As of this week, I thought I might try a new regime: this post, categorised under DA Reports, will be for people to generally comment about things without spoilers until the answers appear on Monday in The Age.
Post Monday, though, write what you like.
Following this will come a post, filed under DA Confusion, for people who want to ask for some cryptic help. The comments on the next post, obviously, will contain spoilers and you view the comments at your own peril (or generous joy for that matter).
Anyway, we’ll see how this goes for a while.
Update: DA outfoxed me yet again:
I did most of this during a Buck’s day-nighter in between drinks, but even without the alcohol, I don’t reckon I would have got many more of the six that remained unsolved.
A solid DA for mine, yet, unlike the gallery, I found this one tough to boot.
A bit hohum this week I thought.and not too challenging. I like DA’s short clues so 7D and 24D got my vote.
AL – I got half of it quickly; the last few took a while. Agree on 7D, and I thought 20A, 18A, 6A and 13D pretty good as well.
I think the approach proposed above re spoilers is a good one.
Perhaps not DA in top form, but I thought it was much better than hohum.
My favourites: 1A, 11A, 20A, 25A, 8D, 13D, 17D.
I too think the new approach re spoilers is a good one.
An additional comment: a good range of letters used, including intersecting K, X, Y and Z. Indeed, every letter bar J and V used – and these could have got a run in 19A and 21D, perhaps? (eject instead of elect, and evens instead of ewers)
I wonder if DA has made a crossword with every letter of the alphabet involved…
I’ll see if I can discover anything.
Woo hoo! I have vanquished this DA!
Last clue (24D) solved 8.30 this morning over coffee.
Far from finding this one unchallenging, it really tested the outer limits of my cryptic powers. The last dozen clues were like trying to squeeze blood out of a stone. I was tempted to give up many times but I am so glad I persevered.
The most satisfying moment was getting 5D. I don’t know how that word bubbled up from the depths of my subconscious. Getting 25A also gave me a great feeling when I had the sudden flash of insight into the meaning DA was putting into the seemingly obvious word “bed”.
I too had the same joyous realisation when figuring out what “bed” was actually referring to.
Good job getting it done and I’m certainly impressed by your patience and restraint. If I’ve got the answers nearby, I find it very difficult not to take a peak.
I sometimes feel the more time it takes to complete a crossword, the greater the sense of achievement. So perhaps we shouldn’t aim to hone our crossword-solving ability too much!