Category Archives: DA Reports

February 2012 comes and DA is still serving up the goods.

Here’s where you talk about the goods (but without spoilers until Monday)

Is DA Australia’s greatest cultural institution? Perhaps after AFL football? Perhaps after Warne’s bowling and Bradman’s batting? Australian of the year Geoffrey Rush would probably agree.

Anyway, here’s where you explain why DA is or isn’t Australia’s greatest cultural institution.

Update: A fun, tough one:

An enjoyable one that RC and I combined forces on. We failed in the southwest corner, which I think everyone here had the most trouble with, but had some fun everywhere else.

It’s DA for your fine selves.

Spread the love.

Update: A fun one:

The general consensus seemed to rate this as reasonably easy, but I gotta say I found it quite tough. Didn’t get much more than halfway through before referring to the solutions.

A fun theme, though.

It’s a Friday the 13th DA for Sydneysiders — a horrorific spectacular that bodes not so well.

Perhaps it will be full of references to Melbourne.

Update: A tough one:

I bounded through this effortlessly until about two-thirds of the way through when I hit the wall, and I really didn’t get very far past that wall.

A good one I thought nonetheless.

DA brings in the new year this week with what I imagine to be a corker.

Celebrate the new year in style.

Update: Hard going:

RC, JC, OS, NS and I met at Station Pier in Port Melbourne for the annual Greek Orthodox blessing of the waters. It’s hallowed ground, the second place my parents, OS and NS, set foot on Australian soil (the boat landed in Fremantle first), and it was RC who stepped up to the plate and dove into the waters in pursuit of the wooden cross tossed into the waters by the Melbourne’s Greek Orthodox Archbishop.

All it needed was another twenty or so metres and it would have been the unbaptised, non-Greek and irreligious RC receiving the Archbishop’s blessing, but as it was, a strong-finishing third was an admirable effort.

We decamped to RC’s lounge room and stumbled through the DA. Really, we only got about halfway through before we called it a day. It was a poor effort on our parts, but it was a fine day nonetheless.

Here we go with the last DA of the year.

Enjoy.

Update: And here it is:

If DA ever had a coat of arms, surely the coypu would be on there.

Only got halfway through this one – more through laziness than anything else.

DA has already stated this week’s features a theme — which usually means something special is in store.

Merry Christmas, and I bet DA will make things especially fun.

Update: A great one:

A joy to behold — and I was only a silly mistake away from a Poolroom moment (I had VENUS for VENUE, which bamboozled me with PROMOTE, and I cheated rather than work through the impasse).

Not quite Noel standard from two years ago for me, but an absolute cracker nonetheless.

DA himself has already put out the warning: this week’s (and next week’s) crosswords are doozies.

The festive season is looking decidedly fun, especially if DA can pull off another Christmas special like he did two years ago.

No spoilers on this particular thread until Monday.

Update: A lot of fun:

RC and I combined forces for some good DA fun.

And a happy DA for you.

Let us know how it goes here (although no spoilers until Monday).

Update: Happy times:

Was enjoying this one until I put SHINGLEBACK in as one of the answers. I hadn’t heard of the word, and when I looked it up in Chambers, it wasn’t listed so I assumed the answer was wrong, threw in the towel and decided to look at the answers.

Groaned when I discovered SHINGLEBACK was indeed the answer.

Am off to see and review Sade for Inpress and can’t help but to think something involving SADE might end up being a very great clue indeed.

Any reference to Nigerian marquises in this week’s DA?

Update: Not bad, although some big-time nastiness:

The golden moment: RC asks what BORIS could possibly be a famous dancer; I reply BORIS SPASSKY — but he’s a chess player. We slap our heads: master mover is gold!

We cheated with BOHEA, PLAY HOOKY and LYONNAISE. We were very glad we cheated — we were way off.