Today offered me what will doubtless be my last opportunity to blog a Dac puzzle in 2015.
And rather fittingly, this puzzle bears all the hallmarks of the other Dac puzzles that I have blogged throughout this year and previous ones: essentially, sound, snappy clues with utterly smooth surfaces.
Overall, I found this one to be towards the easy end of the Dac spectrum. I was able to work my way round the grid quite swiftly, finding that I came to a brief standstill only in the SE quadrant, where 15 and 25 eluded me for a while. 15 was clearly an anagram, the first part of whose solution was obvious, but there were two possible options for the second half; Wikipedia quickly confirmed which of them was the right one. 25 was thus the last one in, and once I saw that the last three letters would account for “prison” in the clue, it was simply a case of finding an adjective derived from the name of a Spanish island.
As for my preferred clues today, my two joint favourites were 4, for the definition part and for sustaining the sport theme through definition and wordplay alike; and 5, for originality of construction and for making me smile. Incidentally, in addition to the new word at 15, the adjectival use of 22 was new to me. The use of a brand name at 13 also surprised me, as this is surely not in the “biro” or “hoover” category as yet.
(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | RELEGATE | Demote soldiers escorting ambassador
RE (=soldiers, Royal Engineers) + LEGATE (=ambassador) |
| 05 | AMORAL | Written test will be in the afternoon presumably? Wrong
Cryptically, there will be an AM ORAL if there is a PM (“in the afternoon”) WRITTEN TEST |
| 09 | SICILIAN | Thus I catch retreating Mafioso?
SIC (=thus) + I + LIAN (NAIL=catch; “retreating” indicates reversal) |
| 10 | BURDEN | To polish all round study is a responsibility
BUR (RUB=polish; “all round” indicates reversal) + DEN (=study) |
| 12 | GROVE | Good to wander in small wood
G (=good) + ROVE (=to wander) |
| 13 | SHREDDIES | Mum needs cash, we’re told, for breakfast cereal
SH (=mum, i.e. quiet) + REDDIES (READIES= cash; “we’re told” indicates a homophone) |
| 14 | DIVERTIMENTO | Musical piece: it’s recurring in Monteverdi composition
TI (IT; “recurring”, i.e. coming back, indicates reversal) in *(MONTEVERDI); “composition” is anagram indicator |
| 18 | ALL-INCLUSIVE | Kind of holiday tired Indian officer wanted, touring America
ALL-IN (=tired) + [US (=America) + CLIVE (=Indian officer, i.e. Robert Clive (1725-74) aka Clive of India)] |
| 21 | ANASTASIA | A whole continent backing short unpleasant Russian aristocrat
A + NAST<y> (=unpleasant; “short” means last letter dropped) + ASIA (=whole continent); the reference is to Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna, the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia |
| 23 | EVENT | Earl opening contest
E (=earl) + VENT (=opening, as noun) |
| 24 | EQUINE | Like horse, one kept by queen, specially trained
I (=one) in *(QUEEN); “specially trained” is anagram indicator |
| 25 | MINORCAN | Spanish island’s Category D prison?
Cryptically, a Category D prison could be described as a minor (=low-grade) can! |
| 26 | EXEMPT | Old English politician getting tea, say, free of charge
EX (=old) + E (=English) + MP (=politician) + T (“tea”; “say” is homophone indicator) |
| 27 | INTERNEE | Prisoner in extremes of trouble has to accept ‘bird’
IN + [ERNE (=bird, i.e. sea-eagle) in T<roubl>E (“extremes of” means first and last letters only)] |
| Down | ||
| 01 | RESIGN | Give up on recruit
RE (=on, concerning) + SIGN (=recruit, as verb) |
| 02 | LICTOR | Roman official reportedly conquered outer boundaries
LICT (LICKED=conquered; “reportedly” is homophone indicator) + O<ute>R (“boundaries” means first and last letters only); a lector was an official attending a Roman magistrate, bearing the fasces |
| 03 | GALWEGIAN | Irish girl with, say, a Scotsman
GAL (=girl) + W (=with) + E.G. (=say, for example) + IAN (=Scotsman); a Galwegian is a native of Galway in Ireland |
| 04 | TRANSFER LIST | Footballers on the move felt strains developing about start of replay
R<eplay> (“start of” means first letter only) in *(FELT STRAINS); “developing” is anagram indicator |
| 06 | MOULD | Soil // fungus?
Double definition: MOULD is a soil rich in decayed matter AND a fungal growth |
| 07 | RED GIANT | Great star performing in tragedy no end
*(IN TRAGED<y>); “no end” means last letter dropped from anagram indicated by “performing” |
| 08 | LONG SHOT | What javelin thrower hopes for? He’s unlikely to win
Cryptically, a javelin thrower would hope for a shot/throw that goes a long way! |
| 11 | PROTESTATION | Outcry as rubbish is dumped in gym and railway terminal
[ROT (=rubbish) in P.E. (=gym, i.e. physical education)] + STATION (=railway terminal) |
| 15 | MOVIETONE | Film technique that’s strangely emotive? No
*(EMOTIVE NO); “strangely” is anagram indicator; Movietone is an optical sound-on-film method of recording sound for motion pictures |
| 16 | JAPANESE | Jokes about an east Asian native
[AN in JAPES (=jokes)] + E (=east) |
| 17 | PLEASURE | Going round meadows is utter delight
LEAS (=meadows) in PURE (=utter, sheer) |
| 19 | DEACON | One cleric and another keeping company
CO (=company) in DEAN (=cleric) |
| 20 | STANCE | Position adopted by sacristan ceremoniously
Hidden (“adopted by”) in ‘sacriSTAN CEremoniously” |
| 22 | TON-UP | Presumably not keen on speed
“Not” is a vertical reversal (“up”) of “ton”; ton-up as an adjective means “fond of travelling at speed” |
Nothing to complain about here, though one had to think beyond obvious clichés such as HE for ‘ambassador’ and ER for ‘queen’, and three passes were needed to complete the grid. 25ac was quite ingenious, but my CoD was SICILIAN.
Thanks, Dac and RatkojaRiku
I liked this and didn’t find it too difficult, though was slow in working out the NW corner for some reason. I thought LONG SHOT as being ‘What javelin thrower hopes for?’ in 8d was a bit iffy. Maybe ‘What driver hopes for?’ might have worked better. Yes, TON-UP as an adjective was new to me too, as was GALWEGIAN. I particularly liked AMORAL which was my COD.
Thanks to Dac and RatkojaRiku.
It took a while to tease out the rather obscure Galwegian and divertimento, but fairly straightforward apart from that. Possibly it’s just as well we don’t have too many Southern Italian solvers or there might be an outcry at equating Sicilian with Mafiosi.
9a beat me! Otherwise a joy! Being a Glaswegian I found Galwegian an easy slide. Thanks to both.
Neal @ 3
I think the question mark is Dac’s get out clause from the charge of equating Sicilians with Mafiosi.
The usual very satisfying puzzle from Dac. I have one quibble though: amoral (5ac) doesn’t mean wrong. Perhaps immoral does.
This was weird. Dac is the master of the smooth surface and precise definition. I draw a circle round dodgy clues and definitions and, usually, with Dac there aren’t any. Today when I finished I found 12 circles. If I can mention just three: Sicilian for Mafioso is outrageous, even with a question mark, category D prison for minor can is too vague, the whole in “a whole continent” is unnecessary padding. Dac’s puzzles do not usually draw many comments. Is he fed up with us finding him too perfect with nothing to complain about?
re. ‘ton-up’ as an adjective
In the days when mods and rockers descended on Brighton (the sixties?) the tabloids used the phrase ‘ton-up boys’.