Independent 7,396 by Dac

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Always a pleasure to tackle a Wednesday Dac. I made pretty swift progress through this, though with a few down clues, such as 1 and 13 taking longer than I should admit. 6dn was particularly nice, I thought.

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition.

Across
1 MÉDOC – ME[rlot] + DOC.
4 TAILGATER – (I TARGET A + L)*.
9 LAID ASIDE – AID in LADIES*.
10 AWING – A WING, as in “a wing and a prayer”.
11 REPLAY – P[resenter] in RELAY.
12 STAGNANT – STAG + [garde]N + ANT.
14 CONSTRUCTION – CONS + T + RUCTION.
17 TRAGEDIENNES – (AGREED + TENNIS)*.
20 CRESSIDA – (IS SCARED)*.
21 TSETSE – [deep]EST EST[onia]<.
23 RABBI – (B + B) in RAI[l].
24 ADVENTIST – AD + VEN + (IS in TT).
25 BERNSTEIN – B + Max ERNST + EIN.
26 SNEER – S + N (South and North, partners in bridge) + E’ER.
Down
1 MILLRACE – [swi]M + I’LL RACE.
2 DRIPPING – D + RIPPING. Something you don’t tend to see much of these days.
3 CHARACTERISTICS – ACT in (HEAR CRITICS)*.
4 TAIL – hom. of “tale”.
5 INEPTITUDE – IN + (PT 1 in ÉTUDE).
6 GRANGE-OVER-SANDS – RANGE OVER in G. SAND’S.
7 TRIBAL – B in TRIAL.
8 RIGHTO – RIGHT + 0.
13 JUGGED HARE – JUGGED + HARE. That’s William Hare, of “Burke and” fame.
15 ON STRIKE – SON* + TRIKE.
16 ASSENTOR – TREASON’S*.
18 SCARAB – C in S + ARAB.
19 BERBER – BERBER[is].
22 IVAN – I + VAN.

18 comments on “Independent 7,396 by Dac”

  2. Are there two versions of the clue for 19D? The on line version has:

    North African shrub is disappearing (6)

    with berber(is) as the shrub.

  3. Thanks Simon, as you say an excellent puzzle as always from Dac.

    Managed to get GRANGE-OVER-SANDS from something random I heard on the radio recently, classical music not being my forte. Took me some time too to get MEDOC; I couldn’t get beyond the DOCG bit of the Italian classification.

    I think it’s only soft southerners that don’t see much of DRIPPING. What’s the cooking fat of choice down there – extra virgin olive oil or something?

    I fancy 19dn is BERBERIS (the plant) minus IS, unless we’ve got another situation where the clue in the dead-tree version is different to that online.

  8. I have got to the stage where I can have a reasonable stab at the Times and Telegraph ( I can’t yet complete them) but whenever I try the Indie (about once every two months) I get practically nowhere. Only got 17a,21a 3d,8d and 16d.

    Would someone please explain where “doc” comes from in 1a and the reference to Italy.

    6d Is it reasonable to be expected to know that Chopin had a lover called G Sands?

    22d -where does “van” come form , please?

    Thanks

  9. Bamberger (comment #8), DOC is, regarding wine, the Italian equivalent, of the French AC (classifying wine). George Sand and Chopin are pretty well known, she was famous is her own right as a novelist, van = position of leader, like in the vanguard.

  10. Struggled a bit in NE corner until I realised I’d made a mess of 9ac by putting in the answer to a different clue. that’s 5d for you. Otherwise the usual satisfying wednesday Dac.

  11. Hi bamberger at no 8. That would be me about 18 months ago, struggling to get very far most days, but practice makes perfect and all that, so stick with it. I certainly wouldn’t have got the Chopin lover reference and ‘van’ wordplay back then either, but there’s just a certain crossword vocabulary that you’ll need, which comes to you once you’ve seen it a few times. That’s my experience anyway – hope you keep enjoying the challenges in the Indy!

  12. All you footballers and rock musicians. It’s perfectly reasonable to know that Chopin had a lover called George Sand, indeed it’s quite well-known. Comes up a lot in crosswords for some reason so remember this Bamberger and you’ll have no trouble.

  13. Thanks Simon.
    I have only recently started doing the Indie puzzle on a regular basis and as you say Dac’s puzzles are always a pleasure,this one being no exception.
    Some nice misdirections,a few clever anagrams and some literary and musical references.
    Had never heard of Grange-over-Sands but I found it quite gettable from the clueing,music being one of my main interests.But taking bamberger’s point @8,it may be a tad unfair to clue an obscure Cumbrian village with a (to the non musical) fairly obscure reference to a composer’s private life – even if we are celebrating the bicentenary of his birth.
    Favourite clues 10 and 25 across and 13 down.

  14. For me G-o-S is embedded in my psyche and I wouldn’t consider it obscure at all. In the north at least, it’s regarded as a somewhat posh holiday resort. My upbringing meant I was more likely to go to Blackpool or Morecambe than Lytham or Grange. Maybe Dac’s a post northerner!
    I guess this is the perennial problem with including this sort of “general knowledge” in puzzles.

  15. Boo to the type setters at the i – don’t they know that the cryptic crossword is the most important bit of the paper? I’m off to download something from the Guardian website instead!

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