We found this a little trickier than the average Dac, but no less enjoyable.
As usual, excellent clues and great surfaces. Initialy we felt that the parsing of 5d was a bit ‘loose’ (for a Dac) until we came to write up the blog.
| Across | ||
| 1 | High-level meeting? Problem with it being disrupted by millions (6) | |
| SUMMIT | SUM (problem) IT round or ‘disrupted by’ M (millions) | |
| 5 | Unexpectedly meet tramp with piebald horse (4,4) | |
| BUMP INTO | BUM (tramp) PINTO (piebald horse) | |
| 9 | Singer getting break, appearing on theatre poster namely (6,7) | |
| BILLIE HOLIDAY | HOLIDAY (break) after BILL (theatre poster) IE (namely) | |
| 10 | Scottish town showing “American in Paris”? (8) | |
| HAMILTON | AM (American) in HILTON (Paris Hilton) – home to the wonderfully named Academical football team | |
| 11 | Unusually large Welsh woman, narrator of poem (6) | |
| OSSIAN | OS (outsize – unusually large) SIAN (Welsh woman) | |
| 12 | Complaint by thespian about new ‘angel’ (10) | |
| BENEFACTOR | BEEF (complaint) ACTOR (thespian) round N (new) | |
| 14 | Greasy piece of lace daughter dropped (4) | |
| OILY | ||
| 15 | Note Carpenters’ first success (4) | |
| CHIT | C (first letter of ‘Carpenters’) HIT (success) | |
| 17 | Great Tudors out to recruit English soldiers (10) | |
| TREMENDOUS | An anagram of TUDORS (anagrind is ‘out’) round or ‘recruiting’ E (English) MEN (soldiers) | |
| 19 | Region to the west occupied by a governor once (6) | |
| SATRAP | PARTS (region) reversed (‘to the west’) round (‘occupied by’) A | |
| 21 | Given permanent position, replacement editor’s content (8) | |
| CEMENTED | Hidden in (content) ‘replaCEMENT EDitor’s’ | |
| 23 | Keen on a place to meet round island in part of New York (7,6) | |
| MADISON AVENUE | MAD (keen) ON A VENUE (place to meet) round IS (island) | |
| 24 | Smartphones misused by dad? No sir! (8) | |
| ANDROIDS | An anagram of DAD NO SIR – anagrind is ‘misused’ | |
| 25 | Nevertheless, church service is only three-quarters complete (4,2) | |
| EVEN SO | EVENSO |
|
| Down | ||
| 2 | Resentment, not originally speechless anger (7) | |
| UMBRAGE | ||
| 3 | Single bit of money will support factory girl (9) | |
| MILLICENT | I (single) CENT (bit of money) after (‘supporting’ in a down clue) MILL (factory) | |
| 4 | Trace of contamination from certain toxins (5) | |
| TAINT | Hidden in ‘cerTAIN Toxins’ | |
| 5 | Supporting acts maybe not seen publicly (6,3,6) | |
| BEHIND THE SCENES | BEHIND (supporting) THE SCENES (acts, as in a play – ‘scene 1, act 1’ etc) | |
| 6 | A port for the PM (9) | |
| MELBOURNE | Double definition | |
| 7 | River in northernmost part of Delaware, America (5) | |
| INDUS | IN D – first letter or ‘northernmost part’ (in a down clue) of Delaware + US (America) | |
| 8 | Solitary sort mislaying old part of rigging (7) | |
| TRYSAIL | An anagram of S |
|
| 13 | Advise sparkling wine with an hors d’oeuvre assortment (9) | |
| ANTIPASTI | TIP (advise) ASTI (sparkling wine) after AN | |
| 14 | Row behind back of steamer in choppy ocean, as a rule (9) | |
| ORDINANCE | DIN (row) behind R (last letter or ‘back’ of ‘steamer’) in an anagram of OCEAN – anagrind is ‘choppy’ | |
| 16 | Leader had name changed (7) | |
| HEADMAN | An anagram of HAD NAME – anagrind is ‘changed’ | |
| 18 | Ineffective advice for drug addicts? (7) | |
| USELESS | Drug addicts might be advised to USE LESS | |
| 20 | Equestrian‘s condition (5) | |
| RIDER | Double definition | |
| 22 | Film shows military leader taking over less than half of Vietnam (5) | |
| MOVIE | M (first letter or ‘leader’ of ‘military’) O (over) less than half of VIEtnam | |
Isn’t life strange? I completed this relatively quickly( for me), but couldn’t parse 7 of the answers, and one I could parse but didn’t really understand. I’m sure OSSIAN Is a household name in some households, but not this one. Dac always gives you a fair crack and this was well up to his usual standard for clarity.
Thanks to him and the bloggerati.
Enjoyed it.
My favourite was EVEN SO because 1) I got it immediately, unusual for me on a first pass, and 2) It sits so nicely in that south-east corner, with the missing ‘NG’ of EVENSONG – one of the nicest words in the language, even for us atheists – almost physically there. Lovely.
Thanks Dac and B&J
I’m not sure if I’vetackled a Dac before, but this was very enjoyable. I do have a minor quibble with 24, in that an Android isn’t a smartphone, rather a smartphone’s operating system, in the same way as iOs and Windows phone (other OSs may be available).
I will certainly have another go at Dac in the future.
Thought the clue for BEHIND THE SCENES was lovely, enjoyed this.