It’s the first Wednesday of a new month so Dac is back.
There were a lot of names, song titles or film titles in today’s puzzle which is unusual for Dac. Indeed I wondered if there might be a theme, but I can’t find anything obvious that links the names and titles.
What we did have though was a crossword full of elegant clues leading to well known words or phrases. For me, the most obscure entry was the song title at 21 across DON’T BE A STRANGER.
At 23 across VIRGINIA (US State) my first attempt turned the clue round to give HERMIONE (HER [female] + M1 [motorway; main road] + O [round shape] + NE [Nebraska, US state]). If the name HERMIONE was derived from the concept of innocence I was home. Unfortunately it wasn’t. Eventually the crossing letters led me to the right interpretation of the clue.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
|
1
|
Company with microphones for stand-up entertainers? (6)
|
CO (company) + MICS (microphones)
|
COMICS (stand-up entertainers)
|
|
4
|
Lifer condemned after bearing weapon (3,5)
|
AIR (bearing) + an anagram of (condemned) LIFER
|
AIR RIFLE (weapon)
|
|
9
|
Film with lots of laughter: it has ‘adult’ certificate (6)
|
LOL (textspeak which most references give as ‘laugh out loud’ and some also give as ‘lots of laughs’) + IT + A (adult, formerly used to designate a motion picture at a showing of which any child under 14 should be accompanied by an adult)
|
LOLITA (1962 film of the novel by Vladimir Nabokov) The film has an adult rating but I’m not sure how much laughter there is in it, so this may or may not be an &Lit clue.
|
|
10
|
Mishap I ultimately witnessed, in a manner of speaking (8)
|
(I + D [last letter of,{ultimately] WITNESSED]) contained in (in) ACCENT (manner of speaking) ACC (I D) ENT |
ACCIDENT (mishap)
|
|
11
|
Pop sensation taped by female group: a French song from the 70s (7,2,3,3) |
(Anagram of [pop] SENSATION contained in [taped by] SHES [a number of {group of} females) + UN (one of the French forms of ‘a’) S (EASONS IN T*) HE S UN |
SEASONS IN THE SUN (a [pop] song from the 1970s)
|
|
13
|
Upset on one occasion by record? Right (10)
|
DISC (record) + ONCE (on one occasion) + RT (right)
|
DISCONCERT (upset)
|
|
14
|
Country, one hit hard in revolution (4)
|
(I [one] + LAM [hit hard]) all reversed (in revolution) (MAL I)< |
MALI (country in Africa)
|
|
16
|
Travellers returning through Glamorgan (4)
|
ROMA (hidden word [through] reversed [returning] in GLAMORGAN) ROMA< |
ROMA (travelling people)
|
|
18
|
Sporting contest opening shortly in holiday area (5-1-4)
|
VENT (opening) excluding the last letter (shortly) T contained in (in) SEASIDE (holiday area) SE (VEN) A SIDE |
SEVEN-A-SIDE (form of rugby; sporting event)
|
|
21
|
Come again to Barnet: garden’s flourishing (4,2,1,8)
|
Anagram of (flourishing) TO BARNET GARDEN’S DON‘T BE A STRANGER* |
DON’T BE A STRANGER (phrase that could be interpreted as an invitation to come again)
|
|
23
|
Innocent female finding main road round US state (8)
|
VIRGIN (innocent female) + AI (A1, main road from Edinburgh to London) reversed (round) VIRGIN IA< |
VIRGINIA (US State)
|
|
24
|
Notable film director is taking retirement (6)
|
(LANG [reference Fritz LANG [1890 – 1976], Austrian film director] + IS) all reversed (taking retirement) (SI GNAL)< |
SIGNAL (notable)
|
|
25
|
Introduction of Theseus in a tale spun in Virgil’s style? (8)
|
Anagram of (spun) T (first letter of [introduction] THESEUS and IN A TALE LATINATE* |
LATINATE (Virgil was an ancient Roman [Latin] poet so anyone emulating him would be using the LATINATE style)
|
|
26
|
Exhibition centre in some French city (6)
|
NEC (National Exhibition Centre) contained in (in) ANY (some) AN (NEC) Y |
ANNECY (French city)
|
| Down | |||
| No. | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
|
1
|
Guns officer’s hidden in Greek island (5)
|
LT (lieutenant; officer) contained in (hidden in) COS (Greek island)
|
COLTS (types of gun)
|
|
2
|
Philosopher is entertaining a painter (7)
|
(MILL [reference John Stuart MILL [1806 – 1873], English philosopher] + IS) containing (entertaining) A MILL (A) IS |
MILLAIS (reference John MILLAIS [1829 – 1896], English Pre-Raphaelite painter)
|
|
3
|
Realise old band leader’s being presented (6,2)
|
COTTON (reference Billy COTTON [1899 – 1969], English dance band leader) + ON (being presented)
|
COTTON ON (understand; realise)
|
|
5
|
Elected Tory toff going round Rugby is out of place (11)
|
IN (elected) + CON (Conservative; Tory) + (GENT [toff] containing (around) RU [Rugby [{Union}]) IN CON G (RU) ENT |
INCONGRUENT (out of keeping; out of place)
|
|
6
|
German government’s writer (6)
|
REICH’S (German State’s; German government’s)
|
REICHS (reference Kathy REICHS [1948 – date], American crime writer)
|
|
7
|
Plant in independent country once losing millions (7)
|
FREE (independent) + SIAM (former [once] name of Thailand [country]) excluding (losing) M (millions)
|
FREESIA (plant of the iris family)
|
|
8
|
Vixen set loose near middle of field covering large area (9)
|
Anagram of (set loose) VIXEN SET + E (centre letter of [middle of] FIELD) EXTENSIV* E |
EXTENSIVE (covering a large area)
|
|
12
|
Undisclosed number supervising introduction of this government office (11) |
SECRET (undisclosed) + ARIA (song; musical number) + T (first letter of [introduction of] THIS) |
SECRETARIAT ( administrative department of a council, organization, legislative or executive; could be a government office)
|
|
13
|
Reckless old man imprisons sappers? Wrong (9)
|
(DAD [father; old man] containing [imprisons] RE [Royal Engineers; sappers]) + EVIL (wrong) DA (RE) D EVIL |
DAREDEVIL (reckless)
|
|
15
|
Old Dutch flying creature, bird-like (8)
|
BAT (flying creature) + AVIAN (bird-like)
|
BATAVIAN (relating to the ancient Batävi in the Low Countries)
|
|
17
|
Exist in brand-new tower (7)
|
ARE (exist) contained in (in) MINT (reference ‘in MINT condition’; perfect, possibly brand new) MIN (ARE) T |
MINARET (mosque tower, from which the call to prayer is given.)
|
|
19
|
Inexperienced female in class briefly seen by head of English (7)
|
IN + GENUS (class) excluding the final letter (briefly) S + E (first letter of [head of] English)
|
INGÉNUE (artless, naïve or inexperienced young woman,)
|
|
20
|
Irish writer appearing to eat French cheese (6)
|
ON (appearing) containing (to eat) BRIE (French cheese) O (BRIE) N |
O’BRIEN (reference Edna O’BRIEN [1930 to date] or Flann O’BRIEN, pen name of Brian Ó Nuallain [1911 – 1966], Irish authors)
|
|
22
|
Republican supporter in mass meeting (5)
|
R (Republican) + ALLY (supporter)
|
RALLY (mass meeting)
|
Some nice misdirections here: for example in 21ac ‘Barnet’ suggested something to do with hair; and for 15dn ‘old’ suggested the letter O and ‘ornithic’ – of birds – had the right number of letters though I’d no idea how ‘Dutch’ came into it and crossing letters soon disposed of the idea.
9ac could almost be an &lit, except that the original (1962) film had an X certificate, not an A. Remakes and video versions may be different.
Thanks, Dac and Duncan
I found this quite difficult with some uncommon words such as LATINATE, BATAVIAN and SECRETARIAT. Funnily enough I made exactly the same mistake for 23, being very pleased with myself for getting ‘Hermione’ (even remembering about NE for Nebraska) until it became clear that this didn’t fit the crossing clues. I wondered if there might be a horsey theme with COLTS and SECRETARIAT but I couldn’t see anything else obvious. My favourites were 12 and 13a and d.
Thanks to Duncan and Dac.
I found this unusually difficult. Had never heard of the pop song at 11ac or the word at 15dn and the phrase at 21ac looks completely random although no doubt it can be justified. Duncan says it’s a song title. If so it’s new to me.
And this isn’t the first time a setter has taken a novel that has had a film made of it and calls it a film (9ac). But in this case this is justified by the surface.