It is Wednesday today and thus home to Dac’s latest offering.
Dac has served up another set of succinct clues with silky smooth surfaces – his trademark, in other words.
It took longer to crack this one than is customary for me with Dac. I struggled with the intersecting entries at 12, 13 and 25, with both 12 and 13 being new words for me. I know that I have encountered the patriot at 25 before, but I needed a Google search to bring it all back to me. Incidentally, I am not sure of my parsing of 25, since the Royal Engineers are only part of the army, and knowing Dac’s reputation for precision, I may have misread the clue here. I also struggled to find a sentence in which calm could be replaced by chill in 10 – perhaps chill (out) for calm (down)?
As always, it’s hard to pick out any particular favourites, but if pressed, I would plump for 17, 20 and 24, all for their surfaces.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in double-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | BAILIFFS | Sheriff’s officers in trouble during strikes
AIL (=trouble) in BIFFS (=strikes, blows) |
| 06 | JOSEPH | Fellow judge hopes will reform
*(J (=judge) + HOPES); “will reform” is anagram indicator |
| 09 | CROC | Dangerous beast putting premature end to old person
CROC<k> (=old person); “putting premature end to” means last letter is dropped |
| 10 | CHINCHILLA | Creature, calm when nursed by pal
CHILL (=calm) in CHINA (=pal, in cockney rhyming slang) |
| 11 | LIFE’S TOO SHORT | Hotel’s roof – it’s in need of fixing: there might not be time
*(HOTEL’S ROOF – IT’S); “in need of fixing” is anagram indicator |
| 12 | STERNE | Writer from Manchester neighbourhood
Hidden (“from”) in “MancheSTER NEighbourhood”; the reference is to Anglo-Irish novelist Laurence Sterne (1713-68) |
| 14 | TEST TUBE | After start of experiment, bottom set knocked over some lab equipment
E<xperiment> (“start of” means first letter only) + BUTT (=bottom, buttocks) + SET; “knocked over” indicates (here full) reversal |
| 16 | AIGRETTE | Nasty tear I get in head decoration
*(TEAR I GET); “nasty” is anagram indicator |
| 18 | PESTER | Badger – look – crossing street
ST (=street) in PEER (=look) |
| 20 | POST-OPERATIVE | Royal Mail employee after work in theatre
POST (=Royal Mail) + OPERATIVE (=employee); the “work in theatre” refers to surgery |
| 23 | MAIDENHEAD | Soldiers bringing in relief to chief town of Berkshire
[AID (=relief, e.g. humanitarian) in MEN (=soldiers)] + HEAD (=chief) |
| 24 | FITS | Matches in which finalists will be gutted
FI<nalis>TS; “will be gutted” means all but first and last two letters are dropped |
| 25 | REVERE | Patriot always ready to enlist in army
EVER (=always) in RE (=army, i.e. Royal Engineers); the reference is to Paul Revere (1734-1818), a patriot in the American Revolution |
| 26 | TICKLING | Dealing with trout and cod after a short time
TICK (=a short time, as in in a tick) + LING (=cod) |
| Down | ||
| 02 | APRIL | A place around Rhode Island in part of spring
RI (=Rhode Island) in [A + PL (=place)] |
| 03 | LUCIFER | Prisoner consuming posh champagne for starters? The devil he is
[U (=posh) + C<hampagne> (“for starters” means first letter only)] in LIFER (=prisoner) |
| 04 | FACTSHEET | Work almost complete in newspaper, producing page of information
[ACT (=work (as)) + SHEE<r> (=complete; “almost” means last letter dropped)] in FT (=newspaper, i.e. Financial Times) |
| 05 | SHIP OF THE DESERT | Tender male keeps cool, facing rat and camel
{HIP (=cool, trendy) in [SOFT (=tender) + HE (=male)]} + DESERT (=rat, abandon) |
| 06 | JACKS | Raises // flags
Double definition |
| 07 | SPIN OUT | Lengthen trip in car abroad
SPIN (=trip in car) + OUT (=abroad) |
| 08 | PALATABLE | Yummy – a drink served up with food
ALAP (A + LAP (=drink); “up” indicates vertical reversal) + TABLE (=food) |
| 13 | TAILPLANE | Report ordinary sounds in part of aircraft
Homophone (“sounds”) of “tale (=report) + plain (=ordinary)”; a tailplane is a horizontal aerofoil on the tail of an aircraft |
| 15 | SEPHARDIC | Jewish chaps’ weird gathering, with wife excluded
*(CHAPS’ <w>EIRD); “with wife (=W) excluded” means letter “w” dropped from anagram, indicated by “gathering” |
| 17 | RUSHDIE | Author’s career to fade
RUSH (=career) + DIE (=fade); the reference is to British author Salman Rushdie (1947-) |
| 19 | SKINFUL | Lots of alcohol gives expert a change of heart
SKI-L-FUL (=expert); “gives a change of heart” means the middle letter is replaced |
| 21 | OUNCE | Wildcat strike, powerless
<p>OUNCE; “power (=P)-less” means letter “p” is dropped |
| 22 | EAT IN | Have meal at home, combining together each container of food
EA (=each) + TIN (=container of food) |
Thanks for blogging, RR. I parsed REVERE the same way you did, but I only know about him because he comes up in crosswords so often.
I’m sure you meant to say in 10ac that the Cockney rhyming slang for CHINA is ‘mate’ as in CHINA PLATE; and of course ‘pal’ is a synonym.
I suppose that ‘chill’ and ‘calm’ could be interchangeable if you use the imperative form: CHILL! CALM! Often to be heard chez nous when I’m trying to get the children to stop arguing with each other. Usually without success.
Fine puzzle as always from Dac; thank you to him too.
Not too difficult. Everything flowed nicely. Had to check 16 – a new one for me.
Thx
Had to check Sephardic, couldn’t drag it up from my memory.
@K’sD if only chill or calm down would ever work at that point.
Thanks RR and the Dac as ever.
Another excellent Wednesday puzzle from Dac. No quibbles, and the AIGRETTE/TAILPLANE crossers were my last ones in.
Another good, smooth puzzle from Dac! No complaints from this household so no need for CHILL or CALM here!
Thanks to S&B.
After yesterday, I was pleased to find I was on the right wavelength for this. Except 7dn, which I just couldn’t see without a word search.
25ac, I didn’t think Paul Revere was that obscure. Must be my interest in American history.
I don’t think it’s that Paul Revere may or may not be obscure; more that RE is surely not the same thing as the army, and the question raised by RatkojaRiku has not been answered. I can’t.
Otherwise (I think it’s otherwise) the usual thing, as has been said here many times on Wednesdays.
WR@7: Sorry, I was referring to K’sD@1, but forgot to reference that.