I got about three-quarters through today’s (at least for Melbourne) DS over lunch before having to head into the office and look like I’m working. I had a few questions about the clues, though, which I thought I’d ask you all about.
Now, I don’t want to spoil the fun for those of you who are still attempting the crossword, so I will leave the clues I have questions about below and make my comments in the comments section where there will be plenty of spoilers.
So, the clues:
5 down: Poison may rinse out in the heavy current
10 across: Spin to the original and saucy Latin American step
1 down: Count on accepting Christ’s ultimate disciple
And now, my queries:
For 5 down, the answer goes rinse out in the heavy current = rseni in AC = arsenic = poison. What you’ll notice, though, is that there’s a may unaccounted for. Is may a slight-enough word to go unaccounted for as a connecting word, or has DS crossed the line?
I reckon an unaccounted for may goes too far. DS should have used a word like signals or to in my book, each of which can work as a connecting word between the direct and indirect parts of the clue.
For 10 across, I just don’t get the explanation (the answer is salsa).
And for 1 down, the solution is count on accepting Christ’s ultimate = peer on accepting t = peter = disciple. On this one, you just have to ignore the on, which to my mind is unquestionably wrong.
(Of course, I didn’t figure out 1 across, so it just might be that I have the solution for 1 down all wrong.)
10A – Salsa is the first letters of the last 5 words of the clue backwards (‘spun’)
On can mean after or when, as in “On accepting the award, he gave a speech”. Or in this case, on accepting “t”, “peer” becomes “Peter”. My quibble with this clue is that not all peers are counts, and usually there would be a “say” or “for example” to indicate lthis.
i have no idea why AC would be “heavy” current, then again, there is no “heavy” in my version of the crossword
i don’t mind the word “may” though, especially because aresenic may very well rinse out in a current of water
Oh, and as for 1d, read “on” as in “upon”, as in peer, upon having ‘t’ accepted, …
It’s always a shock to find oneself again missing the obvious — thanks ML!
Ian, I like your explanation of “on” and you’ve soothed my complaining mind. I’m OK with count = peer, though, mostly because military precision is not a feature of cryptic crossword synonyms. For example, nation = state is a common synonym even though not all nations are states, but I think it’s within the bounds of acceptability.
I’m still not convinved with the “may”. I don’t like it.
And I must have added “heavy” to 5 down by accident. Thanks for the pick up MF.