) + ARTISAN (worker) | |
| 21 | One ousted divorcee maybe on French island | |
| EXILE | EX (divorcee maybe) + ILE (French for island) | |
| 22 | Stone article surmounting entrance | |
| AGATE | A (article) + GATE (entrance) | |
| 23 | Open market | |
| FAIR | Double definition | |
Just queried 23 and 27 in this one. Otherwise ok but not too exciting.
Thx
Thanks, both.
I can take a not too exciting puzzle once or twice a week, as long as it’s clearly clued, which this one generally was. I liked OKRA, and TOSCA for its nice story-telling surface. Couldn’t parse OBSIDIAN, so thank you for that.
A Test Match starting on a Sunday, Quixote on a Wednesday … the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse will be arriving soon.
Thank you to the setter for another WYSIWYG puzzle. For those not inclined to like such puzzles, there is a WYSINWYG crossword in Another Place today.
Thanks B&J and Q (sounds like the beginning of a pangram!). The 3a, 4d crossers were last in for me, for reasons similar to your comment. Some neat long anagrams here.
@Kathryn’s dad
Yes but what a really great puzzle it is. Probably some of the best clues I have ever seen!
Another excellent Don puzzle IMHO. The 3ac/4dn crossers were also my last ones in.
Add me to the list of those challenged by the 3A/4D crossers. I guessed 3A, could not see why, now think it an excellent clue. As for 4D, what is this obsession with the word “pants”? I’m sure it has appeared increasingly in Indy crosswords in the last couple of years, but hardly at all before that; others who’ve been doing Indys for much longer than me may have another view.
Although I have not lived in the UK for many years, I have returned several times and read a lot of UK publications and news but have not come across it outside Indy crosswords. I must be mixing in the wrong circles. Just how popular is this word in the UK? Is it best described as urban slang? What is its derivation?
Personally, I think it’s pants.
Thanks to Quixote and Bertandjoyce.
Yeah, 3ac, 4dn and 7dn held me up at the end and 3ac was the last, after a word search. Wasn’t familiar with the US definition, which slightly surprised me.
gwep@6: “Pants” seems to be school slang from about 20 years ago and now probably past its sell-by date. I remember an on-line discussion about the nineties TV series Sliders where someone said about a particular group of baddies, “They were creepy when they first appeared, but now have been anthropomorphised to pantsdom” a line that has stuck in my memory.
‘Pants’ is still current in our household, but I’ve never been sure of its origin. ‘Kathryn, that’s pants!’ Her three siblings are obviously capable of substituting a synonym if they are in the mood.
Pants gets used regularly by Paul in another place and quite a bit by the likes of Donk and other younger ish setters. Less Quixote and more one of Don’s other personas, took a while to get going.
Eimi certainly giving the regular spots a run around recently.