Dac has provided today’s crossword, occupying his customary Wednesday slot.
I found this to be at the easy end of the Indy/Dac spectrum. As solving so many of the Indy puzzles involves a great deal of head-scratching, the occasional more leisurely solve does not go amiss, especially when the solve is as enjoyable as Dac solves always are.
22 included what was a new word for me meaning “purse”. My favourite clues today were 17, for spotting the name of the artist in the name of the fish; 24, for making me smirk; and above all 10, for the inclusion of “tarps” in the wordplay to a clue for “waterproofs”.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | TEMPER | Moderate // display of anger
Double definition: to temper is to “moderate” a reaction AND a temper tantrum is a “display of anger” |
| 04 | MALENESS | Quality of man that could be nameless
*(NAMELESS); “that could be” is anagram indicator |
| 10 | WATERPROOFS | Tarps we spread out round top of building: they keep the rain out
ROOF (=top of building) in *(TARPS WE); “spread out” is anagram indicator |
| 11 | AYE | A six-month agreement?
A + YE<ar> (=six-month, i.e. half-year, two of the four letters only are used) |
| 12 | SOUSING | Thus taking drugs and getting pickled
SO (=thus) + USING (=taking drugs); sousing is getting pickled, getting drunk |
| 14 | ELEGIST | Poet, say, among group of very minor celebs?
E.G. (=say, for example) in E-LIST (=very minor celebs, i.e. as opposed to the A-list) |
| 15 | INDUS | River in south of France bends
IN + DUS (SUD=south of France, i.e. the French word for south; “bends” indicates reversal) |
| 16 | ARMENIAN | A new order for Iran, occupied by soldiers from NW Asian country
MEN (=soldiers) in [A + *(IRAN)]; “new order for” is anagram indicator |
| 19 | BRIGHTON | Coastal town having lots of lights working
BRIGHT (=having lots of lights, i.e. well-lit) + ON (=working, as opposed to off) |
| 21 | TRIPE | Rhubarb tart served regularly: I’ll take exercises later
T<a>R<t> (“served regularly” means alternate letters only) + I + P.E. (=exercises, i.e. physical exercises); “rhubarb” and “tripe” both mean nonsense |
| 23 | CORSAGE | So Grace designed flowery bodice
*(SO GRACE); “designed” is anagram indicator |
| 25 | AGAINST | Close to range in centre of Finisterre
AGA (=range, i.e. for cooking) + IN + <fini>ST<erre> (“centre of” means middle letters only) |
| 26 | ICE | Extremes of climate behind one wintry phenomenon?
I (=one) + C<limat>E (“extremes of” means first and last letters only) |
| 27 | THERAPEUTIC | The Gunners, before newly arranged cup tie, getting better
THE + RA (=Gunners, i.e. Royal Artillery) + *(CUP TIE); “newly arranged” is anagram indicator |
| 29 | PATERNAL | Like pop hit by Queen way back, cut short
PAT (=hit) + E.R. (=Queen, i.e. Elizabeth Regina) + NAL (LAN<e> (=way); “cut” means last letter dropped; “back” indicates reversal); the “pop” in the definition is a father, hence “paternal” |
| 30 | SNAPPY | Fashionable // in brief
Double definition: SNAPPY means fashionable, trendy, of a dresser AND brief, quick, as in make it snappy |
| Down | ||
| 01 | TOWNSHIP | Has little time at first in S African community
T (=time) + OWNS (=has) + HIP (=in, i.e. fashionable) |
| 02 | MET | Got together // in New York art museum
Double definition; the Met is the colloquial way of referring to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York |
| 03 | EARLIES | Some potatoes lie among pieces of corn
LIE in EARS (=pieces of corn) |
| 05 | AFORE | A quartet heard previously
A + homophone (“heard”) of “four” (=quartet) |
| 06 | EASTERN | Third of crew at back of ship from the orient
<cr>E<w> (“third of” means third letter only) + ASTERN (=at back of ship) |
| 07 | EXAMINATION | Survey old people crossing a main road
[A + M1 (=main road, in UK)] in [EX- (=old, former) + NATION (=people)] |
| 08 | SLEETY | Shelter in farm building – if weather is this?
LEE (=shelter) in STY (=farm building, for pigs) |
| 09 | FRAGRANT | French worker keeps piece of material smelling nice
RAG (=piece of material) in [FR (=French) + ANT (=worker)] |
| 13 | UNDER ARREST | During disturbance, revolutionary artist and communist held in custody
DERAR (RA=artist, i.e. Royal Academician + RED (=communist); “revolutionary” indicates vertical reversal) in UNREST (=disturbance) |
| 17 | MANTA RAY | Fish tail half eaten by American artist
TA<il> (“half eaten” means two of four letters are dropped) in MAN RAY (=American artist) |
| 18 | KENTUCKY | New stuff brought into important US state
[N (=new) + TUCK (=stuff, cram)] in KEY (=important, as adjective) |
| 20 | GRAFTER | Hard worker finally installing beam
<installin>G (“finally” means last letter only) + RAFTER (=beam, of wood) |
| 21 | TRADE-IN | Second hand vehicle, perhaps, old-fashioned German one
TRAD (=old-fashioned, i.e. traditional) + EIN (=German one, i.e. a German word for one) |
| 22 | SCRIMP | Save money in old purse
M (=money) in SCRIP (=purse, pouch; “old” indicates that the term is obsolete) |
| 24 | ENEMA | A certain amount of hygiene matters in this medical procedure
Hidden in (” a certain amount of”) “hygiENE MAtters”; semi- & lit. |
| 28 | TIP | Dump where coal can be dug up
PIT (=where coal can be dug, a mine); “up” indicates vertical reversal |
Yes, the gentlest of the week so far, and I enjoyed it.
My favourites are ELEGIST (despite being silly enough to wonder briefly if there might be a poet called ELISTER), PATERNAL and EXAMINATION.
Thanks to Dac and to RR, especially for digging out the obsolete SCRIP, which I managed to miss. I keep forgetting M=money.
Not too taxing but I liked this. Didn’t know the ‘potatoes’ and parsed SCRIMP incorrectly (as was probably intended) as ‘Save money’.
28d is interesting for such a simple looking 3 letter clue. For me, ‘dump’ can be ‘tip’ (both noun and verb) and ‘pit’ (noun). OK, I agree, it’s more usually in the plural as in ‘this place is the pits’ = ‘this place is a dump’, but the singular can be used. The clue could therefore be parsed as ‘Dump’ = PIT as the def, and ‘where coal can be dug up’ as the wordplay, with ‘up’ not being a reversal indicator. Yes, the answer is pretty clearly TIP from the crossers, but I found the clue ambiguous and it had me wondering for a start.
ENEMA was great. A certain amount of hygiene indeed!
Thanks to Dac and RR.
Most enjoyable – just a slight hold up with the old purse which had a knock-on effect with 29a.
PATERNAL and SNAPPY took the honours at this end.
Thanks to Dac for the fun and to RR for the blog.
A bit late getting round to this today but we found it not too taxing. Liked ELEGIST, BRIGHTON (not sure any residents thereof will be pleased to hear it descrbed as a town now that it’s a city) and AGAINST. MANTA RAY was our LOI after briefly thinking the answer had to be the name of an artist.
Thanks, Dac and RatkojaRiku.
Superb crafting.