Category Archives: DA Bullshit

7 down: Milne creature warms heart, Pooh’s?

It’s warms heart, Pooh’s? = warms heart Pooh = Roo = Milne creature.

Some say the use of heart both backwards and forwards is OK because of the question mark or because of the implication in the sentence meaning that Pooh’s heart is being referred to.

I say: bullshit!

22 across: Skipping task after a third of booze (3)

I’m not exactly sure of the explanation, but it goes something like this: task after a third of booze = mission after a third of booze = mission after o = omission = skipping.

The problem: skipping and omission don’t match.

Sure, skipping and omission are both nouns, but they’re different types of nouns. Skipping is a mass noun, while omission a count noun. That means you can have five or many omissions, but only much skipping.

Thus and therefore, bullshit.

26 across: Just combine gout? (4)

Here, it’s combine gout = merge g out = mere = just.

Some consider the use of gout in this clue to be crossing the line into ridiculously difficult territory, but I’m OK with these kinds of clues (after I had some initial frustration) and consider them pretty easy to spot once you know to spot them. (I still consider part of words as the direct clue going too far, though, an example of which can be found in a DA crossword from December of last year).

No, the bullshit here is in the direct definition, for mere and just are not substitutable in a sentence. You might say “it’s a mere cigar”, but you have to say “it’s just a cigar” rather than “it’s a just cigar”. Conversely, you’d have to say “it’s merely a cigar”, not “it’s mere a cigar”.

Hence, bullshit.

Update: In what’s becoming quite the tradition, I’m corrected in the comments, this time by AL!

20 down: Goddess Gyllenhaal — or how to describe her unusual… (DUO) (6)

25 down: (ATHENA) …coupling you heard during gala (3)

Ellipses have been the subject of discussion on this blog because of their inconsistent use. Sometimes they indicate that the sentence meaning of the clue follows onto or from the next or previous clue; other times they indicate that the answer from the previous or next clue is needed to complete the sentence meaning and derive the answer of said clue.

I find it annoying enough that you never can tell just what the ellipses are indicating, but their inconsistent use is such a standard feature of crosswords that I have to grin and bear it.

What I think definitely crosses the line is the the inconsistent use of ellipses in two clues that are thus related. In 20-down, the answer to 25-down is required to get the answer to 20-down out; in 25-down, the answer to 20-down should be completely ignored.

Quite frankly, I think that’s bullshit, and I post this thusly to air my grievance.

Update: OK, so I have been hasty in thinking 20-across needs the answer to 25-down to work, but that doesn’t change the fact that I hate ellipses!

3 down: Cheer TV host supporting idiotic pap (7)

Here we’ve got TV host supporting idiotic pap = rove supporting app = approve = cheer. The direct clue, though, approve = cheer, is not quite right in my book.

1 across: Small fortune with strings attached? (4, 5)

I wouldn’t flinch at anyone claiming $5 “is a fortune” to pay for a potato cake, but that doesn’t mean that fortune should mean grand in a cryptic crossword.

9 across: Mark in Vietnam — or Romania — rejected drug action (5)

This could have been Gold if not for the incorrect action = verb. Instead, it’s clearly Bullshit.

20 down: Pulse climbed with old exercise regime (3, 2)

If I remember correctly, I’ve heard DA himself complain about the tendency British cruciverbalists have of using initials for words that do not ordinarily go by their initials (for instance, having cold = c is fine, but trampoline = t is pulling the other one).

But regardless of whether or not it was DA who expressed that opinion, one with which I wholeheartedly agree, old = o is just not on.

1 across: Hung around hot poet recital (7)

This one is hot poet recital = h + ovid recital = hovered = hung around.

Now, ovid aurally, to my ears at least, sounds very little like the overed in hovered. DA is usually pretty good with the homophonic clues, and he still continues to be, because overed and ovid are in no way homophones and this clue counts as bullshit.

Update: The internet tells me Ovid is pronounced Ov-id, not O-vid, as I assumed, so this doesn’t count as bullshit after all and in future I swear to research before besmirching DA’s fine name.

9 across: Lab supplies top star (3)

By the sounds of things, most people left this clue til last, which is a sure sign of dodginess. I assumed that the answer was going to be some star that I had never heard of and left the clue undone, but, no, DA really did have lab supplies as the direct clue for ova, so that top star = nova – a (top as a verb, as in to top his head) = ova = lab supplies.

While lab supplies is strictly correct as a direct clue for ova, it’s certainly not a reasonable direct clue.

5 down: Hearse, perhaps, switched jobs, creating greenhouse gases (6, 9)

This example of DA Bullshit is most egregious when one considers how much fun emissions should have entailed. Instead, we get the ridiculous hearse = bone car, so that hearse, perhaps, switched = carbone and jobs = missions, which gives hearse, perhaps, switched jobs = carbon emissions = greenhouse gases.

Update: As the comments say, that should be hearse, perhaps = bone car so that hearse, perhaps, switched = carbone is not so egregious a piece of bullshit. I’m still leaving the clue in DA Bullshit, though, mostly because I don’t want to delete this entry and I don’t know where else to put it.