Category Archives: DA Bullshit

It’s not often I pull out DA Bullshit these days, but I thought 8 across particularly poor:

8 across: Continent’s foremost Norseman stores wheeled craft in garbage (8)
First complaint: there’s wheeled as a reversal indicator, which seems very unfair to me.

Second and main complaint: There is no way a Norseman is a Lapp. A Norseman is an appellation from the past that’s often applied colourfully to the current-day Scandinavians who are their descendants. The Norsemen had their own language, their own myths, their own culture, all of which is very distinct to the language, myths and culture of the Saami, who are commonly referred to as the Lapps, which they consider a pejorative term. Sure, some Saami are Norwegian or Swedish citizens, but others are also Finnish and Russian citizens. They’re a distinct ethnicity dispersed over an area, and calling them Norsemen is a big boo boo akin to equating Ottomans and Kurds.

In celebration of this blog’s three years, time to bring back the bullshit call:

1 down: Wine hack (3)
No one says cab for wine. Surely that’s a stretch too far.

15 across: Naval bigwig had doffed cap to one replacing lifebuoy held by puritan? (7)
Held by puritan = moral deserved more than a single question mark.

2 down: HHER 4-down (Presley) 27-across (hit)?
The consensus seems to be that this clue is explained thusly: HHER = h her = Hard-Headed Woman = Presley hit.

If so, that’s pretty ordinary. No better explanation possible?

4 down: Weaving couple opening 3-down? (4)
While there have already been attempts made, I think each of those explanations bears a faint whiff of bullshit.

Couple = hug just doesn’t cut it for me, nor does what jnrj proposes, which I don’t really understand.

Feel free to defend this clue in the comments or help me see the light.

4 down: I crack baseball side, well trimmed for online photo (9)
Awkward and bullshit in my book: I crack baseball side, well trimmed = me gap IX well – wl = megapixel = online photo.

A pixel is a little dot that gets coloured to portray an image. Get a whole bunch of them together coloured in a certain way and you have a photo.

The problem: Humans are a collection of atoms. Arrange them in the right way and you have a human. Nevertheless, if I saw human = atoms, I’d say bullshit, just as I say online photo = megapixel is bullshit too.

6 down: Flag emission source (7)
This one is flag = exhaust = emission source.

Not sure about whether flag = exhaust is bullshit or not, though. I think yes one minute, then no. Either way, it’s debatable.

16 down: Largely tense bunch of doctors animated comedy (8)
A tough one if you’ve never heard of the show: largely tense bunch of doctors = largely future ama = Futurama = animated comedy.

My peeve: tense = future. I’ve seen that kind of thing before, for instance black = jet, and not complained, but I reckon that it’s not quite right. Future and jet are merely adjectives that can’t really be substituted for the noun they’re modifying, otherwise we’d have big = house because you often read big house, or light = blue for a similar reason.

I’m pretty sure, though, that this kind of thing is a common feature of cryptics, but, like ellipses, I think I’ll have to grin and bear it while thinking their use questionable.

6 down: Fund inquiries for how today’s theme translates to diehards? (5, 5)
This is very almost a great clue: how today’s theme translates to diehards = means tests = fund inquiries.

The problem: a means test isn’t really a fund inquiry as far as I can tell. I reckon funds inquiries might have been OK, but fund inquiries is not right for mine.

11 across: A virtual game with 50/50 participation? (3-7)
It’s rather inelegant: a virtual game with 50/50 participation = a virtual rounders with ll = a rounder with ll = all-rounder = cricket theme.

What’s not quite right: I don’t think the clue does enough to explain how the ll can appear between a and rounder.

22 across: Caught yours truly (6)
It’s cheeky and presumptuous and obscure: caught yours truly = c Astle (DA’s surname) = castle (the wickets apparently, but not in Chambers at least) = cricket theme.

24 across: Bond writer christened Murray (4)
I had never heard of the author, but the triple definition just breaks the rules unnecessarily: writer christened Murray = Bail = bond = cricket theme.

18 down: Cloud over (zero degrees), obscuring face of watch instrument (8)
Sometimes DA stretches things too far: cloud over (zero degrees) obscuring face of watch = duolc – o + timer – t = dulcimer = instrument.

The problem: the zero degrees. To make that mean get rid of an o is quite a stretch, especially when you consider zero degrees would be represented as two zeroes, or 0°.

4 down: Sounds mentally focus lean rider (7)
Another almost great clue: sounds mentally focus lean = sounds psych list = cyclist = rider.

My problem: even though Chambers only says “usu with up” and not always with up, to mentally focus is to psych up, not to psych.

Update: RB’s moment of divine inspiration, as described in the comments, makes 4 down no longer bullshit but gold!

2 down: Offload, even times in the ultimate 11-across (tanker) of ill-repute (5, 6)
It’s supposed to be offload even times in the ultimate = off loadeven xx in z = exxonvalde z = Exxon Valdez = tanker of ill-repute.

The clear problem: times is just x, not xx.

The questionable: ultimate = z seems a bit weak a connection (although I’d pass that, just).

8 across: Nothing 7-down (robs), apparently (3)
Apparently ain’t no aural indicator: robs apparently = nicks apparently = nix = nothing.

2 down: Sport broadcast causing rift (4)
Here, the clue is meant to work: sport broadcast = golf broadcast = gulf = rift. The problem: gulf is not homophonous enough with golf.

It’s a situation we’ve encountered before with DA, one that we’ve complained about before, and I just don’t reckon it’s good enough. Haiku’s suggestion that South Australians pronounce them homophonously has some weight, but even then it’s a very marginal bunch of people who would call those two words homophonous.

I also conducted a little experiment: I asked SSG, my sister’s partner who’s from South Australia, to say there’s a gulf in our golf game and the two words were clearly distinguishable. Granted, one flawed experiment on a South Australian that’s lived in Melbourne for a long time proves little, but I’m still claiming that it’s a shitty homophone that not even many South Australians would say identically.

22 down: Picked up dull 26-across (TRIO) in Düsseldorf (4)
The clue works as follows: picked up dull = picked up dry = drei = trio in Düsseldorf. The contentious point: Is picked up a decent-enough homophone signifier?

AL mentions that it’s probably a reference to radio station broadcasts that you pick up, and that seems to have some support as a decent way to interpret it as a homophone indicator, but for me, it’s not good enough. You pick up radio stations, not words, so for mine pick up doesn’t cut it as a homophone indicator.

Update: RB’s my seconder on this one:

15 across: Stage VIPs curse about prompt ushering (9)
Here it’s curse about prompt ushering = ucers prod ushering (put into position) = producers = stage VIPs. I quite like the use of ushering, but that definition is highly dodgy

9 across: Roger in late 60s UK band? (3)
Almost a great clue again: roger = yes = late 60s UK band.

I’m with TT in objecting to late 60s UK band referring to Yes. Sure, they formed in the late 60s, but they are definitely more famous for their work in the 70s and should have been referred to as such.

Interesting sidenote: Yes had a Roger associated with the band. Roger Hodgson was their occasional singer from their post-70s work.