| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | PAT,C,ASH(e) – excellent topical clue. |
| 9 | P in SOHO,MORE – one of the last 2 or 3 answers to go. “Part of London again” had me puzzled for a while. |
| 10 | WAG(n)ER |
| 11 | (MOP)*,ADE (“aid”) – superb &lit clue. Best clue in the puzzle, I think. |
| 12 | (O QUA-rTERS)* – I didn’t know QUAESTOR so this was the last answer to go in. With ?U?E?T?R filled in and the fairly safe knowledge that the wordplay was an anagram of o + quarters with the “r” missing it was just a case of deciding what to do with the remaining letters. The “q” was easy and the rest followed as QUOESTAR just doesn’t look right. |
| 14 | H,TIER< – shouldn’t this really be “former BBC bigwig”? |
| 22 | ME in INCA,RA |
| 24 | IS,N in LAD – “in van[guard]” indicates that IS has to be at the front of the clue. |
| 28 | (RENT WIDOW)* |
| 29 | PASS in S,KY – a reference to Boris Spassky who, amongst other things, played Bobby Fischer for the World Championship in Reykjavik in 1972 – one of the most famous matches ever. |
| Down | |
| 1/2 | (TO PRO SOCIALIST PM)* – PASSPORT TO PIMLICO. |
| 5 | “czech”,CAR,D – “traveller can get dinars” for CAR,D took me far too long to get. |
| 8 | R in TORE,O |
| 15 | (THE PALS ME)* – HELPMATES. Another nice &lit. |
| 17/18 | MAKE A SONG AND DANCE – Bussell is Darcey, the ballet dancer, but I’m not sure who Jenkins is supposed to be. |
| 21 | DI(m),SHES |
| 25 | SEE TO – “C2”. Clever reference to social grades. |
6 comments on “Independent 6458/Dac”
Comments are closed.
Good stuff again by Dac. I liked the PASSPORT TO PIMLICO anagram. Isn’t “Jenkins” the blonde lady Katherine who sings at the Millennium Stadium before the big games? One reason, actually, why I wasn’t in a hurry to move back to the “New Wembley” 🙂
Actually having just checked wikipedia she’s now the official mascot for the Welsh Rugby team apparently.
The mascot of the Royal Regiment of Wales in 1999 was a goat.
She and Darcy B are now teaming up to do some contrived show called “Divas” or somesuch. The clue pairing is quite timely and I thought good. I thought the cheque card was very clumsy and didn’t write it in for ages looking for something better.
Agraid I got stuck on a few. Still don’t have 27A or 23D – help!
Hi Mark – five letter countries could narrow 23D down. 27A has a one-word definition.
Not just in 1999 – the Welsh regiment have a permanent job for a goat, and a ‘Goat Major’ to look after it – more here.
1/2dn needs to get its initial P from power as the anagram is one letter short.