Independent 8,725 by Dac

by

As always on Wednesdays, which don’t seem to be suffering the upheavals of the other days.

I sometimes wonder whether to feign ignorance of the parsing of some clues, so that people will respond and tell me how they work It’s the only way people will be prompted to post when it’s a Dac day, for everything is so tidy and uncontroversial, although in this one there’s a question about 5dn.

Across

1 Briefly pose problem: what lives in a tree down under? (6)
POSSUM
pos{e} sum — a sum is not really a problem, but in Crosswordland it seems to be fairly widely accepted that it is

5 Wine and drug can start to react oddly (5,3)
GRAND CRU
(drug can r{eact})*

9 Kept going, having reduced fare to English port (6,4)
TICKED OVER
ticke{t} Dover — are fare and ticket quite the same thing?

10 Enjoyable dessert served after noon (4)
NICE
N ice

11 Surname of actress twice appearing where film is shot (6)
BISSET
bis set — ref Jaqueline Bisset

12 Australian territory, a small island overshadowed by another, facing west (8)
TASMANIA
(a s Man) in (ait)rev.

13 Worry a French test confused foremost among language experts (8)
UNSETTLE
un (test)* l{anguage} e{xperts}

15 Model’s endless spiel (6)
PATTER
patter{n}

16 After dance, brief plug for song (6)
BALLAD
ball ad

18 Student of marine life is drowning in a quantity of liquid (8)
AQUARIST
a quar(is)t

20 Tall fellow offering support for climbers (8)
BEANPOLE
2 defs

22 Girl out to have a single fillet (6)
DEBONE
deb one — a debutante has (had?) a coming-out ball — to debone is to remove the bones from

24 Film is seen in movie theatre to begin with (4)
MIST
m{ovie} (is) t{heatre}

25 Low after fight, imprisoned by a nationalist leader (5,5)
ANWAR SADAT
a n(war sad)at

26 Generous rector in church, coming in to work (8)
PRINCELY
p(r in CE)ly

27 Policeman considered capable, though not entirely (6)
REDCAP
Hidden in consideRED CAPable — the Royal Military Police

Down

2 View old apron, say, that’s being worn (7)
OPINION
o “pinny” on

3 Comic actor in extremely silly film (5)
SYKES
s{ill}y Kes — Eric Sykes and the film Kes

4 Thought tide turned, in United’s case (9)
MEDITATED
(tide)rev. in mated

5 Let slip how to throw a match? (4,3,4,4)
GAVE THE GAME AWAY
2 defs — Gave is what the website says, but surely it’s Give

6 A king portrayed on artist’s tapestry (5)
ARRAS
a r RA’s

7 Darts once played in northern location (9)
DONCASTER
(Darts once)*

8 Have a rest in park, near boundary (7)
RECLINE
rec [reation ground] line — line = boundary as in “crossing the line/boundary”

14 Heather introduced by John, singer and jazz musician (9)
ELLINGTON
El(ling)ton — John. singer, is Elton John

15 Rifleman, perhaps, in place supervised by monarch (9)
PLUNDERER
pl. under ER — rifleman in the sense of someone who rifles through things

17 During renovation, retile a workshop (7)
ATELIER
(retile a)*

19 Christmas visitor welcoming a new group (7)
SANTANA
Sant(a n)a — this group

21 American Indian carried by Appaloosa, generally (5)
OSAGE
Hidden in AppaloOSA, GEnerally

23 Name of play by Ibsen (5)
BRAND
2 defs

*anagram

15 comments on “Independent 8,725 by Dac”

  1. John, re 5 down

    Let slip can just as easily be past tense, so give or gave would be ok. You can’t prove it either way since there are no crossers to help.

    Unless I am missing something. this is an ambiguity very rare in Dac.

  2. Well yes Conrad the first part is fine and can of course fit, but how can “how to throw a match” be “gave the game away”? My guess is that Dac had it right all along and the person at The Independent who fills in the grid got it wrong.

  3. I suspect there is some unpaid intern being hung up by their thumbs now John, deservedly so.

    Commenting on setters who provide consistently tidy and uncontroversial is always a bit difficult but I was tickled by PLUNDERER so that’s made it easier.

  4. The only way GAVE can be acceptable for 5dn is if the clue is a CD in the past tense, but that would be uncharacteristically sloppy cluing from Dac when “let” can be both past and present tense. I read the clue as a DD and that leads unequivocally to GIVE. When I entered my LOI, BRAND, and didn’t get the congratulatory message I thought it must have been wrong because I didn’t know the Ibsen work and I’d got the answer from “name” alone.

  5. Agree with John and Andy B re 5D. Had exactly the same experience as Andy B – BRAND last one in. Then, when I didn’t get the message, checked Ibsen’s plays and found it was right. Went back over all other clues looking for typos.

  7. Another “give” here.

    Couldn’t parse 9ac – didn’t make the connection from ticket to fare! But not helped by at first having entered 6dn wrongly. (I managed to enter a single ‘r’ and a double ‘s’, don’t know why.)

  8. I have to confess that I was the functionary that got it wrong. Dac supplies his puzzles as Word files and I have to draw and fill the grids in Crossword Compiler. Regular users will know that when you think you have chosen one word or phrase, another possibility at the top of the alphabetical list will often be selected and inserted into the space accidentally. As ‘Gave’ would be before ‘Give’ I assume this is how it happened. Mea culpa.

  9. So I take it tomorrow’s paper will have the wrong solution. Thanks Dac & john, a tad more tricky than most Dacs for me, can’t really think why now a few hours later.

  10. I too found this one a bit more tricky than your usual Dac.

    I liked OPINION today, because ‘pinny’ is a wonderfully old-fashioned word that reminds me of our mam.

  11. Yes, a bit trickier than your average Dac. Couldn’t quite parse TASMANIA.

    My favourite today was ELLINGTON, which no doubt says something about my musical tastes.

    Thanks, Dac and John

  12. Well, eimi (@8), I am rather perplexed.
    Dac, the man that gave us so many delightful puzzles, supplies these in Word?
    That gives you something to do, innit? 🙂
    But surely Dac must have heard of Crossword Compiler and the wonders of it? Why doesn’t he just use it? There’s nothing difficult about it if you want to create a standard crossword.
    I am really perplexed.

  13. Not for you eimi the appalling “never apologise, never explain” philosophy that so many espouse. And more power to your elbow.

  14. Thanks to Duncan and Gaufrid have just been able to do this (confounding my local library’s kleptomaniac) – well worth the wait!
    I entered GIVE with certainty – one advantage of always tackling on paper (no lack of congratulatory message to confuse). Nice to be reminded of Eric Sykes – 3dn describes his ‘The Plank’ beautifully. He was, with Dave Allen and Peters Cook and Sellers, amongst the favourites I shared with my father when I was a boy. Late, but heartfelt, thanks to Dac and John.

  15. Cryptic on line would be a bonus, as paper version is hard to read and is usually against the staples.

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