13a. Salmon No 6? (4)
PARR
Now that I’ve posted nice things in the DA Gold post, I can get on with my chest beating! WTF? PARR = Salmon? I’ve eaten it, fished for it, I know how to say it in 4 languages and I have never heard of parr. Wikipedia lists parr as 11th of 16 alternative names for Atlantic Salmon.
As for No 6? Come on! In mid 16th century England, this might have been an acceptable definition (Catherine Parr (1512-1548) was the 6th wife of Henry VIII) but in 21C Oz, it is downright BULLSHIT!!!!
Surely something like “Henry’s 6th sounds ordinary” would have been more acceptable.
1d Her outline in verse inclined characters to welcome NSW pusher, maybe (5,10)
VITAL STATISTICS
Sometimes DA puts in a very stretched definition and it works. Somewhere in the archives is “He manipulates triumphantly” cluing “Muralitheran”. Stretching it, but great (because I got it!). But here, “Her outline” for vital statistics, I’m just not going to stand for! Even if you accept Vital statistics = bust, waist, hips measurements (whats the dial-a-feminist hotline number?) surely these are three points on a woman’s outline and not the outline itself!
v= verse ok, I suppose
inclined characters = italics fine
NSW pusher = statist WTF? Again, maybe in pre federation Australia, one pushing for NSW to become a state in a federation, maybe even a proud Territorian in our day and age, but NSW pusher…..BULLSHIT!!!!
Also worth a quick mention in bullshit, in this otherwise great crossword, was 8a leave bath = climb out. A bit weak, but considering the other great down clues, we’ll let it slide.
What did everyone else think? Am I just whining?
Even if you are whining it doesn’t matter; that’s what the internet is for.
This is what the internet is for: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33-bACeB8C0 (from Avenue Q)
I think DA was cutting it a bit fine with 13A and 1D, but I can live with it, as he’s just invoking a libertarian cruciverbalist’s right – to go where no setter has been before.
If these two clues didn’t intersect with each other, it would have been easier for everyone, and we might be patting ourselves on the back for solving some tricky clues.
Parr = salmon is OK, isn’t it? I don’t fish, but I know that salmon change from parr to smolt when they change their colouring and go from fresh to salt water.
yep , your whining
I thought it was just me.
Only half a dozen comments. Everybody must have been as flummoxed
Parr may be OK, but no. 6 on it’s own is a big ask. Some reference to Henry or wives seems called for.
Statist is mystifying – there seem so many alternative cluings, and it doesn’t greatly help the surface. Not DAs finest IMHO, but then he does set the bar pretty high.
Well, if you allow nationalist then statist must be OK. And all you need to do to get a clue like 13A is wait for weeks and weeks and finally it comes