A slightly strange crossword, in that it was rather harder than a normal Dac to begin with and for some time very little was filled in, but by the end it was just the same as ever — not too demanding at all but right up to the usual standard of smoothness and elegance.
A quick glance at the clues shows that more often than not ‘in’ is a link-word rather than a sign of inclusion’. Perhaps this was what initially held me up.
I wasn’t all that happy with 1dn and may be missing something.
Definitions underlined and in maroon.
| Across | ||
| 1 | ESPRIT DE CORPS | Terribly dire prospects? It shows we’re in it together (6,2,5) |
| (dire prospects)* | ||
| 8 | EMBRACES | Welcomes brother into European clubs (8) |
| E m(br)aces | ||
| 9 | TOO BAD | How sad! He died, bitten by amphibian … (3,3) |
| to(ob.)ad | ||
| 10 | POSSUM | … creature initially presenting very big problem (6) |
| p{resentation} OS sum | ||
| 11 | ACHIEVER | A character from Athens, always one doing well (8) |
| a chi ever | ||
| 12 | CLARET | Naughty article: one goes red (6) |
| (article – i)* | ||
| 13 | REDACT | Some more Dac teasers to prepare for publication (6) |
| Hidden in moRE DAC Teasers | ||
| 16 | SNITCH | Finally plays in long grass (6) |
| {play}s (i)n itch | ||
| 17 | LUNACY | Frilly clothing for French individual? That’s madness (6) |
| l(un)acy | ||
| 19 | TERMINUS | The end of the line – expression used by Americans? (8) |
| term in US — a term in US is one that Americans might use | ||
| 21 | HOOVER | President finished backing leaders of House (6) |
| ho{use} over | ||
| 22 | ALUMNI | Graduates from university in Milan running riot (6) |
| u in (Milan)* | ||
| 23 | ADRIATIC | I dart about in a mostly freezing stretch of water (8) |
| (I dart)* in (a ic{y}) | ||
| 24 | DISENGAGEMENT | Separation: it preceded 1981 royal wedding (13) |
| Di’s engagement — this came before the wedding of Charles and Diana in 1981 | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | EXMOOR | Partner once finding somewhere to sleep over in part of the West Country (6) |
| ex (room)rev. — it seems a bit odd to have room = somewhere to sleep: on that basis you could have house = somewhere to sleep; county = somewhere to sleep; even car = somewhere to sleep | ||
| 2 | PORT SALUT | Cheese tart served round start of afternoon with wine (4,5) |
| port [= wine] s(a{fternoon})lut | ||
| 3 | INCOMPREHENSION | Most of wage woman’s turned into retirement fund, showing lack of understanding (15) |
| incom{e} p(reh)ension, the reh being (her)rev. | ||
| 4 | DISTANT | Remote section of Kurdistan trail (7) |
| Hidden in KurDISTAN Trail | ||
| 5 | CATCHER IN THE RYE | Ethnic treachery misrepresented in novel (7,2,3,3) |
| (Ethnic treachery)* — for the sake of those people like the young person I recently saw on some TV quiz show, who didn’t know who Holden Caulfield was, The Catcher in the Rye is a 1951 novel by J.D. Salinger — so the answer isn’t strictly correct | ||
| 6 | RHONE | Source of French wine, extremely rough one (5) |
| r{oug}h one — not the river I think but the valley | ||
| 7 | SEA PERCH | Look round gym for a swimmer (3,5) |
| sea(PE)rch | ||
| 14 | DOCTORATE | Degree time around October, excluding Bachelor of Engineering (9) |
| d(Octo{BE}r)ate | ||
| 15 | UNVEILED | Showed live nude dancing (8) |
| (live nude)* | ||
| 17 | LA SCALA | Villain has removed hat entering Los Angeles theatre (2,5) |
| L({r}ascal)A | ||
| 18 | DEPICT | Show how to get rid of border raiders? (6) |
| de-Pict — if you get rid of the Picts you de-Pict them, fancifully | ||
| 20 | MEMOS | Portion of money raised in notes (5) |
| (some m)rev. | ||
*anagram
I don’t think there’s anything more to 1d than what you’ve said. ‘Room’ can be understood as shorthand for hotel accommodation/overnight stay.
Enjoyable crossword and plenty of wry grins at 13 no doubt. Thanks for the blog.
As Michael says, ‘room’ is fine in EXMOOR. ‘I need a room for the night.’
Usual good stuff from Dac. I liked DEPICT especially.
Thanks to John for blogging and to our (mostly) regular Wednesday setter.
In contrast with John, I swaggered through most of this nice puzzle and was only held up at the end with the crossers of 1d/8a & 19a/20d (termini just wouldn’t come to mind). Lots of smooth stuff with my COD honours being shared by 12a, 24a & 18d. Many thanks to Dac for today’s puzzle and John for the blog.
Hooray for Dac. Thanks John. Before I had read your comments the word elegant had come to mind.
DEPICT also went down well with us.
Like Hoskins I breezed through this, and in less than 15 minutes (not that I ever deliberately time myself, it simply happened that I was doing it when I had just 15 minutes to spare). Lots of lovely clues, too many to nominate a favourite.
Yet another Delightful Accessible Crossword from DAC.
Thanks, Dac and John.