Independent 9102 / Dac

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Another Wednesday, another excellent Dac.

We love Dac’s puzzles, but are always stuck for anything to say about them as there never seems to be anything to criticise or query. We are really impressed by his ability to come up with consistently excellent surfaces while avoiding the inclusion of any ‘forced’ entries or unusual words.

Across
1   Father keeps children quiet with a French dog (9)
DACHSHUND DAD (father) round or ‘keeping’ CH (children) SH (quiet) UN (French for ‘a’)
6   Wine imbibed by some doctors (5)
MEDOC Hidden (‘imbibed’) in soME DOCtors
9   Note start of disruption in Dover or Folkestone? (3,4)
SET DOWN D (first letter or ‘start’ of disruption) in SE TOWN (Dover and Folkestone are towns in the SE)
10   In back room put new computers etc and screen (7)
MONITOR N (new) IT (computers etc) inside ROOM reversed or ‘back’
11   Cause of ferment unknown to Asian countries? (5)
YEAST Y (unknown) EAST (Asian countries)
12   A US friend arranged to collect money for charity (9)
FUNDRAISE An anagram of A US FRIEND – anagrind is ‘arranged’
13   Navies said to deal with press gang here, once? (5,6)
FLEET STREET FLEETS (navies) TREET (sounds like TREAT – deal with)
15   Short film showing runner (3)
SKI SKIn (film) with last letter removed or ‘short’
16   Oddly chatty man (3)
CAT Odd letters in ChAtTy
18   Soft drink passed round with food, as expected (11)
PREDICTABLE P (soft) CIDER (drink) reversed or ‘passed round’ TABLE (food)
20   Off I go! That’s telling you (9)
IMPARTING A play on I’M PARTING (off I go)
22   Norwegian group importing album, literally first of a series (5)
ALPHA AHA (Norwegian group) around or ‘importing’ LP (album)
24   Growth of teachers’ union France once reported (7)
NUTGALL NUT (teachers’ union) GALL (sounds like Gaul – France once upon a time)
25   Concerned dire row will erupt (7)
WORRIED An anagram of DIRE ROW – anagrind is ‘will erupt’
26   Near bridge see large tree (5)
LARCH ARCH (bridge) with L (large) in front or ‘near’
27   Colleagues mishandled task with mower (9)
WORKMATES An anagram of TASK and MOWER – anagrind is ‘mishandled’
Down
1   Girl, coy and attractive (5)
DISHY DI (girl) SHY (coy)
2   House with somewhere to sleep and creaking gate (7)
COTTAGE COT (somewhere to sleep) + an anagram of GATE – anagrind is ‘creaking’
3   Sportswear on leading baseball player (9)
SHORTSTOP A play on the fact that a baseball player may be wearing SHORTS and TOP (two sorts of sportswear)  SHORTS (sportswear) TOP (leading) Thanks to gwep Kathryn’s Dad and NealH. 
4   Mourner carries something from crematorium? (3)
URN Hidden or ‘carried’ in moURNer
5   Arrogant cur guarding tunnel leading to Ireland? (11)
DOMINEERING DOG (cur) around or ‘guarding’ MINE (tunnel) ERIN (Ireland)
6   Fellow supervising operations research where police operate … (5)
MANOR MAN (fellow) in front of or ‘supervising’ OR (operations research)
7   … arrests criminal instead (7)
DETAINS An anagram of INSTEAD – anagrind is ‘criminal’
8   After mass, priest boards vehicle with English friar (9)
CARMELITE After M (mass) ELI (priest) inside or ‘aboard’ CART (vehicle) + E (English)
12   Family member waving flag endlessly in the war (6-2-3)
FATHER-IN-LAW An anagram of FLAg (without the last letter or ‘endless’) IN THE WAR – anagrind is ‘waving’
13   Like small group fighting in river of Cornwall (9)
FACTIONAL ACTION (fighting) inside FAL (river in Cornwall)
14   Princess once upset to catch beginning of this four-letter word (9)
TETRAGRAM MARGARET (princess, once) reversed or ‘upset’ around or ‘catching’ T (first letter or ‘beginning’ of This)
17   Bartender rarely serving peas, we’re told, covered in potato (7)
TAPSTER PS (sounds like ‘peas’) inside or ‘covered’ by TATER (potato)
19   Bread roll is swallowed by teetotal sect member (7)
BAPTIST BAP (bread roll) + IS inside or ‘swallowed by’ TT (teetotal)
21   Fish recipe: simmer gently after removing head (5)
ROACH R (recipe) pOACH (simmer gently) without first letter or ‘removing head’
23   Aussie dame climbing southern mountain range (5)
ANDES EDNA (Aussie Dame) reversed or ‘climbing’ S (southern)
25   Battle was cut short by resistance (3)
WAR WAs without last letter or ‘cut short’ R (resistance)

11 comments on “Independent 9102 / Dac”

  3. Nice one from Dac again. And nice to note that he didn’t reference his moniker in the clue to 1ac, although he did resort to DI = girl for 1dn.

    You haven’t underlined the definition (sect member) in 19dn – though I’d say that Baptists are rather more than a sect.

    Thanks to Dac and B&J

  4. As above, some very nice word play, particularly liked TETRAGRAM, great spot.

    3D I don’t think it has anything to do with a baseball player’s attire, SHORTSTOP is a position in the game of baseball. Don’t think I’ve ever seen them wearing shorts, US players wear something resembling knickerbockers.

    Thanks to Dac and bertandjoyce.

  6. Thanks allan_c @3 – hopefully everything is now correct.

    Thanks gwep @4 for your comments on baseball attire. We’re not really followers of any sport but we should have remembered that baseball players don’t wear shorts.

  7. I had SHORTSTOP down as SHORTS and TOP for ‘leading’. I think the SHORTSTOP is the one who stands behind the wicketkeeper in case he misses it. But my knowledge of baseball is extremely modest.

  8. We thought that ‘leading’ may refer to the fact that a shortstop was the player behind the batsman who gives instructions to the pitcher. Apparently that’s not the case. The shortstop is between second and third base and considered (according to wiki) to be one of the most demanding defending positions on the field. Is this why Dac has used ‘leading’ perhaps?

  9. I agree shortstop is shorts + top(=leading) – a top isn’t really sportswear. I thought this was a very good Dac puzzle – I liked the surface in 13A, which implied the naval meaning of pressgang but was actually something else entirely.

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