Category Archives: DA Reports

I’m back in town for this week’s DA after my quick sojourn into South East Asia.

But before getting into the crossword, I have a musing that I’m puzzling over: is there a word for synonyms that are also antonyms? There are auto-antonyms, which are words that can have their own opposing meaning, such as cleave, bolt and sanction.

But how about words such as up and down, which are, in the conventional sense, antonyms, but which are also synonyms, i.e. I’m up with that and I’m down with that; or I’m up for it and I’m down for it.

No doubt there are many others where up and down come from, but I can’t think of anything on this mild Thursday.

Update: Hohum:

Lost all interest once I figured out the theme. Not sure why DA thought we’d be interested in a pest theme — a little disappointing.

I’m avoiding floods in Bangkok right now and hope for a jolly good DA show should it be the case that I’m stuck here.

Happy times, and happy DA.

Update: By all accounts, a pretty decent one:

I’ll be in Macau for this one, most likely at the baccarat table.

Hopefully it will be a James Bond theme, in the Casino Royale era.

Update: No James Bond I’m afraid:

I have it from DA himself that this week’s crossword is indeed curly.

Batten down the hatches for what will likely be a very intense session with a 15×15 grid.

And remember: no spoilers on this particular thread until Monday.

Update: Themes, themes, everywhere:

RC and I got together in his backyard for this one, and we were plenty happy to say a double-theme in a single crossword.

Fun times.

A welcome DA distraction this week: I will stuck in a car to Leongatha and back with nothing much else to do.

(No spoilers on this particular thread until Monday)

Update: A fine Leongatha accompaniment:

Missed out on the NE corner, but had fun anyway.

Time for another DA, and I’m thinking Stephen Fry is on to something: cocaine is apparently the cruciverbalising accompaniment par excellence.

Why waste good cocaine hanging out with no-hope hoodlums when you could be snuggling right up to one of DA’s finest?

Does anyone else have curious accompaniments to their cruciverbalising?

Update: A fun one, although a tough one:

I was the NW corner away from completion, HASSOCK (I thought a HASSOCK was an item of dress), KRAMER (and I’m a huge Seinfeld fan), PORT SALUT and TURNKEYS the blockers.

I was also sidetracked by prematurely putting in WELLES (i.e. Orson, the War of the Worlds hoaxer) instead of ORWELL and justifiably although erroneously locking in HUSKY instead of HORSE (HUSKY is rough-sounding, pushes a sleigh (and across the tundra, unlike HORSE), is five-letters long and starts with H — a very unfortunate set of coincidences).

Interestingly, SLEIGH could just as well have been SLEDGE.

A surprisingly fecund set of clues.

Here’s the space for chatting about another DA installment — surely another glorious one.

And no spoilers on this particular thread until Monday.

Update: A jolly good one:

Fell KOH-I-NOOR and GRIP short in an otherwise very fun crossword.

Glory be, sweetness and light, it’s another DA this week.

Comment away below, but no spoilers until Monday on this particular thread.

Update: This crossword is brought to you by Prince:

It’s a weekend full of excitement: three years of couplehood is celebrated, the AFL year culminates and another DA comes our way.

Here’s hoping for a good one to mark the occasion.

Aside: RC is in Laos at the moment, and I’m going to Macau in November, and those two words in my head surprised me: Laos and Macau rhyme (is Laos the only case in English of a silent s at the end of a word?)

Note: no spoilers on this particular thread until Monday.

Update: An enjoyable one:

Didn’t get them all, but got most out before resorting to cheating.

And now, put me out of misery: what is CAPTAIN NEMO referencing? CAPTAIN NEMO was the captain of a submarine, but the submarine’s title was NAUTILUS.

Or is it meant to be read as IN SUB TITLE, i.e. the title of the person in the sub?

Another DA for us fine folk.

Comment away below on its general characteristics, but no spoilers until Monday.

Update: A jolly good one:

Some quality clues this week, and a little on the easier side. I found this week’s a little tougher than last week’s, mostly because the general knowledge referenced didn’t suit me so well (UTE MUSTER, BERGAMOT, COPAL, MAN FLU).