Independent 8,677 by Dac

by

An unremarkable crossword from Dac. By which I don’t mean that it is less than excellent, simply that it is just as usual. Nice clues, all so far as I can see perfectly sound.

I found this on the easy side for a Dac.

Across

1 Appearing unexpectedly in Bond films, like Ursula Andress or Daniel Craig? (3,2,3,4)
OUT OF THE BLUE
My knowledge of Bond films is a bit sketchy, but Ursula Andress appeared out of the sea [the blue] in Dr No. What Daniel Craig, who is a later Bond and that’s all I know about him, did I’m not sure.

9 Nectar’s affected islanders (7)
CRETANS
(Nectar’s)*

10 Sermon given by the priest in Sacré Coeur about end of Advent (7)
LECTURE
le c({Adven}t)uré — The Sacré Coeur reference is simply there to make you put the priest into French

11 Film director said to be both right and wrong? (8)
TRUFFAUT
“true”, “faux”

12 Picture of popular group (5)
INSET
in [= popular] set [= group]

13 So Italy doesn’t want soldiers in Mediterranean island (6)
SICILY
sic [= thus] I{TA}ly

14 Dark brown bag carried by beastly sort (8)
BRUNETTE
bru(net)te — bag as a verb — if you bag something you net it

16 Casino employee sounding more hoarse? (8)
CROUPIER
More croupy is (fancifully?) croupier — although I can find croupy in Chambers, croupier in this sense isn’t specified — maybe it is in some dictionaries but I rather doubt it

18 Non-meat eater‘s struggle to eat part of breakfast? (6)
VEGGIE
v(egg)ie

21 Stranger carried back by tired donkey (5)
ODDER
Hidden rev. in tiRED DOnkey

22 Weapons delivered into temporary shelters (8)
TRIDENTS
t(rid)ents

24 More disorderly member of boat race squad? Policeman’s called in (7)
ROWDIER
row(DI)er

25 Schoolbag thrown about by the class endlessly (7)
SATCHEL
(the clas{s})*

26 Be adept pupil initially filling in worksheet? No, that’s wrong (4,3,5)
KNOW THE ROPES
p{upil} in (worksheet no)*

Down

1 Regularly connected, in former times (4)
ONCE
{c}o{n}n{e}c{t}e{d}

2 Early joke from Ms French? (3,5,2,4)
THE CRACK OF DAWN
2 defs, one referring to Dawn French

3 Scared, following prolonged reprimand (7)
FEARFUL
f earful

4 Horse approaching former Soviet territory carrying a member of the cavalry (6)
HUSSAR
h USS(a)R

5 Belts or braces ultimately might do as supports (8)
BOLSTERS
(Belts or {brace}s)* — ‘might do as’ is the possibly rather thin anagram indicator

6 Affected charm, a factor female’s lacking (7)
UNCTION
{f}unction — ‘Affected’ an adjective not a verb

7 Is strict on board, pushing tar around with this (4,1,5,4)
RUNS A TIGHT SHIP
(pushing tar this)*

8 Art lover worried about book being incomplete (8)
AESTHETE
a(Esthe{r})te — referring to Esther, the book of the Bible

13 Helps son onto University College programme, after dropping English (8)
SUCCOURS
s u c cours{e}

15 Ambassador joins project to limit a transport hub (8)
HEATHROW
HE (a) throw

17 Share drink with one working (7)
PORTION
port 1 on

19 Horseman maybe giving sign of victory, breaking European record (7)
EVENTER
E (V) enter

20 Garish outfit sported at school (6)
KITSCH
kit sch

23 Fête’s opening cancelled, unfortunately (4)
ALAS
{g}ala’s

*anagram

8 comments on “Independent 8,677 by Dac”

  1. Thanks Dac and John

    My favourites were 3d, 4d, 18a and 14a (LOI).

    I needed help to parse 25a, 8d, 13a, 26a.

  2. I agree that this was on the easy side for a Dac puzzle but it was still very enjoyable. The TRUFFAUT/FEARFUL crossers were my last ones in.

    John, re: 1ac – in a scene in Skyfall Daniel Craig appeared out of the sky (the blue).

  3. Tend to be irritated when responders say “finished this in X minutes”, so crave forgiveness for saying this was the quickest Indy solve ever for me.

    @1michelle – have you been on a very long holiday?

    Thanks to Dac and John

  6. hi gwep and Kathryn’s Dad – sadly, I was on a very long holiday from cryptic crosswords, but I am back now – my brain needs a good daily workout! I usually do the “other” cryptic every day but I will now get back into doing the indy as well every day.

  7. Bert remembers Ursula Undress but Joyce prefers her memories of Daniel Craig!

    Thanks to John and Dac. We’d agree that it was slightly easier than usual but we always like Dac’s puzzles.

  8. I’ve been out most of the day and only got round to looking at this in earnest an hour or so ago. I found this a quick solve too.

    I did get a couple of clues first thing this morning when I had a quick look at it. One of these was 2dn. A few months ago someone on a forum asked for some help with the parsings of a number of clues from the Sydney Morning Herald he’d downloaded. One of them was an almost identical clue: “First light on the French joke?” and it had stuck in my memory.

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