The usual lovely thing from Dac. There’s really very little to say because everything fits so well and the clues are almost all clearly-constructed and faultless.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | CO(MIC)OPER A |
| 6 | PEER — “pier” |
| 10 | INSTRUMENTATION — (Notts team in ruin)* — are scoring and instrumentation quite the same thing? I’m not sure |
| 11 | FORTUNE — John Fortune and fortune=lot |
| 12 | WALPOLE — (law)rev. Pole |
| 13 | PIL{e} LAGER — nothing to do with Pils, which threw me while I was trying to make this work |
| 14 | BODEGA — bod (age)rev. |
| 16 | C{L}OBBER — think Australian English |
| 18 | CARESSED — (ace dress)* |
| 21 | MANK{y} IN 1 — Borat’s invention (?), or possibly Sasha Baron Cohen’s |
| 22 | C(A BARE)T — I couldn’t see how a cabaret was a picture until I thought of the film |
| 24 | KING OF THE CASTLE — (takes flight once)* — a typically smooth Dac anagram with a lovely vivid surface |
| 25 | {c}RASH |
| 26 | FRI. ENDS HIP |
| Down | |
| 1 | CL 1 FF |
| 2 | MIST {u}RAL{s} |
| 3 | CORRUGATED IRON — I think this is (r rug) in (decoration)*, where r=rare, an abbreviation with which I’m not familiar and which isn’t in Chambers or the COD. It’s probably in Collins, a dictionary that I won’t buy on principle. |
| 4 | PA({bedroo}M)PERED — I’m not absolutely comfortable with ‘bedroom’s ultimately’ for m, rather than ‘bedroom’s ultimate’, or ‘bedroom ultimately’, neither of which would fit in the surface |
| 5 | RE(NOW)N{t} |
| 7 | EPI{c} TOME |
| 8 | R(ANGEL)AND |
| 9 | FALL’S OVER BOARD |
| 13 | PACEMAKER — 2 defs — strangely, the first of its type in this crossword — Dac usually has quite a few of them |
| 15 | MARCHES E |
| 17 | BANANAS — 2 defs, and a very good one that I’ve never seen before |
| 19 | STRETCH — as if to make up for it, Dac now has a 3 defs clue |
| 20 | toP INTERviewer — Dac also sets for the Times and I think he observes the Times rule of having no more than one hidden in any crossword |
| 23 | T(I.E.)UP |
Awesome puzzle – clues as smooth as a jazz bassist covered in oil and bursting with clever definitions.
On seeing r=rare in 3dn I just made the assumption it was an abbreviation I didn’t know but, now you mention it, I can’t find it in the dictionaries I have; didn’t hold up the solve though.
Really loved 17dn. Looks so obvious a double def doesn’t it? But I can’t remember seeing it before. And I thought 23dn was exceptional.
Been a good week, hasn’t it?
Thanks, John. Yes, up to Dac’s usual high standard with some seemingly effortless and elegant clues. I only failed on MANKINI, and am still not convinced by the definition; but overall a pleasure to solve. Loved 16ac and 1ac. I think we’ve had a very good couple of weeks in the Indy recently.
And to allow you to remain true to your principles, John, I can confirm to the world that r=rare is indeed in Collins. If it’s not too personal a question, what do you have against it?
Definitely a good week. Failed with 21a too, not something I really wanted to be reminded of.
I suspect r = rare is only ever used in Collins. The OED has it in REE = rare earth elements.
Excellent puzzle, favourites MANKINI and FALLS OVERBOARD. Re MANKINI, I think the ? covers the point re definition made at comment 2 – a joke really.
Excellent stuff, as ever. I covered most of this in the morning but had a bit of a pause when it came the top right corner. I was held up a bit by convincing myself without looking at the clue too well that 6 across must be “laud”. That and a few unfamiliar words (bodega, rangeland and the unusual meaning of epitome) make that section a little harder. I was pleased to get mankini – cringing my way through Borat wasn’t entirely in vain.
I am in awe of Dac’s elegant clue writing with such beautiful surface reading. Not having cringed through Borat, MANKINI was the last clue I solved. An excellent &lit with wordplay which provided the answer. This, to me, is one of the delights of cryptic crosswords – often introducing us to something new.
Why “on both sides” in 4 down?Isn’t “having wall covering” enough for”papered”?
Brilliant crossword though, such smooth surface readings.
jp, the ‘on both sides’ refers the the ‘m’ not the wall.
K’s D — my grumble with Collins is that I once thought I’d made a nice buy in WH Smith when I bought a great big Collins Dictionary for I think £6.25, 75% off the usual price. It looked exactly as if it should be the real thing (which I’m sure it was touted as), but I found that it differs from it despite having a cover that is almost identical, so it is virtually useless. I regard this as very shady dealing on the part of Collins.
I was relieved that people seem to agree with me about 17dn. After posting the blog it occurred to me that it might be an old chestnut of which I was unaware. Evidently not.
I seem to remember “mankini” being an answer fairly recently (or was that “monokini” – I’m sure there was some confusion at the time).
I also remember anax was trying to get rid of one; how did that go?
Re comment 9, John, it’s always ‘caveat emptor’, I guess, if an offer sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Whether it is the publisher or the retailer who takes decisions, or a bit of both, may be a factor. Might be a choice between selling unwanted stock off cheap or pulping them. Have to say the Collins 2009 dict is v good.
Excellent stuff. It seems I, alone among you, am unconvinced by how 21 parses (the IN 1 bit seems a little bit clunky?). Hmm. And not having heard of an ANGEL financier knocked me out a little bit. Otherwise fab stuff. I love 23d. Simple and brilliant.
I read 20 as a kind of &lit, incidentally:
“Playwright introduced” (P) “by” (=’next to’) “top interviewer” (INTER) = PINTER
But that’s because I totally failed to see it hidden in the clue.
Kieron
Another great puzzle with some good misdirections. Took me a while to see 1ac then I remembered the late Tommy Cooper and got it “just like that”.
22ac had me on the wrong track for a bit thinking of “cartoon” [nude picture = art with nothing (= 0) on] but then “court” didn’t fit. There’s an idea, though, for one of your setters to develop.
Excellent puzzle though I had to run through the possibilities for C-B-E- a few times in my head until the Australian connection hit me.
RANGELAND was new for me but knowing ANGEL made it straightforward. BODEGA is the name of a very nice pub up in Newcastle. Nice for its beer rather than its wine though.