| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | PET,RA – an archeological site in Jordan and one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. Would “old city” been a fairer definition? |
| 4 | (GERMAN IS T)* – great clue, smoothly worded. |
| 10 | A in CHIC,NO |
| 11 | T,READ,MILL – that’s John Stuart MILL (“of his own free will, on half a pint of shandy was particularly ill”). I think I might have got this a bit quicker had I not thought the definition was “becomes routine”. |
| 14 | IN,NY in (TALKS)*,TE – nothing wrong with the clue but I bet there are a few complaints about this phrase. For the non-coffee drinkers, something is SKINNY if it has skimmed milk in it instead of the full-fat version. |
| 17 | SAX (“sacks”),OP,(NO THIS)* – SAXOPHONIST. Another top-drawer clue. |
| 19 | “mullED WIN” |
| 21 | (WHOSE PAST)* – SWEATSHOP. I thought this was great too, especially as “whose past” doesn’t sound like anagram fodder at first. |
| 26 | WAKE,FIELD – a novel by Oliver Goldsmith. |
| Down | |
| 1 | PROS,T |
| 2 | THE,W in REITH |
| 4 | PIT (“raised”) in MULL,EXES – another fine clue although at the time of solving I couldn’t see where EXES came from. Looking it up, I see that it’s a colloquialism for “expenses”. Not sure why this is “further costs” though rather than just “costs”. |
| 5 | SIC – “sick”. “So” is the definition. |
| 8 | OD in GOSPORT – I filled this in without really getting the wordplay and it was only later that I saw GOSPORT, which for some reason I thought was up North. |
| 14 | CORED in WARS (going up) |
| 15 | RIGHT in BEST – some very subtle &lit wording here which makes the clue sound like a straight definition. |
| 17 | (FOR US NO)* – SUNROOF. |
| 20 | H in WACK – I didn’t know that “wack” was a scouse word but with W?A?K filled in this wasn’t a problem. |
| 24 | SHE – a novel by Rider Haggard. |
4 comments on “Independent 6714/Dac”
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Excellent puzzle from Dac. The first word of SKINNY LATTE was new to me, but the answer was pretty unambiguous from the wordplay. Re EXES, I think in practice these would normally be extra e.g. on top of wage or salary so I was quite happy with ‘further costs’. My favourite clue was 22 dn “Where toddler might go mad” POTTY
I thought 22d was great too along with a good few others. One of those “easy but brilliant and enjoyable” puzzles.
I’m not a coffee drinker but I’m sufficiently familiar with American TV & films that I have heard far too much about skinny lattes, which meant that the clue had a perfect surface for me.
My only question marks were over EXES and WACK so thanks for clarifying these.
Gosport
This is a very minor town and 8dn must have been tricky for many people. Fortunately I used to live near there, so I had no problem.
I did a gig there once, got a bit too free with the local grog and fell off my drum stool. I was then punched by a girl. Another more serious fight ensued, and when the polis arrived someone released the handbrake of their unlocked van, which crashed tail-first into a shopfront.
For years I laboured under the delusion that this had somehow been an unusual night around Portsmouth.