It was no surprise to find Dac occupying the Wednesday slot this week.
Nor was it a surprise to find another set of carefully crafted, highly sound clues. Overall, I found that this took me longer to solve than many Dac puzzles have, and for a long time I had very little at all in the SE quadrant. The intersecting entries at 25 and 17 were the last ones in for me today.
My clues of the day were 14 and 26, both because they made me smile. Incidentally, I solved 14 on my first read-through of the clues, but I couldn’t see why for absolutely ages! Furthermore, I wasn’t sure of the political activist at 3, but Wikipedia confirmed it to my satisfaction.
Speaking of Wikipedia, it lists the song title at 11 as being spelt rollin’ (rather than rolling), thus unlike the magazine. Is this reflected in the clue in some way that I simply haven’t spotted?
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | DRIPPY | Mad to cross river, getting wet
R (=river) in DIPPY (=mad); “wet” is drippy, as in pathetic, wimpish, weedy |
| 04 | AIRFIELD | Dazzling flare I’d seen, circling round one landing space
I (=one) in *(FLARE I’D); “circling round” is anagram indicator |
| 09 | PASTIS | Old man relaxes, as it were, having drink
PA (=old man) + STIS (SITS BACK=relaxes; “back” indicates reversal) |
| 10 | EDGEHILL | Move slowly on horse, leading to trouble in battle
EDGE (=move slowly) + H (=horse) + ILL (=trouble); the Battle of Edgehill (1642) was the first pitched battle of the First English Civil War |
| 12 | TICKED OFF | Castigated posh bloke audibly after a short time
TICK (=a short time) + homophone (“audibly”) of “toff” (=posh bloke) |
| 13 | GRANT | Former president // making allowance
Double definition: the reference is to Ulysses S Grant, the 18th President of the United States |
| 14 | CURTAILMENT | Shortening an attack of 24-hour flu?
(a) CURT AILMENT (=an attack of 24-hour flu, i.e. not long-lasting) |
| 18 | CONSECRATOR | I’ll give blessing to one Roman Catholic twice, as it turns out
*(TO ONE + RC RC + AS); twice=x2; “it turns out” is anagram indicator |
| 21 | USHER | Superman, for instance, mislays ring wedding official presented
US HER<o> (=Superman, for instance, i.e. hero of American film); “mislays ring (=O)” means letter “o” is dropped |
| 22 | SOCIALIST | Left-winger thus appears on American agency register
SO (=thus) + CIA (=American agency) + LIST (=register) |
| 24 | CAST IRON | Very strong actors in play
*(ACTORS IN); “play” is anagram indicator |
| 25 | MODISH | Chic, like a government department
MOD –ish (=like a government department, i.e. the Ministry of Defence) |
| 26 | SPRINTER | Exotic terrapin’s not a fast mover
*(TERR<a>PIN’S); “not a” means letter “a” dropped from anagram, indicated by “exotic” |
| 27 | FRIGID | Very cold day: like to retire
FRI (=day, i.e. Friday) + GID (DIG=like; “to retire” indicates reversal) |
| Down | ||
| 01 | DIPSTICK | Charlie and Richard will receive unexpected tips
*(TIPS) in DICK (=Richard); “unexpected” is anagram indicator |
| 02 | INSECURE | Unsafe in area near cathedral occupied by nasty person
IN + [CUR (=nasty person) in SEE (=area near cathedral)] |
| 03 | PAINE | Political activist caused torment, alienating Democrat
PAINE<d> (=caused torment); “alienating Democrat (=D)” means letter “d” is dropped; the reference is to English-American political activist Thomas Paine (1737-1809) |
| 05 | INDIFFERENCE | Lack of involvement in argument
IN + DIFFERENCE (=argument) |
| 06 | FREIGHTER | Boat, one going to war with soldiers abroad
RE (=soldiers, i.e. Royal Engineers) in FIGHTER (=one going to war) |
| 07 | ELIJAH | Prophet and priest joining pilgrimage going north
ELI (=priest) + JAH (HAJ=(muslim) pilgrimage; “going north” indicates vertical reversal) |
| 08 | DELETE | Get rid of obstruction in river
LET (=obstruction) in DEE (=river) |
| 11 | ROLLING STONE | Magazine reveals // what papa was, according to The Temptations
Double definition: Rolling Stone is a music magazine; “Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone” was a 1972 hit for The Temptations |
| 15 | ACCORDION | First appearance of Chubby Checker in radio broadcast, playing musical instrument
[C<hubby> C<hecker> (“first appearance of” means first letters only) in *(RADIO)] + ON (=playing); “broadcast” is anagram indicator |
| 16 | STRIKING | Conspicuous when coming out?
Double definition; “coming out” (on strike), i.e. taking industrial action |
| 17 | WRETCHED | Pathetic, heartless Whistler did some impressive work
W<histle>R (“heartless” means all but first and last letters dropped) + ETCHED (=did some “impressive” work, cryptically) |
| 19 | JUICES | After first half of summer month, makes very cold fruit drinks
JU<ne> (=summer month; “first half of” means first two of four letters only) + ICES (=makes very cold) |
| 20 | CHASER | Beer after whisky, or – oddly – sherry after tea
CHA (=tea) + S<h>E<r>R<y> (“oddly” means odd letters only are needed) |
| 23 | AMOUR | Mother gets upset over our illicit affair
AM (MA=mother; “gets upset” indicates vertical reversal) + OUR |
Sorry to gatecrash today’s meeting – I don’t start the puzzle until bedtime so am always too late to add my two penn’orth. However, bearing in mind yesterday’s total cock-up in the printed version, it’s surprising the boss didn’t drop in to apologise! That’s all, I’ll be off now and will call back tomorrow. I haven’t looked at today’s answers, honest!
I found this enjoyable as ever, but for some reason I found it harder to get into than a Dac puzzle usually is for me, and I went down a few blind alleys before I got onto the wavelength of this one. The PAINE/DRIPPY crossers were my last ones in.
I didn’t think twice about ROLLING STONE, and from what I’ve seen on the internet since I read RR’s comment it would appear that Dac has a lot of company.
No apology or whatever in the paper today either.
Still found this quite hard, perhaps just a bad day in the office has caused a brain freeze. Thanks RR were a few I couldn’t get today.
This was one of those occasions where I got stuck, went off and did something else, came back a couple of hours later and it all fell in. 25ac was my LOI but it did make me smile when I got it. I had to google The Temptations to find the name of the song.
I couldn’t parse 9ac,so thanks for that, I kept thinking it ought to be an anagram of PA AS IT.
Not only wasn’t there a correction in the paper today, the solution given was for the online version, not the print version. (Well, sort off, as the extra clue had been there.)
Can you tell me more, Dormouse?
9ac was the only one I couldn’t fully parse.
After reading RR’s blog I thought “yeah, of course”.
A bit more Guardian than Indy, also not very Dac (whatever that is).
Perhaps, one of the best clues today.
Still, can you tell me more?
Tell you more about what? 9ac, where I had little to say, and I think I said it all? Or the bit about the cock-up with yesterday’s puzzle?
Nothing to say really! LOI was 3d.
Good clues, no complaints so thanks to S&B.
Dormouse, you wrote:
“Not only wasn’t there a correction in the paper today, the solution given was for the online version, not the print version. (Well, sort off, as the extra clue had been there.)”
What does this mean?
Sil: Tuesday’s puzzle, there was a problem in the print version. There was a central three letter answer which should have been 18ac but the central square had been removed from the grid and the grid renumbered. However, the clues weren’t renumbered and the clue for 18ac that was, was still there. The new 18ac on the grid was actually a seven letter answer which immediately pointed out the problem. The online version didn’t have this problem. The central square was there as part of 18ac.
In Wednesday’s paper, there was no mention of this problem and the solution printed was the solution to the online version complete with three-letter 18ac.
I see there is now an apology in today’s paper.