Happy times, happy days — I love voting, and here’s hoping for a stellar election-themed crossword.
(No spoilers on this thread until Monday)
Update: A very, very good DA — para Pantheon for mine:
It’s perhaps the perfect cryptic crossword theme: a grammatical feature. And what’s even better, at least for me: it’s a self-referential grammatical feature whose name is derived from another language: portmanteau is a portmanteau and is French for carries the cloak!
A quality crossword that I grappled with for most of Saturday between voting, football watching (even though the Tigers lost, I really enjoyed watching their improvement against the Saints) and election partying.
It took me a while, but I eventually worked out the theme when cinema’s Natalie made things obvious. By the sound of things, though, not too many of you are familiar with Natalie Portman. That’s a shame because, although I consider her acting to be wooden at best, she’s played in two great films: The Professional and V for Vendetta. The latter film I particularly recommend to any lefties among you who have ever daydreamed of blowing up politicians of the right (have I just revealed I voted Green?)
Labradoodle also made me laugh a childish laugh: labra in Spanish is the verb work, and, well, I don’t think I need to say anything more.
No election theme, but potentially a pantheon puzzle.
Yes a theme again , but a somewhat obscure one. This week’s was O.K. but some of the clues seem rather laboured.15A, 20A. It’s the kitchen sink approach.I am biased but I find the short clues more challenging.
I’m with Ian and am casting my vote for the pantheon. DA for PM!
A very good puzzle, challenging and enjoyable. Pantheon? Not quite, although maybe we’ve been spoilt and the bar has been raised. I liked 19 D, 27 A and 16A for the smile factors.
Can’t agree with AL about 15A. Not at all laboured. No more labo(u)r than a Qld polling booth.
A bit tougher this week, and I enjoyed it as much as any recent puzzle.
A couple of clue queries in the other thread – obviously I’m missing something with 15A. My favourites were 16A and 17D.
Loved the virgin diversion and appreciated having my education supplemented by a new usage for portmanteau.
I wonder if any Daficionados can give me an approximate date for the taboo x-word referenced in the pantheon. My father’s mind is slowly slipping and I’d like to send him a copy of this one before it’s too late.
Virgin diversion was special, and I like your very apt portmanteau: DAficionado.
Follow the instructions on this post here http://datrippers.com/2010/01/22/the-motherlode-crosswords-from-way-back/ and you’ll be able to access and print out a whole swag of DAs, including the Taboo crossword, which was printed in The Age on the 19th August, 2005.
And hopefully the DAs can help your father’s mind stay sharp just a bit longer.
Magnificent! More than I bargained for. Many thanks.