Independent 9,479 / Dac

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Dac is where he belongs today, occupying the Wednesday slot.

I found this one to be tougher than the average Dac crossword, not least because of the more unusual vocabulary chosen – both 6 and 7 were new words for me, although they could both be worked out successfully from the wordplay. I also struggled with 21 until I got the second letter from 6.

My favourites today were 1A and 8, both for their typically smooth surfaces; 4, for overall construction; and both 6 and 18, for which the clues made me smile.

*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues

Across    
     
01 HASH Weed end of patch, near tree

<patc>H (“end of” means last letter only) + ASH (=tree)
     
03 HEADBANGER Nut loaf with sausage

HEAD (=loaf, i.e. body part) + BANGER (=sausage); a headbanger is a crazy, fanatical person, hence “nut(case)”
     
09 LAS PALMAS Girl welcomes friend and mother in island port

[PAL (=friend) + MA (=mother)] in LASS (=girl); Las Palmas is the capital of Gran Canaria
     
11 FIBRE Sack containing black material

B (=black) in FIRE (=sack, as verb)
     
12 BRACES Pairs of // tools?

Double definition
     
13 LLANELLI Trio of learners crossing road near one Welsh town

[LANE (=road) in L L L (=trio of learners, i.e. 3 x L=learner)] + I (=one)
     
15 CONCATENATION Series about queen, perhaps, in a certain country

C (=about) + {CAT (=queen, perhaps) in [ONE (=a certain) + NATION (=country)]}; a concatenation is a series of things linked together as a chain
     
17 INDISPENSABLE Essential unlikely to be provided by chemist?

Cryptically, something “indispensable” is unlikely to be provided, i.e. dispensed, by a chemist
     
20 RECORDER Judge‘s // instrument

Historically, a recorder is a judge of a city or borough court of quarter-sessions
     
21 THRACE Group driving in the country once

RAC (=group driving, i.e. Royal Automobile Club) in THE
     
23 MOTTO Saw German fellow miles in front

M (=miles) + OTTO (=German fellow, i.e. a German male forename)
     
24 DELIRIANT Food shop I shout loudly about, showing frenzied excitement

DELI (=food shop) + [I in RANT (=shout loudly)]
     
25 RED HERRING Old Communist group imprisoning that woman is a distraction

HER (=that woman) in [RED (=old Communist) + RING (=group, network)]
     
26 CHAR Burn most of map

CHAR<t> (=map); “most of” means last letter is dropped
     
Down    
     
01 HOLD BACK Restrain impudent journalist, as Spooner might have said

Spoonerism of “bold (=impudent) + hack (=journalist)”
     
02 SUSTAIN Support America over slur

SU (US=America; “over” indicates reversal) + STAIN (=slur)
     
04 EMMA Send-up of article by Madame Bovary?

A (=article, in grammar) + MME (=Madame); “send-up” indicates vertical reversal; Emma Bovary is the eponymous hero of Gustave Flaubert’s novel
     
05 DISPLEASED Place in seaside polluted? Daughter’s not happy

[PL (=place, in place names) in *(SEASIDE)] + D (=daughter); “polluted” is anagram indicator
     
06 AFFENPINSCHER Dog mess in fine French spa

*(FINE FRENCH SPA); “mess in” is anagram indicator; an affenpinscher is a small dog related to the Brussels griffon, having tufts of hair on the face
     
07 GOBELIN Malevolent type pinching European tapestry

E (=European) in GOBLIN (=malevolent type); a Gobelin is a rich French pictorial tapestry
     
08 REEL IN How to catch fish on line at sea?

RE (=on) + *(LINE); “at sea” is anagram indicator
     
10 ALEXANDER POPE Writer using one ruler after another

ALEXANDER (=ruler, i.e. Alexander the Great) + POPE (=ruler, i.e. of Catholic church); the reference is to English poet Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
     
14 NEWSREADER Radio announcer answered evasively, with hesitation

*(ANSWERED) + ER (=hesitation); “evasively” is anagram indicator
     
16 REPEATER Traveller, customer at restaurant who belches a lot?

REP (=traveller) + EATER (=customer at restaurant); cryptically, if someone eats something that repeats on him, it makes him belch!
     
17 INCITED Provoked, as one name gets called in court

I (=one) + N (=name) + CITED (=called in court)
     
18 BRANAGH British actor rushed in to grab lead in Hamlet

RAN (=rushed) in [BAG (=to grab) + H<amlet>]; “lead in” means first letter only; the reference is Northern Irish actor Kenneth Branagh (1960-)
     
19 PRIMER Paint // book

Double definition: a primer is paint for a first coat AND an elementary introduction to a subject
     
22 ELAN Dash into strange land

Hidden (“into”) in “strangE LANd”
     
     

 

7 comments on “Independent 9,479 / Dac”

  1. Yes, a bit harder than usual, with some answered but unparsed including THRACE and REEL IN. I liked CONCATENATION and INDISPENSABLE, once I’d been reminded online it was an ABLE not an ‘ible’. Didn’t know DELIRIANT existed – one more to add to the vocabulary.

    Thanks to RR and Dac.

  2. Nice stuff, and definitely at the harder end of Dac’d Indy spectrum. I did meself in the SE corner by pencilling in ‘delirious’ for 24a (even though I couldn’t parse) and so ended up missing 21a, 18d and the amusing 16d. COD for me goes to the aforementioned 16d so thanks to Dac for the puzzle and to RR for the blog.

    BTW @1WordPlodder – sorry to see that you are not quite yourself today. 🙂

  3. Deliriant as a noun applies to a group of substances that induce delirium, hallucinations etc. Also used in the sense of producing delirium. Showing as in Dac’s wording leads me more naturally to an answer of delirious too. I’m quite happy to be corrected by those who consult more dictionaries than I do.

    Otherwise a good workout. Thanks to RR and Dac

  4. When I saw 13ac I wondered if we were in for a St David’s Day theme – not that Dac does themes or ninas very much. Incidentally the enumeration in Welsh would be (6) as LL is a single letter, separate from L in the Welsh alphabet.

    And whilst I’m in pedantic mood, re 17ac, as a chemist I have never dispensed a prescription – that’s the preserve of a pharmacist! (Yes, I know, “Boots the Chemist” and all that.) But that clue did raise a smile when I remembered the ambiguous sign supposedly seen in a pharmacy: “We dispense with accuracy”. Ho hum.

    But the usual sound workmanlike offering we have come to expect from Dac. DELIRIANT was new to me and I initially went for ‘delirious’ (Kryptickate@3, Chambers has ‘deliriant’ as an adjective) until it obviously didn’t fit or parse. And it took me ages to connect HASH with ‘weed’.

    Thanks, Dac and RatkojaRiku.

  7. Hello Hoskins@2,

    Thank you for your concerns. I’ve now regained my tail-endeR. Posting at 0020 in bed does that to you!

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