Today saw my monthly blogging encounter with Dac.
I found this one to be towards the easier end of the spectrum in terms of difficulty and made rather speedy progress through it. I ultimately ended up with only the clue at 8 unsolved, although part of the problem with this one lay in the fact that I had wrongly solved 5A as “accuracy” instead of “accurate”, having confused the parts of speech. Once I had corrected my mistake, I soon fathomed out 8, although the term was unfamiliar to me. 13D was also new but eminently gettable from the wordplay.
My favourite clue by far today was 13A, for smoothness of surface and above all for making me smile.
(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | ETCHER | Regularly entice female artist
E<n>T<i>C<e> (“regularly” means alternate letters only) + HER (=female) |
| 05 | ACCURACY | Current office for clergyman? That’s absolutely right
AC (=current, i.e. alternating current) + CURACY (=office for clergyman) |
| 09 | INJUNCTION | Legal order during meeting
IN (=during) + JUNCTION (=meeting, e.g. of roads) |
| 10 | CROW | Sound pleased about employment being cut back
C (=about, i.e. circa) + ROW (WOR<k>=employment; “cut” means last letter dropped; “back” indicates reversal) |
| 11 | CONTESSA | Italian noblewoman worried ancestors? Not right
*(ANCESTO<r>S); “not right (=R)” means letter “r” is dropped from anagram, indicated by “worried” |
| 12 | OBTUSE | Very slow empty boat passes through river in York
B<oa>T (“empty” means all but first and last letters are dropped) in OUSE (=river in York); an obtuse person is “very slow” on the uptake |
| 13 | MANX SHEARWATER | Bird makes fellow cross: she has drink behind bar, topless
MAN (=fellow) + X (=cross, e.g. on ballot paper) + SHE + <b>AR (“topless” means first letter dropped) + WATER (=drink) |
| 15 | SOCRATIC METHOD | Our Conservative leaders taken in by this Democrat developed a way of thinking?
O<ur> C<onservative> (“leaders” means first letters only) in *(THIS DEMOCRAT); “developed” is anagram indicator |
| 18 | CODGER | Old fellow’s registration with doctor rejected
REG (=registration, as in car reg) + DOC (=doctor); “rejected” indicates reversal |
| 19 | RECEPTOR | Record kept by churchman, one getting information
EP (=record, i.e. extended play) in RECTOR (=churchman); a receptor is an element of the nervous system adapted for reception of stimuli |
| 22 | GILL | US soldier having a couple of litres? Much less
GI (=US soldier) + L L (=a couple of litres, i.e. 2 x L=litre); a gill is a quarter of a pint, so “much less” than “a couple of litres” |
| 23 | IRON MAIDEN | I would have little energy entering tough athletic event: it’s torture
[I’D (=I would) + E (=energy)] in IRONMAN (=tough athletic event) |
| 24 | STURGEON | Way to encourage Scottish politician
ST (=way, i.e. street) + URGE ON (=to encourage, e.g. in race); the reference is to Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon (1970-) |
| 25 | LEGEND | Hero, say, comes in advance
E.G. (=say, for example) in LEND (=advance, e.g. money); e.g. the heroes/legends of tennis |
| Down | ||
| 02 | TANGO | After function, try Latin American dance
TAN (=function, i.e. tangent, in trigonometry) + GO (=try, as in to have a go) |
| 03 | HOUSTON | Most of building not erected? A problem here?
HOUS<e> (=building; “most of” means last letter dropped) + TON (NOT; “erected” indicates vertical reversal); the reference is to the Apollo 13 crew’s report to their base following a technical incident, “Houston, we’ve had a problem” |
| 04 | ROCKS | Oldies, not primarily dependable people
<c>ROCKS (=oldies); “not primarily” means first letter is dropped |
| 05 | ANIMATED CARTOON | For instance Popeye actor made nation excited
*(ACTOR MADE NATION); “excited” is anagram indicator |
| 06 | CONCOURSE | Many studying in large open space
C (=many, i.e. a hundred) + ON COURSE (=studying) |
| 07 | RICOTTA | Apricot tart filled with cheese
Hidden (“filled with”) in “apRICOT TArt” |
| 08 | CROSSHEAD | Block angry school principal
CROSS (=angry) + HEAD (=school principal); a crosshead is a metal block that connects to a piston in an engine |
| 13 | MYOLOGIST | Muscle man – gosh – is carrying round wood: tons
{[O (=round, i.e. pictorially) + LOG (=wood)] in [MY (=gosh, cor) + IS]} + T (=tons); a myologist is a muscle specialist, hence “muscle man” |
| 14 | SATURNINE | Gloomy nature incompatible with sin
*(NATURE + SIN); “incompatible” is anagram indicator |
| 16 | REGULAR | Soldier picked up artillery weapon
RA (=artillery, i.e. Royal Artillery) + LUGER (=weapon, i.e. type of pistol); “picked up” indicates vertical reversal |
| 17 | HOPPING | Going about on one foot is // sort of mad
Double definition; “hopping mad” |
| 20 | CAMEL | Arrived on large camel
CAME (=arrived) + L (=large) |
| 21 | ODEON | Name of cinema in old part of SW, very abandoned
O (=old) + DE<v>ON (=part of SW (England); “very (=v) abandoned” means letter “v” dropped) |
RatkoJariku & I must be telepathic: that’s precisely how I solved this one. With the greatest possible respect to the genius that is Dac, is ‘absolutely right’ or indeed ‘that’s absolutely right’ a definition of ACCURACY? ‘Accurate’ of course is: I think that’s what detained us both in an otherwise excellent puzzle. Thanks to both.
Some delightful bits of whimsy! Thanks to both.
The sort of good solid dependable puzzle that one comes to expect from Dac. A few head-scratching moments, for example in 1ac where I was convinced the alternate letters from ‘entice’ had to be NIE and I was looking for the name of an artist. MYOLOGIST was new to me, too. IRON MAIDEN occurred to me for 23ac simply from the enumeration but it took crossing letters to confirm it and even then it was a while before the penny dropped about the parsing.
Thanks, Dac and RatkojaRiku
I had the same problem with accuracy and also failed on 4 down – put ricks on the assumption that it was [b]ricks and rick must be some slang term for an old person.
Today, I must unhappily confess to googling to see whether a Manx Shearlager is a bird.
Thanks both, all good fun.
@Cyborg:
The Manx Shearwater – low-alcohol variant of Shearlager – has sadly driven its close cousin to extinction in these health-conscious times. Both are of course related to the Common Shearwater, but tail-less.
Managed accuracy by luck or judgement. My error was to gaily plop in ‘Acrostic Method’ with 5 crossers to encourage me – that rather foulded up 13 & 16 for quite some time.
Enjoyed it though, thanks to both of you.
drat fouled
NealH@4: Snap on 4dn.
Took me ages to get 16dn and 18ac, which were my last two in by a long chalk.
Re comment at #1 I think “absolutely right” would lead to ACCURATE if “that’s” is a link word between wordplay and definition but if “that’s” is part of the definition ACCURACY fits. Doubt is removed, I think, by looking at the wordplay as CURACY would be “office of clergyman” with CURATE being just a clergyman so if the answer was ACCURATE “office of” would have no function in the clue.
This is not to say however that I did not consider both alternatives when solving.
Thanks to blogger and setter.
@6 Grant: Thanks for the chuckle.
H’mm. ‘That’s absolutely right’ = ACCURACY in what dictionary in which parallel universe? It has to result in a noun & the closest I can get to that is that ‘that’s’ is short for ‘that which is’. Sorry, but no. (Grumble, grumble).
None shall read this but I find that the Latinate name for the Manx Shearwater, remarkably, is ‘puffinus puffinus’ & thus the Manx Shearlager is distinguished from its abstemious relative by the early-morning post-prandial swelling about its eyes: ‘puffinus puffinus puffiness’. I thank you.
I read it!
And me!