Although it is the last Wednesday of the month, when we might expect a stand-in compiler for him, Dac is here nonetheless with his latest puzzle, fidèle au poste!
I actually found this towards the tougher end of the Dac spectrum in terms of difficulty. I filled in the bottom half of the puzzle fairly quickly, but it was far from a write-in for me, but then I ground to a halt, above all in the NE quadrant. The more extraneous vocabulary at 4 and 15, albeit deducible from the wordplay, served to hold me up at the end. Incidentally, I was foxed by far too long by the easy anagram at 6, where I was looking for a more scientific term for a medical condition. I was also surprised not to have heard of the Spanish city at 13, despite having lived in Spain for a while in my youth.
As for my favourite clues, I rather liked 17, for both surface and overall construction; and 1D, for its surface.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | BEHEST | Guarantee fellow’s kept in order
HE’S (=fellow’s) in BET (=guarantee, ensure) |
| 04 | AQUANAUT | A British fashion designer clothes a posh person taking the plunge
[A + U (=posh)] in [A + QUANT (=British designer, i.e. Mary)]; an aquanaut is a skin-diver |
| 09 | LANDAU | Light gold carriage
LAND (=(a)light, as verb) + AU (=gold, i.e. chemical formula) |
| 10 | FELL DOWN | Dropped chap near station finally after collecting daughter
D (=daughter) in [FELLOW (=chap) + <statio>N (“finally” means last letter only)] |
| 12 | ARCHITECT | I chatter excitedly about Conservative mastermind
C (=Conversative) in *(I CHATTER); “excitedly” is anagram indicator; the architect of e.g. a victory would be its mastermind |
| 13 | RONDA | Squadron daringly captures Spanish city
Hidden (“captures”) in “squadRON DAringly”; Ronda is a city in the Spanish province of Málaga |
| 14 | ORAL HISTORY | Rhetoric about Liberal and his past, so to speak
[L (=liberal) + HIS] in ORATORY (=rhetoric); cryptically, oral history could be described as the “past, so to speak”, i.e. as spoken |
| 15 | TWI | Mostly understand African language
TWI<g> (=understand; “mostly” means last letter is dropped); Twi is a language of Ghana |
| 16 | JOT | Note series of books by judge
J (=judge) + OT (=series of books, i.e. Old Testament); to jot (down) is to note (down) |
| 17 | RANK AND FILE | Ordinary people did kilometre race near Anfield surprisingly
RAN K (=did kilometre race, where k=kilometre) + *(ANFIELD); “surprisingly” is anagram indicator |
| 19 | TAMIL | Inhabitant of Sri Lanka having capital time in revolution
LIMA (=capital, i.e. of Lima) + T (=time); “in revolution” indicates – here full – reversal |
| 21 | ILL TEMPER | I shall moderate bad mood
I’LL (=I shall, i.e. abbreviation) + TEMPER (=moderate, soften) |
| 23 | APRÈS-SKI | Such activity could go out of control in peaks, sir
*(PEAKS SIR); “go out of control” is anagram indicator; semi- &-lit |
| 24 | BAD EGG | 22 ordered two gallons
BADE (=ordered, instructed) + G G (=two gallons, i.e. 2 x g=gallon); the definition is “rogue” (=entry at 22) |
| 25 | TOSSPOTS | Arrests drunkard, reeling in boozers
STOPS (=arrests) + SOT (=drunkard); “reeling” indicates – here full – reversal; the “boozers” of the definition are the drinkers, topers, rather than the hostelries that they frequent! |
| 26 | ADHERE | Stick on after bumping head
*(HEAD) + RE (=on, concerning); “bumping” is anagram indicator |
| Down | ||
| 01 | BALSA | Wood turned in a small work room
A + S (=small) + LAB (=work room, i.e. laboratory); “turned” indicates – here full – reversal |
| 02 | HANDCRAFT | Carefully create taps on a floating structure
H and C (=taps, in sink) + RAFT (=floating structure) |
| 03 | SLAVISH | Servile, like some eastern Europeans?
Cryptically, something slav-ish would be “like some eastern Europeans”, i.e. Slavs |
| 05 | QUESTIONABLE | Suspect bolted oddly, after expedition over Scottish island
QUEST (=expedition) + IONA (=Scottish island) + B<o>L<t>E<d> (“oddly” means odd letters only are used) |
| 06 | ALLERGY | Medical problem largely sorted
*(LARGELY); “sorted” is anagram indicator |
| 07 | ACORN | Fruit and top quality vegetable
A (=top, i.e. best, as in Class A) + CORN (=vegetable, i.e. maize) |
| 08 | TENTATIVE | Provisional shelter local inhabitant originally rejected
TENT (=shelter) + <n>ATIVE (=local inhabitant; “originally rejected” means first letter dropped) |
| 11 | SEASON TICKET | Travel pass not yet paid for, carried by group of sailors perhaps
ON TICK (=not yet paid for, i.e. bought on credit) in SEA SET (=group of sailors perhaps) |
| 14 | OBJET D’ART | Old boy with black weapon, an item of value
OB (=old boy) + JET (=black, of colour) + DART (=weapon) |
| 15 | TAILPIECE | Listened to story with quiet ending
Homophone (“listened to”) of “tale (=story) + peace (=quiet, calm)” |
| 17 | ROLLS UP | Arrives in luxury car at university
ROLLS (=luxury car, i.e. Rolls-Royce) + UP (=at university) |
| 18 | DIE HARD | Film – director’s first – that is difficult to follow
D<irector> (“first” means first letter only) + I.E. (=that is) + HARD (=difficult); the reference is to the 1988 US action movie Die Hard, starring Bruce Willis |
| 20 | MORES | English scholar’s customs
MORE’S (=English scholar’s); the reference is to author and statesmen Sir Thomas More (1478-1535) |
| 22 | ROGUE | Scoundrel‘s accent, not British
<b>ROGUE (=accent); “not British (=B)” means letter “b” is dropped |
Didn’t think this was harder than the usual Phi, though the crossers enabled several answers to appear before parsing, which came next.
Curious clue at 3D since the origin of the word Slav is from the Latin word for slave; so is this really cryptic or (trigger warning!) could it be non-PC?
Liked RANK AND FILE and AQUANAUT, felt sure Mary Quant was going to be involved but still took a while to get it.
Thanks to Phi and RatkojaRiku.
Liked this and agree it was at the tougher end of the setter’s Indy puzzles. I was beaten by three in the NE, but enjoyed the crossword so thanks to Dac for his usual smooth stuff and to RR for the enlightenment.
Isn’t it strange? I found this towards the easier end of the Dac spectrum, and was able to enter some answers from the crossers. I’m afraid my appalling lack of knowledge of African languages shone through, with 15A my LOI. I was reduced to trying every letter that fitted between T and I, inventing several new languages along the way. TZI anyone?
My COD was 14D. An example of a loanword I now understand. Neat but not gaudy as my old boss used to say.
Very enjoyable for me, so thanks to Dac and RR for the puzzle and blog.
many thanks Dac
loads of smooth surfaces- my favourites were 10a, 2d, 6d, but many more were excellent.
I had to look up TWI, fair enough.
thanks RatkojaRiku
Hadn’t heard of ‘behest’ as ‘guarantee’ before. We live and learn.
Curiously, had the same prob with ‘allergy’ as our esteemed blogger, to whom thanks.
This next has nothing to do with anything but you’ll like it and never forget it. The balsa tree is deciduous. Balsa is therefore a hardwood.
Thanks to Dac for reminding me.
Good to see Dac (not Phi, gwep@1) back and in good form after being missing for a few Wednesdays lately. So many good clues I can’t nominate a CoD.
I wasn’t sure about bet = guarantee, but I suppose if you’re prepared to bet on something, as in “I bet that’s the problem” or some similar phrase it means you’re sure of it or prepared to guarantee it. Chambers Compact Thesaurus gives ‘be certain’, ‘be sure’ as possible synonyms for ‘bet’
Thanks, Dac and RatkojaRiku.
@6allan_c Mea culpa.
Yes, it’s always good to see Dac on a Wednesday or any other day. We also found this harder than usual though.
Depite Bert being a 12ac it took ages to see the anagram. 6D took a while to spot too. Perhaps we should have written the letters down rather than trying to rearrange them in our heads.
Thanks to Dac and RatkojaRiku.