DA can be conquered — although sometimes a little help from some online friends comes in handy.
Here’s where you ask your questions.
DA can be conquered — although sometimes a little help from some online friends comes in handy.
Here’s where you ask your questions.
One of those days when it really helps to be Australian (or even Victorian) to do DA.
20A/9D: I know of the architect, but had no idea of his first name.
7D: I’d never heard of Thredbo
21D: My initial answer (which would have made this a great clue if every row had 7 seats) is wrong, and I can’t find a similar word that matches. Hint, please?
26A: I don’t understand this at all. I don’t know any words that match the cross letters in the first word.
Rupert, re 21D think weddings. Still working on 26A
Rupert, just got 26A – another Aussie item. Think of something you would secure a load with (maybe on a car). Think of a film boxer without the first letter and then a word for leaving (backwards). I thought today very tough even if you are an Aussie.
Thanks Peter. I had never heard that term for 26A, and 21D is not as clever as I thought it was.
All done now. A pretty average DA today, I think.
Fairly straightforward today except I was ages on 8D having 12A wrong….I was sure there was an ULLA in there. Anyway some nice clues in here.
5D and 26A were favorites. had to google 11A for the spelling, knew the word roughly anyway. have the famous silouhette photo as a desktop backgroung now !
25D, 27A, 15D and 28A were nice chinks in the armour.
11A: Had to look this one up. Had the letters, and had come up with all kinds of interesting possibilities (all wrong), and resorted to research.
Still have four to go – 1A, 4D, 6D (I originally pencilled in NYMPH for this) and 8D. I have a guess for 8D that fits with all the letters from the across clues, but I’m not happy with it.
Just got 6D. ‘randy’ is like ‘hands’ from last week. Wasn’t expecting this clue technique to appear again so soon.
1A: Read the clue out loud, and see if you notice anything
4D: It’s sort of an &lit. “forfeiting prime locations” means take the first letters off the preceding words, which gives you fodder for the instruction before that.
8D: You would expect it to hit the target.
@Rupert,
Thanks for your help.
Re 1A: The penny dropped with this one a few minutes after I posted.
Re 8D: I have an answer now, but I can’t find a def in the clue for the answer I have!
Re 4D: Is “He tried” the def?
Made a good start this morning. Have about fifteen (and a half) answers. Looked up what I think is 1A, but two possible second last letters? Not clear on the Thredbo rescue equipment, but will lok further at that one. Have completed left side apart from second word of 8D.
That should have said ‘most of’ left side. Haven’t got 26A or 28A yet.
Re 4D – think &lit…..he certainly did try to manoeuvre the ocean. Re Thredbo the equipment may not be rescue equipment.
@Arthur C.
Re 7D:
It’s not ‘Thredbo rescue equipment’, the def is ‘Thredbo equipment’. ‘Rescue’ gives letters 3-9.
28A:
def is ‘experimentation’.
26A:
def is ‘securer’. This kind of securer is good for trailer loads.
Finding the architect, from a list o several hundred, was helpful. Nearly tricked by 7D, thinkinking I needed a word with t e at the beginning or end. not so. Have a word,synonym of practical, that would fit in 17D, but cannot see how it fits clue. More thinking required. Down to five now. Anthem? I 28A. Some country’s national anthem?
Internet-searched my answer for 8D and found that I was right. Like SOFT SOAP last week, this is a term that is new to me. Sometimes I feel like DA uses some obscure, rare phrase that he possibly overheard his great aunt’s neighbour mention in passing 45 years ago. But when I go hunting on the net, I find that these words/phrases are not so obscure.
17D: I thought PRAGMATIC initially, but it’s not. The def is very obscure here, for sure. The answer is in plain sight, though.
28A: ‘anthem’ is vaguely connected (too vague I feel) to the three letters that it gives in the answer.
Ahah! Finally saw the answer in 17D. Thanks iPuzzled, now have 28A, though the relevance of anthem escapes me. Now just three to go: second word of 1D, first word of 26A, and 21D.
Well, I’d seen those holding devices, had no idea of name. So, two left. Second word of 8 (not 1)D, and 21D. Enough for today. After-dinner nap beckons.
Thanks to a few hints here the wife and I have only one left to go – 28A. Help, please!
Going well today with some help from my 13 and 11 year old daughters. 5D came while explaining what ovine enumeration meant. Stuck on 12A. Any hints gratefully accepted.
Victor, 28A has the last word as the definition. Letters 2-4 are a reversal of a word for ‘anthem’. ‘Nation’ is letters 5-8 and all that is wrapped up in a word for ‘shock’. Just try a few different words and see if they work…
I’ve had a poor week, needed a lot of help. Now, having filled it all in, there are quite a few puzzling wordplays (although I’ve just seen 5D thanks to you, RM).
12A wordplay anyone? I get bits of it only.
19A wordplay?
20A, 19D The third name is a monster isn’t it? But what about the rest?
Thanks, Robin. Following your advice, I tried out a few methods and discarded the unsuccessful ones. A solution emerged.
Returning the favour, Robin – 12A has Hitler’s preferred type around the first of “might” followed by the last of “bent”.
20A, 19D – think Yeats’ initials around a word meaning change, followed by a word sounding like a synonym for young.
I could do with an explantaion for 19A.
@Victor,
My take on 19A:
The first two words of the clue provide the definition. The third word is the first two letters of the answer. ‘hangers-on’ works like ‘extremities’ or ‘wings’ – referring to first and last letters of an adjacent word in the clue (‘nourish’ in this case). These two letters are inside a word that (very?) roughly means ‘bank’. Not the financial kind of bank, by the way.
Hope this helps.
You beat me to it, iPuzzled! Just logged back on to say exactly the same so it’s got to be right hasn’t it?!
The online Thesaurus has the word for ‘bank’ directly and I think DA has used it before. I agree the hangers-on are the wingers!
Stumping me still are:
18D. ‘thin amateur’?
8D Maybe the first 5 letters of the answer sound like ‘lost’? I don’t get the rest.
8D Got a bit more I think. ‘Pitch’ = letters 8-10 and ‘arguement’ = 11-13. It makes for a dodgy homophone doesn’t it being 1-7?
all done but for 16A
Robin – 8D – yep – I rather liked the 1-7 homophone
Victor, thanks for the race in 12A. I hadn’t seen that one at all as I had the letters of MAY for ‘might’ which got in the way.
@sb
def is ‘strip down’
‘skinhead’ gives the first letter of the answer.
nurse is a containment indicator. The clue’s 4th word is contained in a word meaning ‘mean’ (as in intend, not as in nasty or average).
I found this one pretty hard too.
Sorry. That last post was regarding 16A.
The historic legend alluded to in 4D was at a place near where my parents lived. We would sometimes see motorists with their cars, which they had parked in the village, in a foot or two of water as they had failed to realise that the tide comes in right on schedule. It’s in Bosham in West Sussex.
Robin, 18d (if still necessary)
Think ‘thin’ as a verb, and ‘amateur’ as in ‘non-clergy’.
That’s great, Mary, thank you. I’d seen the ‘non-clergy’ and pondered that for a while but the ‘thin’ got me.
It’s a quiet day on here so either everyone found DA easy this week or far too hard and gave up! I found it a difficult one and gave up with a few to go.
Thanks to iPuzzled and RM I have only 1A to go. I think I have the second word but could do with a hint for the first.
See Rupert’s post this morning and follow his advice.
@Ann Edgar Allan has a twitch.
Thanks to you all crossword solved and understood for this week. The more remarkable accomplishment has been that my daughters seem to have caught the cryptic crossword bug. Before today my love of crossword was dismissed as weird and obsessive. Now they have some understanding of the excitement of solving a tricky clue. Win for me!
All finished, and all Wordplay understood for a wonder!
Loved the architect, 4-5-6-7 down all very enjoyable, but 21d I thought was one of the best clues I’ve seen in many a DA. I couldnt get away from thinking of airline seating for quite some time – great surface.
Daughters of 11 and 13 solving DA, RM? Game of pool, Arthur?
Yes, Robin, spent an hour or so at the table. My skill seems to be decreasing, but another bloke my age, who hadn’t played prior to coming into the Village five years ago, has become really good. I used to beat him easily, now he regularly beats me.
As to the DA, I’m baffled by 21D, only one remaining. Only two words will fit with my across letters, a word meaning ‘ran easily’ being letters 2-6, and achoice of two different directions as letter 1. If some clever person can explain the clue, I’d be appreciative.
Arthur, 21D is an odd sort of clue. Those better versed than me will tell us what type it is.
I see it as someone choosing to climb out of the bedroom window and run away to get married. As Peter said above, “think weddings”.
Started too late to join the conversation this weekend. But thanks to the help I got from above I have finished. 21d was a stand out, and as far as I can see, even DA’s own ‘Puzzled’ doesn’t have a category for it. But a real aha moment when the penny dropped. 1a was a bit the same.
RM, how extra-ordinary – I have grand-daughters of exactly the same age who also joined in this week, and really enjoyed eg 5d and 1a. We found this a difficult DA, so it took five of the family working together to get to the end of it. The girls, being proper Aussies, were helpful with 26a – not an expression I’ve come across in England. Good to know the next generation is coming on nicely.
Found it much easier to get a start this week. The vampire leapt out at me at first reading. Managed to get most of the right hand side out myself and a fair bit of the left.
Liked 1a but had alternate spelling for second word originally which messed up my 7d for a while. Loved 5a and 21d (my soon to be mother in law had suggested the window option to me not long before our proper wedding!). 6d 1a were good too. Not sure howI feel about 10a.
Got the architect in 20a 9d straight away, but took me a long time to understand the wordplay
Never heared of 8D which gave me lots of trouble. Tried to put shooter in as the second word but it didn’t fit, went with shoot instead, but that didn’t quite fit the wordplay and made some of the across clues a bit difficult to get.
On the downside a few too many definitions and wordplays that didn’t quite fit for me, eg the anthem in 28a, defs in 14a and 17d
Have always thought first word in 26A had a double c in it, not a ck, (presumably from the word octopus? Haven’t been able to find the derivation yet) although googling reveals both in use. This made 15d rather difficult. Feel sorry for Rupert with this one.
Finished thanks to above help. Can someone help with wordplay for 22A please. Am stuck on a former 60 minutes presenter but don’t know if that’s right.
Finally got there. Thanks to Dave (the other one) for help in getting 1A, which was my last answer. Feather, for 22A think of what goes before ‘Martin’ in something you might order at the bar. The rest of the answer is ‘kept’ (ie surrounded) by it. For once DA’s use of upper case (for ‘Roller’ – think Minder) helps rather than hinders.
Great to hear about your granddaughters Mary. I think it’s important to keep the cryptic crossword tradition alive. My dad introduced me to cryptics at around the same age. I can well remember the thrill of getting my first Times cryptic crossword clue out before he had seen it. Long may it continue!
Thanks. Dave R. Being a teetotaller didn’t help me!
Finished it now, with help from everyone. some clues I found really good like 1A and 1D but I am still really puzzled by how 19A works. I know that iPuzzled explained it but I still can’t see how it works. I can’t see where the ‘extremities’ are in W–L and I don’t get the ‘bank’. With 8D I can see the female gardener and I assume that the last word is the def but I can’t see why ‘randy’ is RY when there is no ‘extremities’ clue given. iPuzzled says that it is like ‘hands’ of last week = LR but it doesn’t make it clear to me.. I thort that 10A was good fun and that working out 20/9D was good.
‘R and Y’ gives RY
Conny,
19A iPuzzled has it pretty right and I guess you have the TO okay for the first two letters. Letters 3-8 have the bank at letters 3, 6, 7, 8. That leaves NH which begin and end ‘nourish’ and so DA has called then ‘nourish hangers-on’. Does that help?
8D I’ll wait for the scream …. R and Y. No ‘extremities clue’ needed!
Last weeks ‘hands’ = H and S!
@feather and DaveR, it just shows the class of DA for ‘Martin’ to not be RAY doesn’t it? I’ve seen other setters have Martin for RAY all the time. Other regulars are Diana = ROSS and Rob = ROY or vice versa.
Of all the Martins he could have chosen, ASTON, DOC, CF, LUTHER, HOUSE or DEAN, DA just went for the bottle…
Yes, finally, the penny (cent) dropped, and all is finished. That ‘chose window over aisle’ 21D is so obvious after someone gives a clue, and it really is an excellent DA clue.
Keith and Robin….can you hear me screaming from there!!!?? After I wrote my query about ‘randy’ I had to go out to friends for lunch. While I was there I suddenly realised!! What a drongo I am!! How smart is DA!
Thanks for the guide to 19A also Keith E. Yes that does help.
Robin, you confused me with Bosham. I had always heard him associated with Southhampton, so I did a bit of investigating. Apparently the event was described by various sources as having taken place at either S’hampton or a place called Thorn-eye (Thorn Island). Bosham’s claim comes from having an island with this name, however this was also the old name of Westminster, where 4D built his palace on the Thames, so as to be sufficiently distanced from the settlement of London.
A great DA this week. A few tricky ones to keep it interesting, but nothing really obscure I thought. And 21D was amusing, but can’t one do this choosing the window AND the aisle?
How very intriguing, KM! Research certainly does show that there are a few places in the south of England where the event might have taken place. Maybe we’ll never really know. The good people of ‘Bosham Online Magazine’ would certainly like us to think it was in Bosham anyway!
http://www.bosham.org/chichester/about-bosham-king-canute-c-3_38.html
Regarding ‘elope’, I think it’s another ‘please explain, DA’ because you run away to get married don’t you? So you’re right.
Unless it means ‘chose (the) window (rather than keep arguing) over the aisle (issue)!
Fascinating! Whether the legend is true or not, he’s still an impressive figure.
Tough one this week for me. But I got there in the end. Quite a few dodgy defs/synonyms (eg anthem=air?), and a few terms I’d never heard of.
1A: Where’s the def? The clue suggests a person or occupation, not a qualification. (A driving licence is not qualified to drive a car; it’s the person holding the licence who is qualified). A fair bit of poetic licence here! And in other clues too, including:
8D: Never heard of this term. Is it American? But that’s not my beef. This is: “being lost” does not equal “stray”. I’d accept “straying”. Or “lost” = “stray” as in “lost dog”, but that means “being” is a filler word and that doesn’t really work in this particular clue. I was going to whinge about the homophone too, but I guess it’s close enough.
21D: Far too cute. If eloping was always done via window and always precluded a church wedding, and if all other weddings were in church, then the clue would have been good. I suppose you either loved or hated this clue. I will concede that it was a good joke and a good piece of misdirection, but that didn’t save the clue for me.
Normally if I do a crossword on a non-Friday I do the Guardian, so I can click “Cheat” to find the answer. But today I found myself with a few minutes, a pen, and yesterday’s NZ Herald. I don’t feel like running out for today’s paper to find the answers, so perhaps some of you might help with the following?
11A. Weapons some people play with (4)
_ O _ S
6D. Appropriate change of accent is made (10)
_ O _ F _ S _ A _ E
16D. One won’t be the first to do it (6)
_ I _ L _ W
11A: TOYS?
6D confiscate, 16D sounds like ‘follow’ but doesn’t quite fit.
Thanks, feather. I was thinking confiscate but couldn’t see how it fit. It is, of course, another meaning of appropriate.
16D could be FOLLOW – makes sense – but that would mean I have 18A wrong:
18A. Not a descent of which one may be proud! (4, 4)
_ _ _ E _ O _ N
for which I have LIVE DOWN, but could, I suppose, be NOSE DOWN instead.
Just running a tiny bit late with the DA collection. But I had to say I think 21d is the best clue ever! 16a not far behind.
And in defence of that much-maligned Danish/English king, he actually went to the sea shore to demonstrate to his courtiers that he could NOT stop the tide…