57 thoughts on “DA Confusion for the 17/18th of August, 2012”
Much confusion this week. Please help me with the wordplay for:
12A: “pinched” must give the third letter. But how?
4D: Are letters 4-7 Australian slang for letters 3, 5, 9?
13D: ?
16D: Top climbing spot gives the first three letters?
17D: ?
27D: I should get this one, but I don’t. Is it an Olympic sailing reference?
Lots of good clues this week, but I think 19A was my favourite.
12a: “pinched wench’s bottom” gives the second letter
4d: No, slang for paramedic
13d: Character from a film. The currency is Chinese
16d: Yes, a word for spots, first letter off, reversed
17d: A chemical bond
21d especially for you, Rupert. It’s how you guys sound with your funny eccint. You would hear us say the word as “peen”
12A: Aha. Wrong sort of ruffian. Sneaky DA.
4D: In America they’re called Emergency Medical Technicians, or EMTs for short.
13D: Invoice got me again. I think the currency is Vietnamese.
17D: So it’s just a single cryptic definition?
21D: I don’t have a Noo Zillund accent, yet. Pass the chups, bro.
17D think very small sum of money around a shape (maybe a sports ground).
Way easy today. Too easy.
Finished but don’t get wordplay for 11A (assuming my answer is correct)
11a: “in awe” is one of “a wine”
Just started but making excellent progress. Seems like a very easy one this week if the clues I’ve solved are anything to go by. I hope I’m wrong.
I quite enjoyed today’s offering. Liked 19a, 11a, 4d. Most answers went in quickly but the final few took about an hour for me to tease out.
Thanks Ian. The lightbulb just went on. Very clever.
Had a bit of work to do around the office, but all done. Was a doddle. Time to turn my attention to the Times cryptic in the Oz, I reckon.
I add my thanks to Flexicons Ian, his response sent me looking again at your hint and the lights came on for me too. Very clever.
Also loved the misdirection 26a. Loved 23a when it twigged (had the answer but not the wordplay fr a while).
Easy? I found this one quite tough, though finished it eventually. Still slightly baffled by 26A.
I get “Check out alternative” as the definition, but I don’t understand the rest of the clue.
Spoiler alert:
Roger, the first word is a word meaning ‘state’. The second is made up of two US state abbreviations.
Thanks, Sandy. I was flummoxed by the two different meanings of state.
Found it all easy, except my lightbulb hasn’t come on for 11a.
I needed your help for 11a and to gen the wordplay for 26a, 13d, and 17d. Thanks
I don’t get the wordplay for the end of 21d.
I don’t have an answer for 19a. Is it related to something lost by Austin Powers ?
Re: 21d- I had light in the def. It’s discovered !
19A: Don’t know about Austin Powers. Fell ill (3, 4) is most of the answer, with the last letter of the first word changing places with the first letter of the second word.
Hi everyone Having the usual Saturday morning abttle with DA and am stuck on 3:
6D,15A,16D
Hints please for one or all? (I read Ian’s hint for 16D but am still at sea!)
cheers
Don’t worry-I cracked 16D at last and the other 2 followed! Anyone else having trouble with 16 down-letters 4-9 refer to the clue”nowadays” and are very DAish!
Baffled as usual. After several hours, have only a dozen solved. 26A would help, as 10A, 22D appear to depend on that. Ckue given above by Sandy hasn’t helped. Guessed correctly for 17D, only later saw how it fitted clue. Can anyone help Dumbo solve 26A?
Do I need to know football terms to get 15A. It is the only one I have to get thanks to the hints for 19A and 17D. Arthur C, for 26A think about a trip to the supermarket when you don’t get much.
Thanks, Ann. Immediately after my previous post, I closed the computer, took the puzzle to the ‘thinking room’ saw the correct answer to 26A, which immediately gave me the 10A etc. Answers flowed, have now filled all the squares, though 90% sure I have 11A wrong, as what I’ve put in I cannot connect with the clue. But will leave it as is, it may be right, I can’t make any sense of it.
Haven’t read anything above yet but it’s tempting. I have ten to go but I’m running out of ideas. Will press on and look in later. 26A and 10A, 22D are beginning to really annoy me!
Some tough word play I thought (if I have the right answers of course…)
@Arthur C.
11A: a granma
Made a good start before coming here. Was getting nowhere with 11a, read Ian’s hint and was none the wiser. Came back to it a bit later and I “saw the light” or perhaps “what sleight” DA hath wrought?
10a is a bit of a problem as the rules appear to differ at different establishments. The first word doesn’t fit with the ones I frequent, so I’ll have to make a bit of a guess.
Have a little over half of it done now.
Don’t get wordplay for 19a assuming I have right answer. Some of it appears to make a bit of sense, bu letters 1, 2 an 6 appear to be somehow clued by last five words in the clue.
All done
Not too tricky this week
got them all out now, still pondering some wordplays.
All finished but I didn’t get 17D correct so one short this week. Never heard of the answer anyway.
Most word play quite easy but there’s always a few queries.
14A what is the runner than doesn’t start? Is it a first name?
3D letters 4-6?
6D letters 1-3? Assume 4-8 = ‘yahoos’. Sounds like the cry of an animal?
13D letters 1-3? Got the money and the homophone. Isn’t he a ‘trader’ not ‘trading’? Puzzling.
Thanks, Peter, for 17D. I’m sure that’s it – could not see it after trying many shapes!
Ta, Dave Brown. I eventually saw that myself, so my answer was correct. Earliest I’ve finished a DA for some time.
Robin, in 14A is a wellknown (brand) name. Bought a couple of those for my wife two days ago, they have out tick of approval.
3D letters 4-6. Key is the ‘keen’ in the clue. It has meanings other than eager, think of a dirge.
6D letters 1-3: yes, its somethinmg a dog may do. You are correct re 4-8.
13D 1-3? The bloodshed is letters 1-3 + 8, with the East Asian currency inside. Hope that helps.
@Robin 14d the runner is a brand name missing the first letter. I think the brand name comes from the Greek goddess of victory.
3d I’m guessing that letters 4-6 are a synonym of keen but not one I can find anywhere
6d yes 4-8 is yahoos as in yobbos etc. I think 1-3 might be a homophone of the sound dogs make at the moon, but seems a bit clunky to me
13d agree
13d letters 1-3 a word associated with bloodshed but missing the last letter (diminished).
nn
Very nice explanation of the start of 13D.
To copy in voice is the last 4 letters
Got spelling wrong on 30A which prevented me from getting 16D. {Ouch.} The new spelling of the landmark is more economical and even I won’t forget it.
17D is a word I hadn’t heard/seen in a long time, which made it another tough one for me.
4D was a good one that had me going in all kinds of incorrect directions. Also liked 19A, 11A, and 15A.
Liked seeing some trans-Tasman references.
Rupert ,
re 4D
Medic = Dr = doctor
Paramedic = ambo = ambulance officer
Tuck into feast = eat
Def = dish
Oh Arthur, 14A I saw your comment about the runner last night before I went out. How did I not think of that? My son had worn his umpteenth pair of football boots by that brand earlier in the day. Bright white with fluorescent green soles. Of course.
6D Thanks for that and you, nn. I’d got it then but it’s a bit weak? I was working around ‘sound’ (adjective) being AI or something…
13D again 1-3 have lost the E to be the ‘bloodshed diminished’, oh well. We can make that work.
I keep thinking of that Frank & Nancy Sinatra song this morning, but the last line of each verse is ..’and then you go and spoil it all, by cluin’ something stoop-pid like co- vay-lent..’ Anyone else got that feeling?
Thanks, Arthur, also for the 3D ‘keen’ explanation. Another new one to me. Is this a
word you would know from years ago that is little used now? I don’t think I’d have heard that meaning ever. Sounds Scottish?
Robin, I’d only heard of keening in relation to African women wailing over the dead, but it has no doubt applied in other places, the word has an Irish origin, apparently. I hadn’t heard the word, or seen it in print, for maybe 50 years.
If anyone is still on, I would appreciate a hint for 15A. It was a late start for me this weekend and it’s all done except for that one. A football term perhaps?
@SM),
The def is ‘passing’ and is nothing to do with football.
technique gives letters 1 and 2.
blokes gives letters 3-5.
attempt gives letters 6, 8 and 9.
astonishing lead gives letter 7.
Still Re 15A: DA would normally clue the first two letters with ‘flash’ or ‘second’ or something similar.
Still not sure about 19A and 16D.
Tim, you must be hopping mad about 19a by now. The wordplay is a bit clumsy IMO. First two letters are an abbreviation for operation but reversed. The rest of it means became ill but with letters 5 and 6 of the answer switched.
16d I encourage you to persevere with this. Letters 1-3 are a type of spot or blemish with the first letter removed and then reverse the three letters. The rest of it is two words meaning the present time (as opposed to the iron age or the stone age or some time in the past), but it isn’t new.
For those complaining about 17d that was one of the first ones I got. There are only a few types of chemical bond and this is one of the well known ones (at least to anyone who has done high school chemistry). Makes a change from me struggling with names of obscure muses and writers, quite i(r)onic!
@nn
Haha. Just got them both. Thanks nn. Love the composition of your help for 16D.
Thanks all.
In spite of hints the light refuses to come on – now that it’s Monday and the answers are in print, would someone please explain how 11A works?
@nn
Re 19A
The first two letters are not an abbreviation for operation, operation was never mentioned in the clue.
The first two letters refer to OPUS meaning WORK turned over = PO
OP is a standard cryptic clue
Victor: “in awe” is an 11A of “a wine”.
One of the week’s best I thought, Rupert. I had the answer to 11A from the cross letters, at least I had an idea what it might be but only as a possible answer. After looking at it a few times the penny dropped, a great DA moment!
For 17D I got stuck thinking ‘Bond’ was AGENT which of course fits the cross letters 4-8. Deliberate?
thanks Jimmy, was trying to do that one from memory as I didn’t have the paper in front of me. Opus makes a lot more sense!
Great clue in DP today, at least I thought so… 19A Colluding call of of Peruvian owls? (2, 7) No?… Must have been in a DA mood …
DP is plagiarising himself/herself!
I remember doing a very similar DP clue that went something like Cheating Peruvian owls?
It has now formed part of my dad-joke-telling reportoire.
A classic.
I like this clue. Colluding is a better definition, though.
I tried it on my 14 year old in the form “Why shouldn’t you trust Peruvian owls?”. She hit me. I’m such a good dad.
A-ha. Just got it. Nice to have a funny one every now and then. “Collaborating” might be another reasonable def, or “Thick as thieves”.
Much confusion this week. Please help me with the wordplay for:
12A: “pinched” must give the third letter. But how?
4D: Are letters 4-7 Australian slang for letters 3, 5, 9?
13D: ?
16D: Top climbing spot gives the first three letters?
17D: ?
27D: I should get this one, but I don’t. Is it an Olympic sailing reference?
Lots of good clues this week, but I think 19A was my favourite.
12a: “pinched wench’s bottom” gives the second letter
4d: No, slang for paramedic
13d: Character from a film. The currency is Chinese
16d: Yes, a word for spots, first letter off, reversed
17d: A chemical bond
21d especially for you, Rupert. It’s how you guys sound with your funny eccint. You would hear us say the word as “peen”
12A: Aha. Wrong sort of ruffian. Sneaky DA.
4D: In America they’re called Emergency Medical Technicians, or EMTs for short.
13D: Invoice got me again. I think the currency is Vietnamese.
17D: So it’s just a single cryptic definition?
21D: I don’t have a Noo Zillund accent, yet. Pass the chups, bro.
17D think very small sum of money around a shape (maybe a sports ground).
Way easy today. Too easy.
Finished but don’t get wordplay for 11A (assuming my answer is correct)
11a: “in awe” is one of “a wine”
Just started but making excellent progress. Seems like a very easy one this week if the clues I’ve solved are anything to go by. I hope I’m wrong.
I quite enjoyed today’s offering. Liked 19a, 11a, 4d. Most answers went in quickly but the final few took about an hour for me to tease out.
Thanks Ian. The lightbulb just went on. Very clever.
Had a bit of work to do around the office, but all done. Was a doddle. Time to turn my attention to the Times cryptic in the Oz, I reckon.
I add my thanks to Flexicons Ian, his response sent me looking again at your hint and the lights came on for me too. Very clever.
Also loved the misdirection 26a. Loved 23a when it twigged (had the answer but not the wordplay fr a while).
Easy? I found this one quite tough, though finished it eventually. Still slightly baffled by 26A.
I get “Check out alternative” as the definition, but I don’t understand the rest of the clue.
Spoiler alert:
Roger, the first word is a word meaning ‘state’. The second is made up of two US state abbreviations.
Thanks, Sandy. I was flummoxed by the two different meanings of state.
Found it all easy, except my lightbulb hasn’t come on for 11a.
I needed your help for 11a and to gen the wordplay for 26a, 13d, and 17d. Thanks
I don’t get the wordplay for the end of 21d.
I don’t have an answer for 19a. Is it related to something lost by Austin Powers ?
Re: 21d- I had light in the def. It’s discovered !
19A: Don’t know about Austin Powers. Fell ill (3, 4) is most of the answer, with the last letter of the first word changing places with the first letter of the second word.
Hi everyone Having the usual Saturday morning abttle with DA and am stuck on 3:
6D,15A,16D
Hints please for one or all? (I read Ian’s hint for 16D but am still at sea!)
cheers
Don’t worry-I cracked 16D at last and the other 2 followed! Anyone else having trouble with 16 down-letters 4-9 refer to the clue”nowadays” and are very DAish!
Baffled as usual. After several hours, have only a dozen solved. 26A would help, as 10A, 22D appear to depend on that. Ckue given above by Sandy hasn’t helped. Guessed correctly for 17D, only later saw how it fitted clue. Can anyone help Dumbo solve 26A?
Do I need to know football terms to get 15A. It is the only one I have to get thanks to the hints for 19A and 17D. Arthur C, for 26A think about a trip to the supermarket when you don’t get much.
Thanks, Ann. Immediately after my previous post, I closed the computer, took the puzzle to the ‘thinking room’ saw the correct answer to 26A, which immediately gave me the 10A etc. Answers flowed, have now filled all the squares, though 90% sure I have 11A wrong, as what I’ve put in I cannot connect with the clue. But will leave it as is, it may be right, I can’t make any sense of it.
Haven’t read anything above yet but it’s tempting. I have ten to go but I’m running out of ideas. Will press on and look in later. 26A and 10A, 22D are beginning to really annoy me!
Some tough word play I thought (if I have the right answers of course…)
@Arthur C.
11A: a granma
Made a good start before coming here. Was getting nowhere with 11a, read Ian’s hint and was none the wiser. Came back to it a bit later and I “saw the light” or perhaps “what sleight” DA hath wrought?
10a is a bit of a problem as the rules appear to differ at different establishments. The first word doesn’t fit with the ones I frequent, so I’ll have to make a bit of a guess.
Have a little over half of it done now.
Don’t get wordplay for 19a assuming I have right answer. Some of it appears to make a bit of sense, bu letters 1, 2 an 6 appear to be somehow clued by last five words in the clue.
All done
Not too tricky this week
got them all out now, still pondering some wordplays.
All finished but I didn’t get 17D correct so one short this week. Never heard of the answer anyway.
Most word play quite easy but there’s always a few queries.
14A what is the runner than doesn’t start? Is it a first name?
3D letters 4-6?
6D letters 1-3? Assume 4-8 = ‘yahoos’. Sounds like the cry of an animal?
13D letters 1-3? Got the money and the homophone. Isn’t he a ‘trader’ not ‘trading’? Puzzling.
Thanks, Peter, for 17D. I’m sure that’s it – could not see it after trying many shapes!
Ta, Dave Brown. I eventually saw that myself, so my answer was correct. Earliest I’ve finished a DA for some time.
Robin, in 14A is a wellknown (brand) name. Bought a couple of those for my wife two days ago, they have out tick of approval.
3D letters 4-6. Key is the ‘keen’ in the clue. It has meanings other than eager, think of a dirge.
6D letters 1-3: yes, its somethinmg a dog may do. You are correct re 4-8.
13D 1-3? The bloodshed is letters 1-3 + 8, with the East Asian currency inside. Hope that helps.
@Robin 14d the runner is a brand name missing the first letter. I think the brand name comes from the Greek goddess of victory.
3d I’m guessing that letters 4-6 are a synonym of keen but not one I can find anywhere
6d yes 4-8 is yahoos as in yobbos etc. I think 1-3 might be a homophone of the sound dogs make at the moon, but seems a bit clunky to me
13d agree
13d letters 1-3 a word associated with bloodshed but missing the last letter (diminished).
nn
Very nice explanation of the start of 13D.
To copy in voice is the last 4 letters
Got spelling wrong on 30A which prevented me from getting 16D. {Ouch.} The new spelling of the landmark is more economical and even I won’t forget it.
17D is a word I hadn’t heard/seen in a long time, which made it another tough one for me.
4D was a good one that had me going in all kinds of incorrect directions. Also liked 19A, 11A, and 15A.
Liked seeing some trans-Tasman references.
Rupert ,
re 4D
Medic = Dr = doctor
Paramedic = ambo = ambulance officer
Tuck into feast = eat
Def = dish
Oh Arthur, 14A I saw your comment about the runner last night before I went out. How did I not think of that? My son had worn his umpteenth pair of football boots by that brand earlier in the day. Bright white with fluorescent green soles. Of course.
6D Thanks for that and you, nn. I’d got it then but it’s a bit weak? I was working around ‘sound’ (adjective) being AI or something…
13D again 1-3 have lost the E to be the ‘bloodshed diminished’, oh well. We can make that work.
I keep thinking of that Frank & Nancy Sinatra song this morning, but the last line of each verse is ..’and then you go and spoil it all, by cluin’ something stoop-pid like co- vay-lent..’ Anyone else got that feeling?
Thanks, Arthur, also for the 3D ‘keen’ explanation. Another new one to me. Is this a
word you would know from years ago that is little used now? I don’t think I’d have heard that meaning ever. Sounds Scottish?
Robin, I’d only heard of keening in relation to African women wailing over the dead, but it has no doubt applied in other places, the word has an Irish origin, apparently. I hadn’t heard the word, or seen it in print, for maybe 50 years.
If anyone is still on, I would appreciate a hint for 15A. It was a late start for me this weekend and it’s all done except for that one. A football term perhaps?
@SM),
The def is ‘passing’ and is nothing to do with football.
technique gives letters 1 and 2.
blokes gives letters 3-5.
attempt gives letters 6, 8 and 9.
astonishing lead gives letter 7.
Still Re 15A: DA would normally clue the first two letters with ‘flash’ or ‘second’ or something similar.
Still not sure about 19A and 16D.
Tim, you must be hopping mad about 19a by now. The wordplay is a bit clumsy IMO. First two letters are an abbreviation for operation but reversed. The rest of it means became ill but with letters 5 and 6 of the answer switched.
16d I encourage you to persevere with this. Letters 1-3 are a type of spot or blemish with the first letter removed and then reverse the three letters. The rest of it is two words meaning the present time (as opposed to the iron age or the stone age or some time in the past), but it isn’t new.
For those complaining about 17d that was one of the first ones I got. There are only a few types of chemical bond and this is one of the well known ones (at least to anyone who has done high school chemistry). Makes a change from me struggling with names of obscure muses and writers, quite i(r)onic!
@nn
Haha. Just got them both. Thanks nn. Love the composition of your help for 16D.
Thanks all.
In spite of hints the light refuses to come on – now that it’s Monday and the answers are in print, would someone please explain how 11A works?
@nn
Re 19A
The first two letters are not an abbreviation for operation, operation was never mentioned in the clue.
The first two letters refer to OPUS meaning WORK turned over = PO
OP is a standard cryptic clue
Victor: “in awe” is an 11A of “a wine”.
One of the week’s best I thought, Rupert. I had the answer to 11A from the cross letters, at least I had an idea what it might be but only as a possible answer. After looking at it a few times the penny dropped, a great DA moment!
For 17D I got stuck thinking ‘Bond’ was AGENT which of course fits the cross letters 4-8. Deliberate?
thanks Jimmy, was trying to do that one from memory as I didn’t have the paper in front of me. Opus makes a lot more sense!
Great clue in DP today, at least I thought so… 19A Colluding call of of Peruvian owls? (2, 7) No?… Must have been in a DA mood …
DP is plagiarising himself/herself!
I remember doing a very similar DP clue that went something like Cheating Peruvian owls?
It has now formed part of my dad-joke-telling reportoire.
A classic.
I like this clue. Colluding is a better definition, though.
I tried it on my 14 year old in the form “Why shouldn’t you trust Peruvian owls?”. She hit me. I’m such a good dad.
A-ha. Just got it. Nice to have a funny one every now and then. “Collaborating” might be another reasonable def, or “Thick as thieves”.