It’s a DA — of course you’re confused about a clue or two or…
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58 thoughts on “DA Confusion for the 7/8th of October, 2011”
An hour in, with much cheating*, and still 9 to go.
* I looked at the globe for 1D, and I googled the first four across clues I got to try and find the theme. I was not helped by the fact they shut down Google Sets a month ago, which would have been perfect for this puzzle.
I am in BrisVegas so won’t get to do this today. I am to be considered a Mexican this week.
@JoseT, if you need the good stuff, drop me a line – rupert at morrish dot org.
Woohoo. Managed to find a copy. Got the theme in about 5 seconds. I’m about halfway there in 20mins.
Got three more over lunch, but then gave it up in favour of ice cream and a walk on the beach with my wife.
Finished – once I got the theme, it was relatively plain sailing. 9A was a challenge up til then as I thought it was an anagram. 4D very amusing!
All done, apart from 3D which has me totally baffled.
4D and 25A were good.
24A: “Fairly groovy” seems to clue the first three letters, but I don’t see how.
5D: “mag queen” seems to clue the 6th letter, but I don’t see that, either,
22D: I see a film of the right name (about racing), but it’s a bit obscure, isn’t it?
21D: I thought they were called aparallel?
Congratulations, Noel. You were really on top of this theme.
3D took some thought – start with ‘fair’ and ‘kick back’, inside 4 letter word for ‘square’ less ‘ground’s outer boundary’. The whole becomes the native Aussie (non-human, bwt!).
24A – Fairly groovy indicates the first three letter ie fairly = not totally (manx it)
5D – if you know Tintin, then you’ll know the artist residing around the editor. You could also clue it as ‘St Peter’s Museum loses man for tradition’
21D – I’ve only ever heard them referred to as the solution.
Thanks for the rap!
Sorry, forgot to mention 22D – yes, I thought that eponymous film was obscure. I guess though that it is more in keeping with the answer rather than just referencing the film’s subject.
5d: the “mag queen” was the subject of an ABC docudrama recently. Also a Cold Chisel song.
Finally finished thanks to Noel (for 3D). What a barry crocker of a clue! Much Googling required.
@ Mike H – re 3D, it wasn’t the best clue I’ve seen; but then again, it wasn’t the Rottnest!
Thanks, Noel. Finally figured out 3D. Pretty tough clue – didn’t help I was trying to use both ends of the ground.
Realize I have 1 left. Clue for 22A?
Oh I get it. Cute.
24D answer printed as ‘COSY’ on Saturday – surely must be ‘COSH’…
Regards
@DanielC: I had it as COSH. Seems like a misprint.
Now that we have the answer for 24D can someone explain it? I have no idea how it fits a definition or wordplay!
Ignore that last request. Online dictionary to the rescue. I didn’t know that use of the definition word.
Noel thanks for 3D, never would have got that without your hints. That’s an example of exactly the sort of clue I hate, just far too convoluted to get each letter of the wordplay. And congratulations in getting it all out, you are at the peak of your game today, surely a pool room moment, perhaps a small plaque could be mounted there in your honour?
24D has to be cosh surely? casino without a sin + sh?
Any clues on the wordplay for 25A or maybe I have the wrong word.
Made difficult due to some pretty obscure examples of a theme which had many possible elements, far too many to go a googling.
25A is withdrawn meant to be a reversal indicator or just an anagram indicator?
22d film far too obscure too.
Got the girl in 13D, but rest of wordplay not clear
Don’t get wordplay for first three letters of 18D
Did like 4d, 9a, 8a, 19d
john, 25a if you have the right word read it backwards then it describes a lay person (in a religious sense)
John it could also describe an engine that isn’t going.
Theme seemed fairly obvious after getting three or four of them. As to the rest, looked at an alphabetical list in Google, but far too many of them. How many of them are in Oz? Have only solved about 11 clues thus far. Perplexed that DA seems to have confused two aspects of sound in 13D, loudness and quality. Couldn’t make any sense of the discussion above re 3D.
Just got one more, the disaster scene in Antarctica. Still leaves me eight short of the themed items.
@Arthur agree with you regarding 13D. (DA’s oft-maligned arts background showing again?)
3D the definition is the first two words. A smallish marsupial that lives on an island.(see Noel’s hint at 12.34 pm yesterday). The square is missing its last letter and surrounds the other three letters. Two of them mean fair as an all right, the third is the back end of kick. Very messy clue.
Not all of the theme are in Oz, some are obscure (I’d never even heard of two of them). Googling probably isn’t going to help much as there are just too many, so you have to make guesses from the wordplay and then google what you think the answer might be in the hope that there is one that is in the theme. Some are named after people I think.
Thanks, nn. Getting 3D gave me 8A, which is north of us. Just got 5D (I think) has a lady related to the price of cattle feed?
Between twin floors (11A)!!! What a beaut clue, though the ‘quirky’ in letters 3-5 doesn’t ring any bells with me. But, we progress. Only ten to go. Time for arvo tea and game of pool. More later.
Arthur correct 8D north of us. 5D has two ladies in it, not sure about the cattle feed though. Def is first word of clue
Arthur 11A, I liked the two floors too. Think I’ve seen him use floor in that way before. Quirky is an anagram indicator of the previous word in the clue. The other 3 letters should be fairly obvious
Late start but all done now. Didn’t even see the film in 22d till I read the notes here! I thought 4d,16d and 24d were excellent.
In the Melbourne Age, struck that 10a was also the answer to 5d in the inappropriately named ‘General Knowledge’ crossword next to DA. I would have struggled to find the theme without that being in my mind…..
Thanks nn I’m going non what the hell could it be…
For the first part of 18D think of a drink. I’m with Arthur C on 13D, but it seems a bit dodgy.
Thanks John I have the answer to 15D but just didn’t get the wordplay with the first three letters. I might put them in a drink (but dilutes the alcohol content, so not that great an idea!) but I don’t see how it fits the wordplay or maybe I don’t get how the rest of it fits the wordplay. How does contrarily come into it? Or is he just saying swap the words around, rather than it being rocks the hop?
you rock the hop (contrarily) rather than hop the rocks
@nn: Assuming you mean 18D, you don’t put it in a drink. It better describes a ship attempting the NW passage too late in the year.
Oddly, I will be working in [theme] 23A all next week, while many of my colleagues are off on holiday to [theme] 24A.
@Rupert, yes I meant 18D, didn’t have my glasses on! (and not the sort I drink out of).
Had the answer but just didn’t quite get some of the wordplay. John has kindly clarified. Time to leave DA now and get back to a mountain of work.
Finally back to it. Two answers just popped out, so now only 15 & 25A, plus 16D. Is 16D a person’s name? Googled the Springfield weapon, but no inventors name popped out. I do recall a singer of that name, though. Any connection?
Arthur Springfield is where the Simpsons live, DA appears to be a fan of the show as he often refers to it. If you Google that and find out who “invented” them you’ll have the answer. I suspect it is another of those shows you’ve never watched. I managed about 10 minutes of it when it first started before I got bored and turned it off, never bothered to watch it since.
15A is an anagram, not quite sure where the answer is geographically, but famous fellow of the same name was big in Elizabethan times.
25a has a George Washington connection.
nn, you are a lifesaver. True, I have never watched the Simsons, perhaps their producer will be ‘groaning’ about that. The item in 15A I just discovered is in British Columbia. Still haven’t twigged the George Washington hint, thats all I need for completion.
And then, in a flash, 25A came to me. A clever clue, really. Used to be a preacher, actually, around 40-50 years ago, as a lay preacher in the old Methodist church. Baptist now.
Liked 14A, 9A, 4D, 18D, 6D.
Did anyone else have a battle in the SW corner? Mine resulted in abject failure, both down and across clues. No access to google the Springfield inventor .. just bad luck … but do have some quibbles with other clues in that corner.
13D ‘volume’ – rejected the (correct) guess because of that. ‘tome’ – me? +/-?
23A ‘gushing’ – don’t agree with the synoym
25A ‘layperson’ – even with the ?
21D ‘full of’ for a hidden? My solution meant I had 3 themes with J, N and L in second position, which was okay given that they could have been in any language.
Commune venue = JUNGLE. As in Jim Jones’ Jonestown in the jungle in Guyana.
Full of athletic bars = JUNGLE JIM/GYM, the climbing frame/monkey bars.
A good ‘workout’ I thought, but then couldn’t get the higher peaks of satisfaction of solving this week’s puzzle. Monkey me. : (
Gayle 13D we are thinking volume = tone in a sound sense although they aren’t the same thing. Not one of his best clues.
23A I’m ok with gushing = welling as in water coming up out of the ground, not too far apart in meaning.
21A wasn’t too keen on full of either as the phrase is only half full of the answer
And to answer your initial question, it was the SW corner that gave me the most trouble too.
nn feeling a bit slow today as I’ve only just got your two cryptic hints regarding the pool room and your work! Very good.
Managed only a few this week before giving in to this site and, later on, the published answers. Most confusions have been very well explained here as usual.
26A I’m a bit stuck on the wordplay. It hasn’t been mentioned I don’t think so it’ll be obvious!
13D agree than tone isn’t volume at all is it?
16D I thought the ‘up square’ was great. Has DA used that before?
18D Lost here too even after the rocking the hops above. Please explain…
22A was good – a clever clue.
oh no – magic happens when you post a query! Are we talking about Father Christmas? Also, we lose AD (the stern) from PLEAD?
@Robin 26A yes Father Christmas! We lose the last letter from him and PLEAD, although PLEA has been suggested as = implore. Personally I think PLEAD is a better match, but then we’d be losing the sterns (plural). Not going to quibble too much about this though as present lugger trimming stern is very good!
18D First three letters come from rocks as in drinks that are on the rocks have this. Hop = rest of the answer. But the way the clue is written hop comes before rocks, therefore contrarily suggests we have them back to front. (not quite how I think of contrarily though).
16D took me a while to work out what up square meant and I’m a mathematician! Very clever.
OK, thanks for that nn.
Since ‘implore’ is a verb it surely must = PLEAD because PLEA is a noun. So we either lose the sterns or AD from PLEAD!
18D ‘hop’ = BOUND! Of course… too easy.
Back to Rottnest, letters 3-5 are easy to get but we also lose S, R and E from SQUARE (clued by ‘avoiding ground’s outer boundary’) don’t we? The clue covers losing S and E but R as well? I feel again I’m missing something.
Robyn, 18D square = quad (as in quadrangle), just need to lose the end of it.
Agree about implore being a verb. If we lose the stern from only plead, then we have rearranged father christmas, where is the indicator for that?
re: 13D I didn’t like tone either, until I had to tell my 5 year old niece to “tone it down” in the play room.
Didn’t get going till late this weekend and needed all your help. Though did stumble on theme confirmed at last by cracking 11a. Had to resort to answers for a few. And stil can’t work out word play for 19a (though kick myself I didn’t at least get what Nazi cops were with two of the cross letters filled in). Any help with how that wordplay works?
nn again thanks as always. I’ve been away at a 50th for a few hours…
I didn’t see the QUAD in 3D, (as Ricky Gervais would say “obviously”), so we lose the D, which is of course one ‘outer boundary’ of GROUND. The phrase ‘seen better’ comes to mind…
Good thought, NT, regarding 13D but I’d say the phrase ‘tone it down’ refers to a lessening of a tone or colour and doesn’t make tone equal volume.
Sandy, 19D is I think the definition: Nazi cops.
Clue: ’24A goes’ = COOK (an anagrind) i.e. cook the letters in GOES ;
‘to secrete bug’ = to install a listening device = to tap a phone for example = TAP
The whole thing… GES ( TAP) O
Is that how others see it? I remain a bit nervous as some have been doing these for years!
Was thinking of some of the words of a well-known old hymn, such as: ‘Fight manfully onward, dark passions subdue’; and ‘Each victory will help you, some other to win’. Have a happy week, trippers. Not sure if the DA really is ‘A force for good’, but excellent exercise for this 82 yo mind.
Robin I got the def. It was the wordplay I didn’t get
Once again I’d like some help finishing DS for last Saturday (SMH). Does anyone else like to do these?
23A Deserter turned over crop (4)
Cross clues, if I have them right, give me T – R –
Any help appreciated. The answer will be in next Monday’s paper of course – but not the wordplay!
Looks like TARO: RAT reversed + O for OVER (cricket reference)
An hour in, with much cheating*, and still 9 to go.
* I looked at the globe for 1D, and I googled the first four across clues I got to try and find the theme. I was not helped by the fact they shut down Google Sets a month ago, which would have been perfect for this puzzle.
I am in BrisVegas so won’t get to do this today. I am to be considered a Mexican this week.
@JoseT, if you need the good stuff, drop me a line – rupert at morrish dot org.
Woohoo. Managed to find a copy. Got the theme in about 5 seconds. I’m about halfway there in 20mins.
Got three more over lunch, but then gave it up in favour of ice cream and a walk on the beach with my wife.
Finished – once I got the theme, it was relatively plain sailing. 9A was a challenge up til then as I thought it was an anagram. 4D very amusing!
All done, apart from 3D which has me totally baffled.
4D and 25A were good.
24A: “Fairly groovy” seems to clue the first three letters, but I don’t see how.
5D: “mag queen” seems to clue the 6th letter, but I don’t see that, either,
22D: I see a film of the right name (about racing), but it’s a bit obscure, isn’t it?
21D: I thought they were called aparallel?
Congratulations, Noel. You were really on top of this theme.
3D took some thought – start with ‘fair’ and ‘kick back’, inside 4 letter word for ‘square’ less ‘ground’s outer boundary’. The whole becomes the native Aussie (non-human, bwt!).
24A – Fairly groovy indicates the first three letter ie fairly = not totally (manx it)
5D – if you know Tintin, then you’ll know the artist residing around the editor. You could also clue it as ‘St Peter’s Museum loses man for tradition’
21D – I’ve only ever heard them referred to as the solution.
Thanks for the rap!
Sorry, forgot to mention 22D – yes, I thought that eponymous film was obscure. I guess though that it is more in keeping with the answer rather than just referencing the film’s subject.
5d: the “mag queen” was the subject of an ABC docudrama recently. Also a Cold Chisel song.
Finally finished thanks to Noel (for 3D). What a barry crocker of a clue! Much Googling required.
@ Mike H – re 3D, it wasn’t the best clue I’ve seen; but then again, it wasn’t the Rottnest!
Thanks, Noel. Finally figured out 3D. Pretty tough clue – didn’t help I was trying to use both ends of the ground.
Realize I have 1 left. Clue for 22A?
Oh I get it. Cute.
24D answer printed as ‘COSY’ on Saturday – surely must be ‘COSH’…
Regards
@DanielC: I had it as COSH. Seems like a misprint.
Now that we have the answer for 24D can someone explain it? I have no idea how it fits a definition or wordplay!
Ignore that last request. Online dictionary to the rescue. I didn’t know that use of the definition word.
Noel thanks for 3D, never would have got that without your hints. That’s an example of exactly the sort of clue I hate, just far too convoluted to get each letter of the wordplay. And congratulations in getting it all out, you are at the peak of your game today, surely a pool room moment, perhaps a small plaque could be mounted there in your honour?
24D has to be cosh surely? casino without a sin + sh?
Any clues on the wordplay for 25A or maybe I have the wrong word.
Made difficult due to some pretty obscure examples of a theme which had many possible elements, far too many to go a googling.
25A is withdrawn meant to be a reversal indicator or just an anagram indicator?
22d film far too obscure too.
Got the girl in 13D, but rest of wordplay not clear
Don’t get wordplay for first three letters of 18D
Did like 4d, 9a, 8a, 19d
john, 25a if you have the right word read it backwards then it describes a lay person (in a religious sense)
John it could also describe an engine that isn’t going.
Theme seemed fairly obvious after getting three or four of them. As to the rest, looked at an alphabetical list in Google, but far too many of them. How many of them are in Oz? Have only solved about 11 clues thus far. Perplexed that DA seems to have confused two aspects of sound in 13D, loudness and quality. Couldn’t make any sense of the discussion above re 3D.
Just got one more, the disaster scene in Antarctica. Still leaves me eight short of the themed items.
@Arthur agree with you regarding 13D. (DA’s oft-maligned arts background showing again?)
3D the definition is the first two words. A smallish marsupial that lives on an island.(see Noel’s hint at 12.34 pm yesterday). The square is missing its last letter and surrounds the other three letters. Two of them mean fair as an all right, the third is the back end of kick. Very messy clue.
Not all of the theme are in Oz, some are obscure (I’d never even heard of two of them). Googling probably isn’t going to help much as there are just too many, so you have to make guesses from the wordplay and then google what you think the answer might be in the hope that there is one that is in the theme. Some are named after people I think.
Thanks, nn. Getting 3D gave me 8A, which is north of us. Just got 5D (I think) has a lady related to the price of cattle feed?
Between twin floors (11A)!!! What a beaut clue, though the ‘quirky’ in letters 3-5 doesn’t ring any bells with me. But, we progress. Only ten to go. Time for arvo tea and game of pool. More later.
Arthur correct 8D north of us. 5D has two ladies in it, not sure about the cattle feed though. Def is first word of clue
Arthur 11A, I liked the two floors too. Think I’ve seen him use floor in that way before. Quirky is an anagram indicator of the previous word in the clue. The other 3 letters should be fairly obvious
Late start but all done now. Didn’t even see the film in 22d till I read the notes here! I thought 4d,16d and 24d were excellent.
In the Melbourne Age, struck that 10a was also the answer to 5d in the inappropriately named ‘General Knowledge’ crossword next to DA. I would have struggled to find the theme without that being in my mind…..
Thanks nn I’m going non what the hell could it be…
For the first part of 18D think of a drink. I’m with Arthur C on 13D, but it seems a bit dodgy.
Thanks John I have the answer to 15D but just didn’t get the wordplay with the first three letters. I might put them in a drink (but dilutes the alcohol content, so not that great an idea!) but I don’t see how it fits the wordplay or maybe I don’t get how the rest of it fits the wordplay. How does contrarily come into it? Or is he just saying swap the words around, rather than it being rocks the hop?
you rock the hop (contrarily) rather than hop the rocks
@nn: Assuming you mean 18D, you don’t put it in a drink. It better describes a ship attempting the NW passage too late in the year.
Oddly, I will be working in [theme] 23A all next week, while many of my colleagues are off on holiday to [theme] 24A.
@Rupert, yes I meant 18D, didn’t have my glasses on! (and not the sort I drink out of).
Had the answer but just didn’t quite get some of the wordplay. John has kindly clarified. Time to leave DA now and get back to a mountain of work.
Finally back to it. Two answers just popped out, so now only 15 & 25A, plus 16D. Is 16D a person’s name? Googled the Springfield weapon, but no inventors name popped out. I do recall a singer of that name, though. Any connection?
Arthur Springfield is where the Simpsons live, DA appears to be a fan of the show as he often refers to it. If you Google that and find out who “invented” them you’ll have the answer. I suspect it is another of those shows you’ve never watched. I managed about 10 minutes of it when it first started before I got bored and turned it off, never bothered to watch it since.
15A is an anagram, not quite sure where the answer is geographically, but famous fellow of the same name was big in Elizabethan times.
25a has a George Washington connection.
nn, you are a lifesaver. True, I have never watched the Simsons, perhaps their producer will be ‘groaning’ about that. The item in 15A I just discovered is in British Columbia. Still haven’t twigged the George Washington hint, thats all I need for completion.
And then, in a flash, 25A came to me. A clever clue, really. Used to be a preacher, actually, around 40-50 years ago, as a lay preacher in the old Methodist church. Baptist now.
Liked 14A, 9A, 4D, 18D, 6D.
Did anyone else have a battle in the SW corner? Mine resulted in abject failure, both down and across clues. No access to google the Springfield inventor .. just bad luck … but do have some quibbles with other clues in that corner.
13D ‘volume’ – rejected the (correct) guess because of that. ‘tome’ – me? +/-?
23A ‘gushing’ – don’t agree with the synoym
25A ‘layperson’ – even with the ?
21D ‘full of’ for a hidden? My solution meant I had 3 themes with J, N and L in second position, which was okay given that they could have been in any language.
Commune venue = JUNGLE. As in Jim Jones’ Jonestown in the jungle in Guyana.
Full of athletic bars = JUNGLE JIM/GYM, the climbing frame/monkey bars.
A good ‘workout’ I thought, but then couldn’t get the higher peaks of satisfaction of solving this week’s puzzle. Monkey me. : (
Gayle 13D we are thinking volume = tone in a sound sense although they aren’t the same thing. Not one of his best clues.
23A I’m ok with gushing = welling as in water coming up out of the ground, not too far apart in meaning.
21A wasn’t too keen on full of either as the phrase is only half full of the answer
And to answer your initial question, it was the SW corner that gave me the most trouble too.
nn feeling a bit slow today as I’ve only just got your two cryptic hints regarding the pool room and your work! Very good.
Managed only a few this week before giving in to this site and, later on, the published answers. Most confusions have been very well explained here as usual.
26A I’m a bit stuck on the wordplay. It hasn’t been mentioned I don’t think so it’ll be obvious!
13D agree than tone isn’t volume at all is it?
16D I thought the ‘up square’ was great. Has DA used that before?
18D Lost here too even after the rocking the hops above. Please explain…
22A was good – a clever clue.
oh no – magic happens when you post a query! Are we talking about Father Christmas? Also, we lose AD (the stern) from PLEAD?
@Robin 26A yes Father Christmas! We lose the last letter from him and PLEAD, although PLEA has been suggested as = implore. Personally I think PLEAD is a better match, but then we’d be losing the sterns (plural). Not going to quibble too much about this though as present lugger trimming stern is very good!
18D First three letters come from rocks as in drinks that are on the rocks have this. Hop = rest of the answer. But the way the clue is written hop comes before rocks, therefore contrarily suggests we have them back to front. (not quite how I think of contrarily though).
16D took me a while to work out what up square meant and I’m a mathematician! Very clever.
OK, thanks for that nn.
Since ‘implore’ is a verb it surely must = PLEAD because PLEA is a noun. So we either lose the sterns or AD from PLEAD!
18D ‘hop’ = BOUND! Of course… too easy.
Back to Rottnest, letters 3-5 are easy to get but we also lose S, R and E from SQUARE (clued by ‘avoiding ground’s outer boundary’) don’t we? The clue covers losing S and E but R as well? I feel again I’m missing something.
Robyn, 18D square = quad (as in quadrangle), just need to lose the end of it.
Agree about implore being a verb. If we lose the stern from only plead, then we have rearranged father christmas, where is the indicator for that?
re: 13D I didn’t like tone either, until I had to tell my 5 year old niece to “tone it down” in the play room.
Didn’t get going till late this weekend and needed all your help. Though did stumble on theme confirmed at last by cracking 11a. Had to resort to answers for a few. And stil can’t work out word play for 19a (though kick myself I didn’t at least get what Nazi cops were with two of the cross letters filled in). Any help with how that wordplay works?
nn again thanks as always. I’ve been away at a 50th for a few hours…
I didn’t see the QUAD in 3D, (as Ricky Gervais would say “obviously”), so we lose the D, which is of course one ‘outer boundary’ of GROUND. The phrase ‘seen better’ comes to mind…
Good thought, NT, regarding 13D but I’d say the phrase ‘tone it down’ refers to a lessening of a tone or colour and doesn’t make tone equal volume.
Sandy, 19D is I think the definition: Nazi cops.
Clue: ’24A goes’ = COOK (an anagrind) i.e. cook the letters in GOES ;
‘to secrete bug’ = to install a listening device = to tap a phone for example = TAP
The whole thing… GES ( TAP) O
Is that how others see it? I remain a bit nervous as some have been doing these for years!
Was thinking of some of the words of a well-known old hymn, such as: ‘Fight manfully onward, dark passions subdue’; and ‘Each victory will help you, some other to win’. Have a happy week, trippers. Not sure if the DA really is ‘A force for good’, but excellent exercise for this 82 yo mind.
Robin I got the def. It was the wordplay I didn’t get
Once again I’d like some help finishing DS for last Saturday (SMH). Does anyone else like to do these?
23A Deserter turned over crop (4)
Cross clues, if I have them right, give me T – R –
Any help appreciated. The answer will be in next Monday’s paper of course – but not the wordplay!
Looks like TARO: RAT reversed + O for OVER (cricket reference)
Thanks, Stig. I reckon that’s it, well done.