Dac’s latest puzzle lay in store for us this Wednesday morning, as expected.
I found this to be par for the course in terms of difficulty for a Dac puzzle, with two thirds of the clues surrendering their solutions without undue effort being required and the remaining third requiring a degree of head scratching, e.g. the rather intricate wordplay at 2.
20 was a word I only vaguely new in this context. Furthermore, I didn’t recognise the place at 10A, and although I thought that I didn’t know the song at 10D either, when I looked it up on YouTube, I recognised it instantly.
When it comes to nominating a clue of the day, one is always spoilt for choice with Dac. Personally, I liked the related clues at 13 and 14; 22 and 24, for their surfaces; and 1D, for making me smile, despite being one of the easier clues.
(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | NAMELY | Specifically American type of railway in New York
[AM (=American) + EL (=type of railway, i.e. elevated railroad)] in NY (=New York) |
| 04 | NIGHTJAR | Late beer for flighty type
NIGHT (=late, used attributively) + JAR (=beer, drink); cryptically, a nightjar, being a bird, is a “flighty type” |
| 09 | TAUNT | Annoy the northern family member
T’ (=the Northern, i.e. the word the as pronounced in Northern England) + AUNT (=family member) |
| 10 | LOS ALAMOS | Ladies and gentlemen maybe eating sausage that’s reduced in US town
SALAM<i> (=sausage; “that’s reduced” means last letter dropped) in LOOS (=ladies and gentlemen maybe, i.e. toilets); Los Alamos is a town in New Mexico, USA. |
| 11 | CHEMIST | Check items dispensed – by this trader?
CH (=check, in chess) + *(ITEMS); “dispensed” is anagram indicator |
| 12 | ADDISON | Writer is featured in supplement
IS in ADD ON (=supplement); the reference is to English writer Joseph Addison (1672-1719) |
| 13 | NURSERY SLOPES | Tends to go round track with unsteady poles – here?
[RY (=track, i.e. railway) in NURSES (=tends)] + *(POLES); “unsteady” is anagram indicator |
| 16 | PROJECTIONIST | Odeon employee is into flicks, following plan
PROJECT (=plan) + *(IS INTO); “flicks (over)” is anagram indicator |
| 20 | HEELTAP | Have emptied plate surprisingly and contents of glass in the end
H<av>E (“emptied” means all but first and last letters dropped) + *(PLATE); “surprisingly” is anagram indicator |
| 22 | OBSCURE | Undistinguished old scoundrel in grip of beastly disease
O (=old, as in OT) + [CUR (=scoundrel) in BSE (=”beastly” disease, of cattle)] |
| 23 | READINESS | Understands about Spanish woman being prepared
INES (=Spanish woman, a girl’s name in Spain) in READS (=understands, e.g. a situation) |
| 24 | AMPLE | Sufficient amount of help maybe secured in retirement
Reversed (“in retirement”) and hidden (“amount of”) in “hELP MAybe” |
| 25 | HEDGEHOG | Creature finally hiding behind privets near house
HEDGE (=privets) + HO (=house) + <hidin>G (“finally” means last letter only) |
| 26 | SECRET | South-eastern island, mostly unknown
SE (=south-eastern) + CRET<e> (=island; “mostly” means last letter dropped) |
| Down | ||
| 01 | NOTICING | Recognising what plain cake has on top?
Cryptically, not icing is what a plan, uniced, cake has on top! |
| 02 | MOUSETRAP | Part order brought round, including milk and cheese?
USE (=milk, exploit, as verb) in MOTRAP (PART + OM (=order, of merit); “brought round” indicates reversal) |
| 03 | LATTICE | Limits of language incorporating Greek structure
ATTIC (=Greek) in L<anguag>E (“limits of” means first and last letters only) |
| 05 | INSTALLATIONS | Military equipment in such as Waterloo and Austerlitz, everything included
IN + [ALL (=everything) in STATIONS (=such as Waterloo, in London, and Austerlitz, in Paris)] |
| 06 | HOLED UP | Concealed report of robbery
Homophone (“report of”) of “hold-up” (=robbery) |
| 07 | JAMES | Writer gets stuck about penultimate section of novel
<nov>E<l> (“penultimate section” means last letter but one) in JAMS (=gets stuck); the reference is to US writer Henry James (1843-1916) |
| 08 | RESENT | Begrudge sappers being given posting
RE (=sappers, i.e. Royal Engineers) + SENT (=being given posting) |
| 10 | LET MY PEOPLE GO | Song begging for national release?
Cryptically, one begging for national (=my people) release (=let go) might say “let my people go”; the reference is to the song Get down Moses (Let my people go) by Louis Armstrong |
| 14 | SKI-JUMPER | Semi-skinny pullover for one no longer seen in 13
SKI<nny> (semi- means half of the letters only are used) + JUMPER (=pullover); a ski-jumper would no longer be seen on the nursery slopes (=entry at 13)! |
| 15 | STEEPEST | Picked up The Sword in the Stone twice? Most incredible
EEPE (EPEE=sword; “picked up” indicates vertical reversal) in ST + ST (ST=stone; twice = x2) |
| 17 | OUTSIDE | Unlikely first in Oriental studies after endless revision
O<riental> (“first in” means first letter only) + *(STUDIE<s>); “endless” means last letter dropped from anagram, indicated by “revision”; an outside chance is an unlikely, improbable one |
| 18 | ON STAGE | Leads in Othello negotiating with coach in the theatre
O<thello> N<egotiating> (“leads in” means initial letters only) + STAGE (=coach, carriage) |
| 19 | CHURCH | Child – street Arab – not in place of worship
CH (=child) + URCH<in> (=street Arab; “not in” means letters “in” are dropped) |
| 21 | ELAND | Energy shown by light fast-moving animal
E (=energy) + LAND (=light, as verb) |
I didn’t know the meaning at 20ac, either, but it had to be that from the word play. I thought 10ac was well known because of its association with Project Manhattan and the atomic bomb. I know the song at 10dn as Go down, Moses. It’s an old negro spiritual that I think pre-dates Louis Armstrong. There’s a version of it in Michael Tippett’s oratorio A Child of Our Time. (Although, Tippett was a great Armstrong fan.)
What caught me out were 23ac and 25ac. Needed a word search for the former and kept thinking the latter must be HEDGEROW but couldn’t see why. Thanks for all the explanations.
Thanks Dac and RR. This one I did complete. I was on Dac’s wavelength, and found the clues delightfully inventive. 16ac was my favourite, and 1d was so blatantly obvious once you’d teased it out.
The heeltap was in my vocabulary. I seem to remember reading the expression “no heeltaps!” In a novel, probably a famous one.