DA for the Fleet (for the 1st of May edition)

16 Responses to DA for the Fleet (for the 1st of May edition)

1. RY | May 1, 2009 at 6:01 pm |

   Oh, dear, finished it and it’s only 6.00 pm Friday evening. Now what am I going to do all weekend?

2. AL | May 2, 2009 at 7:02 pm |

   The Times Crossword

3. RY | May 2, 2009 at 7:45 pm |

   Thanks for the advice, AL.

4. RB | May 2, 2009 at 8:35 pm |

   OK. Enough banter. Down to business. I found the top right corner a bit tricky. And I still can’t explain these two:
   4D: Clue is “By the way, selling republic tripe?”
   Answer looks like PSHAW (tripe). I get the PS bit (by the way) but how does “selling republic” = HAW?
   14D: Clue is “Dance hastily about barrel head as part of deal”.
   Answer looks like PASO DOBLE (dance). But apart from “barrel head” = B, the rest escapes me.

5. ME | May 2, 2009 at 8:51 pm |

   Yep, finished it all before I left work on Friday – all that is except 16 across and 14 down; any hints so that I can get some sleep tonite!

6. ME | May 2, 2009 at 9:01 pm |

   Thanks RB, should have refreshed before I posted (now I can sleep). Can’t help with either 4 or 14D except that they fit; sorry. Also, not too sure about ‘cocktail’ in 18, 26 A clue either.

   Postscript – Just worked out 14D – Selling = Hawking and republic means no king.

7. TT | May 2, 2009 at 9:14 pm |

   Sailed through the left hand side, then got becalmed on the right, taking until this morning to finish. Almost. Bizarrely, I was left with one missing letter: the Y of WAG_U BEEF. It obviously ended in BEEF and started with WAG, but I’d never heard of said dish, and failed to spot the BUY backwards.

   Ditto RB on the curly ones: PSHAW and PASO DOBLE. The former because I have no idea about HAW and the latter because I have no idea. (Also, I thought it was spelled PASA DOBLE.)

   13D: The spoonering of “halve pain” into HAIR SHIRT seems tenuous.

   As I see it:

   Halve -> share -> shair -> HAIR.

   Pain -> hurt -> hirt -> SHIRT.

   Only I don’t buy “halve” to “share”, even if you assume the clue is somewhere in the vicinity of “let’s go halves”, “half share”, etc.

   9D: DRIVE THRU? Where are we? Poughkeepsie? McDonald’s has a lot to answer for.

8. RB | May 2, 2009 at 9:16 pm |

   4D: Thanks for the explanation, ME – hawking minus king – that’s brilliant – DA at his best!
   16A: Answer is ISTHMUSES. Explanation is fairly straightforward.
   18D, 26A: Apparently “between the sheets” is a cocktail (thanks, Google).
   14D: Still waiting for an explanation. Anybody?

9. ME | May 2, 2009 at 9:27 pm |

   Thanks RB – I need to get out more (martini I know, and screwdriver and even harvey wallbanger and something about cowboys), but never ‘between the sheets’ – oh well). With the assistance of your ‘s’ I got isthmuses (before that was trying to work an anagram of ‘model’ and getting nowhere). And with you and RT on 14 D, I can see part of it is either ‘B’ and deal or ‘B’ and ‘dole’, but as for the rest …
   I wasn’t too fussed about ‘halve’ for ‘share’, but that may have just been because I got the spoonerism, and I always have problems with these types of clues for some reason.

10. ME | May 2, 2009 at 9:30 pm |

    OK think I’ve got it, not sure I like it, but think it goes like this:
    Hastily about = ASAP backwards, and the rest is B and dole.

11. RB | May 2, 2009 at 9:50 pm |

    14D: ME, I’m sure your analysis is spot on. I originally had PASA DOBLE, like TT, but was persuaded by my dictionary to change to PASO DOBLE, which made it even harder to find the explanation. I see Google likes both spellings.

    TT, like you, I’d never heard of WAGYU BEEF, and had to Google it to confirm it. I just thought it was because I’m a vegetarian!
    Also like you, I blanched a bit at DRIVE THRU, especially coming on top of last week’s ASS!
    As for “halve” and “share” I thought that was OK – I’m prepared to overlook lots for the sake of a Spoonerism.

12. NC | May 4, 2009 at 10:28 am |

    I got it out except for two, 14D and 24A. Thanks for the 14D explanation. What about 24A?

13. TT | May 4, 2009 at 11:06 am |

    24A

    “Shot shell” -> HO

    “after”

    “duck sound” -> eider -> IDA

    IDAHO – > near Washington (state)

14. NC | May 4, 2009 at 12:30 pm |

    Thanks for the explanation for 24A, TT!

    My favourite in this DA (and nomination for DA Gold) is 4D:
    By the way, selling republic tripe = PSHAW

    I love seeing new and clever indicator words, like republic = “no king”…

15. RB | May 4, 2009 at 1:37 pm |

    I agree. The PSHAW clue was absolutely superb! (Republic = no king).

16. NC | May 4, 2009 at 3:58 pm |

    I also like 16A a lot:
    This model considers necks (9) = ISTHMUSES
    partly because I just like the sound of the word “isthmuses”.

    Reminds me of the group “The 6ths” of Stephin Merrit (better known as The Magnetic Fields, most famous for the amazing 3-CD “69 Love Songs”).

    Albums by The 6ths include “Wasps’ Nests” and “Hyacinths and Thistles”. Maybe they should title their next album “Isthmuses and Synths”…