It wouldn’t quite be Wednesday without a Dac, would it? My apologies for the disgracefully late posting, which was caused by my unexpectedly having to replace a colleague who fell ill this morning.
I found this to be a tad tougher than the average Dac overall, even though I got off to a very promising start.
In the end, I was left with 25, which I managed to solve once I had realised that the completed grid was a pangram and that the letter “j” still hadn’t been used. Even so, I didn’t manage to parse it without searching for synonyms for “magistrate” in my thesaurus and stumbling across JP – I had been working on the basis that we were meant to remove ‘”er” (=hesitation) from a longer word.
I was struck by the number of colloquialisms in the puzzle today: DUFFS UP, JUMP, ON THE MAKE, PEAKY (in 17), … I don’t not whether this was intentional or purely coincidental.
All in all, this was a really enjoyable puzzle, with lots of Dac’s trademark smooth surfaces. My favourite clues today were 14A and 18, both for surface; 27, for overall construction; and 29, for making me smile! 14D was a new term for me, while I only vaguely knew 28.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | COMPACT | Agreement – it could be in the bag
Cryptically, a (make-up) compact could be in the (hand) bag |
| 05 | DUFFS UP | Springfield’s beer: drink mugs?
DUFF (=Springfield’s beer, in The Simpsons) + SUP (=drink) |
| 09 | BANQUETTE | After sumptuous meal, drink without a place to sit
BANQUET (=sumptuous meal) + TE<a> (=drink; “without a” means letter “a” is dropped) |
| 10 | OPENS | Launches // competitions welcoming all-comers
Double definition |
| 11 | AGENDA | Commander introduces final list of discussion items
END (=final) in AGA (=commander, from Turkey) |
| 12 | CAREFREE | Imprisoned by Native Americans, a judge is relaxed
[A + REF (=judge, i.e. referee)] in CREE (=Native Americans, i.e. tribe) |
| 14 | VAUDEVILLE | Possibly valued live theatrical entertainment
*(VALUED LIVE); “possibly” is anagram indicator |
| 15 | YOGI | Bear // a teacher of well-being
Double definition: Yogi Bear is a Hanna-Barbera cartoon character AND a yogi is a yoga teacher |
| 18 | RING | Band leader in group hugs
Hidden (“hugs”) in “leadeR IN Group” |
| 19 | PLANGENTLY | Don’t make rough suggestions in a mournful way
Cryptically, to “plan gently” is not to make rough suggestions |
| 21 | LEFT-WING | Socialist newspaper anticipating victory secured by Liberal, say
[FT (=newspaper, i.e. Financial Times) + WIN (=victory)] in [L (=liberal) + E.G. (=say, for example)] |
| 23 | DINERO | Criminal ironed what could be laundered in America?
*(IRONED); “criminal” is anagram indicator; dinero is the Spanish word for “money”, which “could be laundered in America” |
| 26 | GLOBE | London theatre in the round?
Cryptic definition: the “globe” in the name of London’s Globe Theatre is a round, i.e. spherical, object |
| 27 | HOUSEMAID | In short, home help could accept employment … as this?
USE (=employment) in [HOM<e> (“in short” means last letter dropped) + AID (=help)]; semi- & lit. |
| 28 | TRANSOM | Beam finally put at front of restored manors
<pu>T (“finally” means last letter only) + *(MANORS); “restored” is anagram indicator; a transom is a crossbeam, dividing e.g. a window horizontally |
| 28 | PRETEXT | Former girlfriend with fairly short clothing makes excuse
EX (=former girlfriend) in PRETT<y> (=fairly; “short” means last letter dropped) |
| Down | ||
| 01 | COBRA | Mostly pink but black-hearted creature
B (=black, as in HB pencils) in CORA<l> (=pink; “mostly” means last letter dropped) |
| 02 | MANNEQUIN | Model German writer seen on horse briefly
MANN (=German writer, i.e. Thomas Mann) + EQUIN<e> (=horse; “briefly” means last letter dropped) |
| 03 | AMUNDSEN | Circumnavigating pole, surprisingly unnamed Norwegian explorer
S (=pole, i.e. South) in *(UNNAMED); “surprisingly” is anagram indicator; the reference is to Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen (1872-1928) |
| 04 | TOTE | Carry child on back of bike
TOT (=child) + <bik>E (“back of” means last letter only) |
| 05 | DREW A BLANK | Took one of two Scrabble tiles and made no further progress
Cryptically, as there are just two blank tiles in a Scrabble set, “to draw a blank” (from the bag) is to take one of them |
| 06 | FROZEN | Film, lightweight, shown in French (children missed out)
OZ (=lightweight, i.e. ounce) in FREN<ch> (“children (=CH) missed out” means letter “ch” are dropped); the reference is to the 2013 Disney film Frozen |
| 07 | SPEAR | Small vegetable? Right, asparagus for example
S (=small) + PEA (=vegetable) + R (=right) |
| 08 | POSTERITY | Pottery is laid out for people coming later
*(POTTERY IS); “laid out” is anagram indicator |
| 13 | GILLINGHAM | Football team‘s problem, wearing cotton fabric
ILL (=problem) in GINGHAM (=cotton fabric) |
| 14 | VERY LIGHT | Pistol flare extremely easy to transport
VERY (=extremely) + LIGHT (=easy to transport); a Very light is a coloured flare fired from a pistol, invented by Edward W Very in 1877 |
| 16 | ON THE MAKE | Hoping for profit? Taken home, after going bust
*(TAKEN HOME); “after going bust” is anagram indicator |
| 17 | PEKINESE | Small dog having sickly joints, might you say?
Homophone of “peaky (=sickly) + joints (=knees)” |
| 20 | SWEETS | In assortments we discovered gobstoppers, say
WE in SETS (=assortments) |
| 21 | FLORA | Plants I’d exported from American state
FLOR<id>A (=American state); “I’d exported from” means letters “id” are dropped |
| 24 | ON DIT | Piece of recondite gossip in French
Hidden (“piece of”) in “recONDITe” |
| 25 | JUMP | Attack magistrate without hesitation
UM (=hesitation) in JP (=magistrate, i.e. Justice of the Peace) |
Unusually I spotted the pangram before the end and it helped with the Z in FROZEN. As smooth as ever from Dac, but I agree with RR about the un-Dac-like references.
Thanks to S&B
Didn’t think to look for a pangram, despite noticing the presence of two Q’s. Didn’t get FROZEN till near the end; can’t think why since my grandchildren have played the CD of the songs no end of times. PLANGENTLY was my LOI; I was on the point of searching with a word finder when it suddenly occurred to me. And I think that has to be my CoD.
As ever, a superb puzzle from Dac. Thanks to him and to RatkojaRiku.
Sad to see so few comments for such a good puzzle. As usual, excellent clues and a good variety of constructions.
Thanks to RR and Dac.