Independent 8,964 by Dac

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Only yesterday I was reading the view of someone that we are in a golden age of crosswords. We are certainly in a golden age so far as Dac is concerned, since for the past several years he has almost weekly produced a perfectly-formed object.

Across
1 MAST
Post selection of Christmas tidings (4)

Hidden in ChristMAS Tidings
3 BRIDESMAID
Member of wedding party travels, with mother in command (10)

b(rides Ma)id
10 DIPLOMA
After brief decline, see graduate getting qualification (7)

dip lo MA
11 ALLENDE
Former president completely ruined? Not completely (7)

all ende{d}
12,13 GO OFF THE RAILS
Be mad to take sudden dislike to waders? (2,3,3,5)

2 defs, split after ‘mad’, one of them referring to the wading bird the rail
13  
See 12 across
16 SATIRE
Educated woman’s bowled over by European lampoon (6)

(Rita’s)rev. E — referring to the film Educating Rita
17 CALCUTTA
US state axed army in old port (8)

Cal cut TA — Calcutta reverted to the name Kolkata in 2001, so Calcutta is a fairly old name for the port
19 APPENDIX
A writer fills page ten in French section of book (8)

a p (pen) dix — ten in French is dix
21 PIQUET
Quite shocked by partner’s lead in card game (6)

p{artner} (quite)*
24,25 MAKES THE GRADE
Achieves satisfactory standard in new Maths, Greek and – after vacation – English (5,3,5)

(Maths Greek a{n}d E)*
25  
See 24 across
27 ABIGAIL
She served David a litre of beer, you say? (7)

“a big ale”
29 CHOWDER
Soup: food cardinal rejected (7)

chow (red)rev.
30 ASTUTENESS
During day, ten can board a ship, showing intelligence (10)

a S(Tu(ten)es)S — I couldn’t see where the third s came from, but it’s Tues not the more common Tue
31 ENID
Mean biddy regularly withheld name (4)

{M}e{a}n {B}i{d}d{y}
Down
1 MADAGASCAR
Island briefly manufactured a vehicle without petrol (10)

mad{e} a gas car — a gas car is one that runs without petrol
2 SUPPORT
Champion winning in tennis, perhaps (7)

s(up)port
4 RIALTO
One singer at far end of Tower Bridge (6)

{Towe}r 1 alto
5 DIAZEPAM
Confuse old man swallowing one medium-sized tranquilliser (8)

D(1)aze Pa m [medium-sized] — I was going to say that if this abbreviation isn’t in Chambers I bet it’s somewhere, and now I see that it is in fact in Chambers
6 SOL
Note used in Peruvian currency (3)

2 defs
7 ANNULET
A repeated note lute played in small band (7)

a n n (lute)*
8 DYER
Colour expert is terrible, by the sound of it (4)

“dire”
9 CONFERENCE
Discussion about where indecisive people are found round about (10)

c [= circa, about] on fe(re)nce — indecisive people are found sitting on the fence
14 ACCRINGTON
Shortly feel embarrassed during play about Lancashire town (10)

ac(cring{e})t on
15 CATTLE PROD
Protect lad, waving implement – that’s shocking! (6,4)

(Protect lad)*
18 BIATHLON
A bit shattered, Henry covers only half of London sporting event (8)

(a bit)* H Lon{don}
20 PIANIST
Key player is overshadowed by very good worker (7)

pi an(is)t — a pianist uses piano keys
22 UGANDAN
Losing head, cuddle with a north African (7)

{h}ug and a N
23 REACTS
Gives response concerning statutes (6)

re acts
26 JAVA
Coffee tax reduced after agreement from Merkel (4)

ja VA{T} — agreement from Merkel is a German ‘yes’
28 APT
A small point that’s relevant (3)

A pt
*anagram

5 comments on “Independent 8,964 by Dac”

  2. Top grade stuff, of course, thanks to Dac, and John. Last answer: 11A/8D, Allende/Sol.

    Favourite clue: 12A Go off the rails. It reminds me of the summer I spent many hours trying to photograph a California Clapper Rail. The total world population was nine birds, and when I eventually found one, I jolly nearly trod on it.

  3. I always thought that if I was ever going to set a puzzle of my own I was going to clue “GO OFF THE RAILS” very much like Dac has done here. As ever, a quality offering from him DIAZEPAM was my LOI.

  5. Dac’s pangram has every letter present unchecked, which I’d thought was a “true” pangram.

    But a recent Toughie blog identified a “pangram” where a couple of the letters were only in checked squares.

    Is there a definitive definition of a pangram?

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