65 thoughts on “DA Confusion for the 22nd/23rd of February, 2013”
Pretty easy this week. Just as well, as I’ve been laid low by the man flu.
17D: I have an Australian slang term that I’m told means a burst of anger. I assume DA has a calm temperament, but does it also mean “rare event”?
Rupert – 17D – I don’t know but think I may have something different (mine is an anagram to give what I think would be a “rare event”). However I may have it wrong as I do not understand word play for my answer to 24A. Could you help be confirm that and then I will see if I can help with 17D? Thanks.
No – my 17D is incorrect.
Rupert – 17D – yes – as in it would not happen in a …. …
17D: I have a 4-letter pop star (real first name Alicia) and a 3-letter synonym of apt.
24A: Definition is the first two words. Turkey gives a four letter word for failure, and the show in hospital ran for 7 years or so, and was named after the protagonist.
Morning, I have it all out but don’t get the wordplay in 9A or 6D. Any ideas?
@peter: re 9A – middle of coffee preceded by ‘which’ minus the bathroom taps.
Re 6D – riding in the racing game minus the first 3 letters.
Had to google 16D.
Thanks Mike, all clear now. Yes, I also had to google 16D but easier enough to solve once 17A solved
Done over lunch. Needed to check 16D and 12A. Also had to look up the train reference in 22A.
All but 12 ac & 8 d filled.
Think I have 12 ac: letters 1-4 gallery retreating; 5-6 that’s; def alienation; but where does “Lisa” come in?
Totally stumped on 8 d
Still struggling with 16D (getting 17A hasn’t helped me) & 25A. Since people are having to google it, is is a word I’m unlikely to find in a dictionary? Any subtle hints?
Gil, “lisa” – think of a famous painting and it is the painting that is retreating not the gallery (gallery refers to the painting being in a gallery) with that is (ie) after.
8D think of the stock market
16D I had not heard of the word (a bit techy I supect) but its simply an anagram of hear and 17A
Thanks Peter,
I was struggling with 16d. Now I got something to google.
Now for 13d, 22a and the wordplay for 25a. Any help there?
13D: It’s a double definition.
22A: Definition is at the beginning. The train is found in Chicago.
25A: Take a five letter word for a type of lizard, and put the first letter at the end.
Ah 25a. Got it. Prufrock, put a lizards head where its tail should be.
Also worked out 13d and why the ellipsis with 8d.
But still to figure 22a and appreciate help.
16D: Back when Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak (among others) were young, it was found that you could control payphones, and in particular make free long distance calls, by playing certain tones down the line. 2600Hz was an important frequency, as I recall. There were blue boxes and red boxes and probably other devices for producing the right tones in the right order. People who did this were 16Ds.
Thanks Peter silly me. yep bulls & bears and it’s a biopic starring Geoffrey Rush I recall! And I had a gallery with that name as its acronym
Prufrock
16 ac anagram of 1 7 ac and ??? …and result doesn’t start with “f”.
25 ac What type of very common lizards are in your garden? Singular form & shift 1st letter (head) to last (tail)
sorry for post delay … Android browser probs
Thanks Rupert,
But my complete ignorance of the Illinois railway system leaves me baffled still. Especially as the word finder doesn’t even know any words with those cross letters (and I am confident they are all right, unlike earlier with 6d which I was missing because I thought a certain criminal pair in 6a were spelled like crustaceans).
Sandy, famous historical Brit from over 1100 years ago!
Train is two-letter word for famous Chicago rail system gives answer letters 1,5.
Letters 6-8 “looking flustered”
Letters 2-4 should be obvious!
More on 22 across. What is the opposite of “ready’, expressed as one word. For 1100 years this dude has borne the Pythonesque monicker “[] the []”.I never studied ancient history, but once you’ve heard of this dude, you never forget him! Frequently pops up in cryptics!
Sandy, 13D is a double definition but it is also a movie title starring 8D. The two clues being linked by the dots.
Never heard of the famous Chicago rail system. Pretty ignorant of the historical Brit, though his name did pop up in my brain. Thanks for the help.
Thanks Peter,
My second post reported I had 13d. All out now.
oops I used angle brackets in last post …
should have read “[22 ac] the [word meaning “not ready”]”
Sean asked
Not much chatter, so have to assume ’twas too easy for regulars. Nonetheless help For 17a wld be gd (think I’ve the w/play but stumped), which wld also help with 16d (think I have answer but no w/play) rest 8, 12 and 22 mixture or both and neither.
17A: Double definition. “Bring up” in the sense of ears.
16D, 8D, 12A, 22A: Plenty of hints above.
Fun but too easy. Now what is there for my brain for the rest of the weekend?
Needed to check 12A, as I had not heard this term before.
16D: Lots of English words start with 3 consonants, (STR, SPR, SCR, CHR etc), but not many words start with these three consonants!
Fan of 8D, so getting 13D wasn’t difficult. Even so, 8D was the last in because I couldn’t see the link to ‘Bears’ in the clue.
18A, two weeks in a row with this term.
24A: Didn’t know that particular sense of ‘turkey’ and didn’t think of the TV show, but with the cross letter that I had, it couldn’t have been any other word.
Some Spanish, some historical figures, an Ozism, an Indian (Hindi?) word and no French again.
Liked how the anagrind in 7D could have been ‘manic’ or ‘deviant’. Liked the misdirection via Moscow in 2D. 27A was the gimme I used to establish a beachhead in the SE corner.
A few hints before I head out for the day:
14A: A charade clue
1D: ‘compound’ is anagrind
6D: ‘Entering’ as in entering information into a computer.
22A: ‘Train’ name comes from the word ‘elevated’, because the train is several metres above the ground.
19D: ‘Way’ not equal to ST or RD or any other abbreviation for a thoroughfare.
11A: ‘Friend’ as in friend during wartime.
All over the place with 2D but liked it when I got it. Until I had some cross letters, I thought the middle word might have been Marx with a substitution over XX.
13D last in after googling a list of possibilities. Missed that show .. or don’t remember it.
Rupert, 17D is an OZism for emesis. The US equivalent is ‘barf’. What do they say in UK/NZ?
17 A that is.
17A: Really? Apparently the ears is a US thing, but [17A up] also means to cheer up or brighten.
Seems Collins agrees with you:
to make or become more cheerful, hopeful, or lively
to rise or cause to rise briskly ⇒ the dog’s ears [17A]ed up
tr to make smarter in appearance ⇒ she [17A]ed up her outfit with a bright scarf
intr (Australian, slang) to vomit
17A: Didn’t finish my thought, there. I think “Bring up” can mean any of those, with the possible exception of #3.
I think Kiwis are content to borrow upchucking terms from other cultures, rather than invent their own. I’ve heard chunder, puke, and ralph since I’ve been here, but not, that I recall, 17A or hurl.
After a slow start a few clicked and found most relatively easy, but got stuck on top left corner. Eventually twigged to 2d which was clever and this gave me enough cross letters to work out the remaining ones.
12a was a new word for me, but I was familiar with 17a (one of the first ones I got) and also 16d although that took a bit longer.
Only got 18a because he used it last week, although it took me a while to work out the first two words but kicked myself when I got them.
Spent ages trying to fit Dr Findlay into 24 (I had the F!) before I realised it was something more recent. I’d heard of it but never watched it.
Wouldn’t have worked out 22a without above hints although I’ve heard of the fellow and probably should have got it from the def but the train reference completely threw me.
Fun puzzle this weekend, where all the definitions meant what they said. Made a silly mistake on 6 across – ganster “Al”, twins rage “oud,” for noisily “aloud.” Exercise put us right, fortunately.
We finished quite quickly for a change today, though we’re not sure about 5D – is it SOLE or SOLO, and if it is one of these, why? If not either then a hint would be welcome, please.
@Victor ‘mention’ is a homophone indicator, so it has to be ‘sole’, = homophone of ‘soul’, one definition of which is a person or individual.
Thanks, JC – now I see!
Much better start today, down to last nine. Troubled by 17D, not au fait with pop stars. My second word seems to ‘fit in’. Hint required, Please.
No, it just hit me, I hadn’t got to the stage ofhaving one of those!
Finally, only second word of 7D uncertain. I had put brunch in there, but changing one letter seems to be right, though I hadn’t heard of it. So, much better than last week. Sayonara.
Got all except 1a, 2d and 4d. Had never heard of the show in 24a, but figured the last five letters had to spell it out. Hints would be appreciated.
Dave R:
1A defn is first word. Viewers are eyes.
2D Do you play Scrabble?
4D It’s not an English word. Defn is last 2 words. First 5 letters are a word for a group of secret plotters. ‘Desire’ is supposed to imply the Greek god of love whose Roman counterpart is Cupid.
Hints? OK.
1A: Also a type of hop.
2D: DA is playing word games with you.
4D: More Don than Señor
Thanks, JC and Rupert. Got them now. I rarely play Scrabblle, but can appreciate the cleverness of 2d. I also enjoyed 12a, and hadn’t been thrown by the red herring of the acronymic gallery in this part of the world sharing Lisa’s sobriquet.
Can’t do 17d or 21a, so left with a frustrating interlinked gap, in spite of helpful hints above. (thanks for the ones without which I would never have got anywhere near 17a and 16d!)
All out after using lots of your hints. Thanks
Mary. 17d see Rupert’s post 6.19am. The pop star is a ‘colourful’ performer.
21a first word is definition, 1-4 is a word ‘to eat’, 5,6 is an animal minus starter.
Help please, I do not understand the word play for letters 1-4 of 20d although I am sure that it is the same 1-4 as 21a?
DeRiddler – 20D – you imply you got letters 5 and 6 in a certain way. So if that is right, the first 4 come the same way from the preceding 4 words. Does this help?
DeRiddeller, 20d, you need to think of the word-play for all six letters, not just 1-4, and concentrate on the word ‘afters’ in the clue.
I’ve got 17d and 21a now – the problem was the definitions, really, especially for 21a – even when I found the answer, I couldn’t make it fit ‘piker’, until I eventually found one mention on a Google slang entry which did give the rather obscure Australian usage. I don’t usually mind Australian slang because I approve entirely of picturesque language – but why do Aussies have to use other countries’ slang with completely different meanings?
Thank you Mary and Ray. All makes sense now
Finally finished! Relatively easy once I got going, although I got stuck on 17d at the end (didn’t help that my 24a was wrong, was not familiar with that word). And I wouldn’t describe it as an unlikely event because I think I’m about to have one… ;)
I have learnt that when Rupert says they’re easy, it’s usually the opposite for me. Lol. Late start this weekend as I have been packing up house.
Of course I am stuck on 1a. Any hints would be welcome.
Michelle, 1A defn is first word. Viewers are eyes.
BTW are you the Michelle who posts on 225?
Hi JC. No. Not the same.
Thanks for hint. But I’m still stuck.
Cascade can mean waterfall – does that help?
I have an answer but if would make my 5d wrong. I had my 5d starting with S but if what I think is 1a is right it should start with an L.
5D does start with S. We are looking for a word meaning waterfalls that also means an eye problem.
Lol JC. That’s the answer I thought but my 5d threw me. Is waterfall the answer?
Ahhhhhhh. Thanks JC. Penny just dropped.
No. I’d never state the actual answer in a hint.
“… looking for a word meaning waterfalls …”.
And because of ur help with 1a I now have 2d and I’m in a roll.
BTW. What is 225?
We enjoyed this weeks – not so last week though!
We’re not sure of all the wordplay for 7D – got the “manic”, and the “a meal” bit, but are left with B D O M R for “old deviant”?? – despite iPuzzled’s comment about how the anagrind could be “manic” or “deviant”? -still don’t get it
Doug & Gwyn – 7D – my read – “a meal” gives letters 1, 2, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 – that is “a” as letter 1 and then a 6 letter meal for the others. “deviant” is the anagrind for “old manic” gives the middle 8 letters.
Pretty easy this week. Just as well, as I’ve been laid low by the man flu.
17D: I have an Australian slang term that I’m told means a burst of anger. I assume DA has a calm temperament, but does it also mean “rare event”?
Rupert – 17D – I don’t know but think I may have something different (mine is an anagram to give what I think would be a “rare event”). However I may have it wrong as I do not understand word play for my answer to 24A. Could you help be confirm that and then I will see if I can help with 17D? Thanks.
No – my 17D is incorrect.
Rupert – 17D – yes – as in it would not happen in a …. …
17D: I have a 4-letter pop star (real first name Alicia) and a 3-letter synonym of apt.
24A: Definition is the first two words. Turkey gives a four letter word for failure, and the show in hospital ran for 7 years or so, and was named after the protagonist.
Morning, I have it all out but don’t get the wordplay in 9A or 6D. Any ideas?
@peter: re 9A – middle of coffee preceded by ‘which’ minus the bathroom taps.
Re 6D – riding in the racing game minus the first 3 letters.
Had to google 16D.
Thanks Mike, all clear now. Yes, I also had to google 16D but easier enough to solve once 17A solved
Done over lunch. Needed to check 16D and 12A. Also had to look up the train reference in 22A.
All but 12 ac & 8 d filled.
Think I have 12 ac: letters 1-4 gallery retreating; 5-6 that’s; def alienation; but where does “Lisa” come in?
Totally stumped on 8 d
Still struggling with 16D (getting 17A hasn’t helped me) & 25A. Since people are having to google it, is is a word I’m unlikely to find in a dictionary? Any subtle hints?
Gil, “lisa” – think of a famous painting and it is the painting that is retreating not the gallery (gallery refers to the painting being in a gallery) with that is (ie) after.
8D think of the stock market
16D I had not heard of the word (a bit techy I supect) but its simply an anagram of hear and 17A
Thanks Peter,
I was struggling with 16d. Now I got something to google.
Now for 13d, 22a and the wordplay for 25a. Any help there?
13D: It’s a double definition.
22A: Definition is at the beginning. The train is found in Chicago.
25A: Take a five letter word for a type of lizard, and put the first letter at the end.
Ah 25a. Got it. Prufrock, put a lizards head where its tail should be.
Also worked out 13d and why the ellipsis with 8d.
But still to figure 22a and appreciate help.
16D: Back when Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak (among others) were young, it was found that you could control payphones, and in particular make free long distance calls, by playing certain tones down the line. 2600Hz was an important frequency, as I recall. There were blue boxes and red boxes and probably other devices for producing the right tones in the right order. People who did this were 16Ds.
Thanks Peter silly me. yep bulls & bears and it’s a biopic starring Geoffrey Rush I recall! And I had a gallery with that name as its acronym
Prufrock
16 ac anagram of 1 7 ac and ??? …and result doesn’t start with “f”.
25 ac What type of very common lizards are in your garden? Singular form & shift 1st letter (head) to last (tail)
sorry for post delay … Android browser probs
Thanks Rupert,
But my complete ignorance of the Illinois railway system leaves me baffled still. Especially as the word finder doesn’t even know any words with those cross letters (and I am confident they are all right, unlike earlier with 6d which I was missing because I thought a certain criminal pair in 6a were spelled like crustaceans).
Sandy, famous historical Brit from over 1100 years ago!
Train is two-letter word for famous Chicago rail system gives answer letters 1,5.
Letters 6-8 “looking flustered”
Letters 2-4 should be obvious!
More on 22 across. What is the opposite of “ready’, expressed as one word. For 1100 years this dude has borne the Pythonesque monicker “[] the []”.I never studied ancient history, but once you’ve heard of this dude, you never forget him! Frequently pops up in cryptics!
Sandy, 13D is a double definition but it is also a movie title starring 8D. The two clues being linked by the dots.
Never heard of the famous Chicago rail system. Pretty ignorant of the historical Brit, though his name did pop up in my brain. Thanks for the help.
Thanks Peter,
My second post reported I had 13d. All out now.
oops I used angle brackets in last post …
should have read “[22 ac] the [word meaning “not ready”]”
Sean asked
17A: Double definition. “Bring up” in the sense of ears.
16D, 8D, 12A, 22A: Plenty of hints above.
Fun but too easy. Now what is there for my brain for the rest of the weekend?
Needed to check 12A, as I had not heard this term before.
16D: Lots of English words start with 3 consonants, (STR, SPR, SCR, CHR etc), but not many words start with these three consonants!
Fan of 8D, so getting 13D wasn’t difficult. Even so, 8D was the last in because I couldn’t see the link to ‘Bears’ in the clue.
18A, two weeks in a row with this term.
24A: Didn’t know that particular sense of ‘turkey’ and didn’t think of the TV show, but with the cross letter that I had, it couldn’t have been any other word.
Some Spanish, some historical figures, an Ozism, an Indian (Hindi?) word and no French again.
Liked how the anagrind in 7D could have been ‘manic’ or ‘deviant’. Liked the misdirection via Moscow in 2D. 27A was the gimme I used to establish a beachhead in the SE corner.
A few hints before I head out for the day:
14A: A charade clue
1D: ‘compound’ is anagrind
6D: ‘Entering’ as in entering information into a computer.
22A: ‘Train’ name comes from the word ‘elevated’, because the train is several metres above the ground.
19D: ‘Way’ not equal to ST or RD or any other abbreviation for a thoroughfare.
11A: ‘Friend’ as in friend during wartime.
All over the place with 2D but liked it when I got it. Until I had some cross letters, I thought the middle word might have been Marx with a substitution over XX.
13D last in after googling a list of possibilities. Missed that show .. or don’t remember it.
Rupert, 17D is an OZism for emesis. The US equivalent is ‘barf’. What do they say in UK/NZ?
17 A that is.
17A: Really? Apparently the ears is a US thing, but [17A up] also means to cheer up or brighten.
Seems Collins agrees with you:
17A: Didn’t finish my thought, there. I think “Bring up” can mean any of those, with the possible exception of #3.
I think Kiwis are content to borrow upchucking terms from other cultures, rather than invent their own. I’ve heard chunder, puke, and ralph since I’ve been here, but not, that I recall, 17A or hurl.
After a slow start a few clicked and found most relatively easy, but got stuck on top left corner. Eventually twigged to 2d which was clever and this gave me enough cross letters to work out the remaining ones.
12a was a new word for me, but I was familiar with 17a (one of the first ones I got) and also 16d although that took a bit longer.
Only got 18a because he used it last week, although it took me a while to work out the first two words but kicked myself when I got them.
Spent ages trying to fit Dr Findlay into 24 (I had the F!) before I realised it was something more recent. I’d heard of it but never watched it.
Wouldn’t have worked out 22a without above hints although I’ve heard of the fellow and probably should have got it from the def but the train reference completely threw me.
Fun puzzle this weekend, where all the definitions meant what they said. Made a silly mistake on 6 across – ganster “Al”, twins rage “oud,” for noisily “aloud.” Exercise put us right, fortunately.
We finished quite quickly for a change today, though we’re not sure about 5D – is it SOLE or SOLO, and if it is one of these, why? If not either then a hint would be welcome, please.
@Victor ‘mention’ is a homophone indicator, so it has to be ‘sole’, = homophone of ‘soul’, one definition of which is a person or individual.
Thanks, JC – now I see!
Much better start today, down to last nine. Troubled by 17D, not au fait with pop stars. My second word seems to ‘fit in’. Hint required, Please.
No, it just hit me, I hadn’t got to the stage ofhaving one of those!
Finally, only second word of 7D uncertain. I had put brunch in there, but changing one letter seems to be right, though I hadn’t heard of it. So, much better than last week. Sayonara.
Got all except 1a, 2d and 4d. Had never heard of the show in 24a, but figured the last five letters had to spell it out. Hints would be appreciated.
Dave R:
1A defn is first word. Viewers are eyes.
2D Do you play Scrabble?
4D It’s not an English word. Defn is last 2 words. First 5 letters are a word for a group of secret plotters. ‘Desire’ is supposed to imply the Greek god of love whose Roman counterpart is Cupid.
Hints? OK.
1A: Also a type of hop.
2D: DA is playing word games with you.
4D: More Don than Señor
Thanks, JC and Rupert. Got them now. I rarely play Scrabblle, but can appreciate the cleverness of 2d. I also enjoyed 12a, and hadn’t been thrown by the red herring of the acronymic gallery in this part of the world sharing Lisa’s sobriquet.
Can’t do 17d or 21a, so left with a frustrating interlinked gap, in spite of helpful hints above. (thanks for the ones without which I would never have got anywhere near 17a and 16d!)
All out after using lots of your hints. Thanks
Mary. 17d see Rupert’s post 6.19am. The pop star is a ‘colourful’ performer.
21a first word is definition, 1-4 is a word ‘to eat’, 5,6 is an animal minus starter.
Help please, I do not understand the word play for letters 1-4 of 20d although I am sure that it is the same 1-4 as 21a?
DeRiddler – 20D – you imply you got letters 5 and 6 in a certain way. So if that is right, the first 4 come the same way from the preceding 4 words. Does this help?
DeRiddeller, 20d, you need to think of the word-play for all six letters, not just 1-4, and concentrate on the word ‘afters’ in the clue.
I’ve got 17d and 21a now – the problem was the definitions, really, especially for 21a – even when I found the answer, I couldn’t make it fit ‘piker’, until I eventually found one mention on a Google slang entry which did give the rather obscure Australian usage. I don’t usually mind Australian slang because I approve entirely of picturesque language – but why do Aussies have to use other countries’ slang with completely different meanings?
Thank you Mary and Ray. All makes sense now
Finally finished! Relatively easy once I got going, although I got stuck on 17d at the end (didn’t help that my 24a was wrong, was not familiar with that word). And I wouldn’t describe it as an unlikely event because I think I’m about to have one… ;)
I have learnt that when Rupert says they’re easy, it’s usually the opposite for me. Lol. Late start this weekend as I have been packing up house.
Of course I am stuck on 1a. Any hints would be welcome.
Michelle, 1A defn is first word. Viewers are eyes.
BTW are you the Michelle who posts on 225?
Hi JC. No. Not the same.
Thanks for hint. But I’m still stuck.
Cascade can mean waterfall – does that help?
I have an answer but if would make my 5d wrong. I had my 5d starting with S but if what I think is 1a is right it should start with an L.
5D does start with S. We are looking for a word meaning waterfalls that also means an eye problem.
Lol JC. That’s the answer I thought but my 5d threw me. Is waterfall the answer?
Ahhhhhhh. Thanks JC. Penny just dropped.
No. I’d never state the actual answer in a hint.
“… looking for a word meaning waterfalls …”.
And because of ur help with 1a I now have 2d and I’m in a roll.
BTW. What is 225?
The Fifteensquared website.
The link in my previous post doesn’t work, but the url is http://www.fifteensquared.net/
We enjoyed this weeks – not so last week though!
We’re not sure of all the wordplay for 7D – got the “manic”, and the “a meal” bit, but are left with B D O M R for “old deviant”?? – despite iPuzzled’s comment about how the anagrind could be “manic” or “deviant”? -still don’t get it
Doug & Gwyn – 7D – my read – “a meal” gives letters 1, 2, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 – that is “a” as letter 1 and then a 6 letter meal for the others. “deviant” is the anagrind for “old manic” gives the middle 8 letters.