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82 thoughts on “DA Confusion for the 7th of June, 2013”
What a load of rubbish!
Agree Rupert. Have the 12. Cannot get 10A or 12A. Any help appreciated.
You’re right, Rupert – a whole lot of folderol (almost).
Not worth pursuing, was my first reaction. Found the two easy ones, an anagram and a lift-out. Why can’t DA stick to ‘ordinary’ cryptics? Does he feel hurt if people solvethem, so he makes things harder? Will check back later for possible clues, but think my initial reaction was correct.
10A: Not the Dutch painter you first think of, but an earlier one. I have his homophone as one of the 12.
12A: Another one of the 12, this one has the two extra letters at the beginning inside a four letter word for a large amount of money.
I’m stuck on 7D, 21D and 15A. I’m not sure of the wordplay in 20A.
And thanks to Arthur (!) I have 21D.
And that (and Victor’s hint) gave me 20A. Just 7A and 15A to go.
Rupert – 20A – one of the 12. “A redback” = letters 7,6,5,4. “in” = container. “decline” = letters 1,2,3,8.
7D – “Macabre fan” = letters 1,2,3,5. “nursing” = container. “cold” = letter 4. “heast, essentially” = letter 6. Defn = last 2 words.
15A – me too (that’s what I meant above when I wrote 12A by error).
15a: The two Fs go inside a word for fortune
15A: One of the 12. Three letter word for rotation, plus A, plus another three letter word for rotation; the whole is rotated (i.e. reversed).
I think Ian’s clue above refers to 12A.
Rupert – very good. Thanks.
11A? If the answer is as it appears, margins of two clue words, is that a fair synonym for understanding? If I have the right answer, that now gives me three, the snails are catching up to me.
i keep old /weekend papers at work just for friday’s like these.
“drag out the emergency crossword!”
Have four (or maybe five) of the themed items, only eight in total. Baffled by 19D, tried promoting Zellweger (or was that only elee?) but can’t make a word given the last letter for 20A, which I am sure I have correct? Clue needed, please.
Arthur C – 19D you are on right track. Your bit from “Zellweger” gives letters 1,2,3,7. “tucked in” = container, such that a 3 letter word for “butt” gives letters 4,5,6.
Defn = “Promote”.
Loved it! One to go… 13d. Any tips?
I thought this was going to be full of none-words and started out putting the Spoonerism in 4D. Then 8A gave the theme away and I really enjoyed this puzzle.
13D: It’s one of the 12, and it’s pretty much what it says on the surface. I’ve not previously heard the last 6 letters of 13D used as a synonym for the object typifying indecent exposure, but it wouldn’t surprise me that it had.
Haha… Thanks Rupert. Never heard the expression, but have definitely heard of the object!
I only have the word play for letters 2-5 in 5D, can someone explain the rest?
Indy, re 5D. Def is pill-seller. Offering speed is around a word for damage.
Ta Ray, have 16D now.
Dutch painter? Have four names that fit, given I have 2D. Does he sound like an American tennis player from way back? Greek city? I have one that starts with weekend, but can’t make sense of remainder, so maybe some other city. Otherwise, I don’t have a painter at all.
Thanks, Barry, but I still don’t get the “offer speed” part. Feels like it should end with E, but if so the final product is spelled wrong.
I’ve got about half, 5 of the dozen (and I think I know 24D as a 6th). Stumped beyond that.
Arthur, the Dutch painter has five letters; under discussion means “sounds like”. This is one of the themed answers.
1D def is Greek City. “One weeked at a” is last three letters. First five is a place where ladies go to improve their pulchritude.
Indy if a car can travel fast, it can be described as the four-letter word around 5D.
Indy, 24D is NOT one of the themed answers. It’s a simple double definition.
1D: Second largest city in Greece, but known to me (and presumably others of a certain age, when ancient Greece was the real Greece and you could ignore the opinions of the foreigners who merely lived there) by a longer name.
Barry, I had 12A wrong, if I have the city correct, I think pulchritude relates to ‘vital statistics’ rather than facial features. Greek city, if I now have it correct, relates to two of Paul’s letters in the New Testament. Still really lost on the Dutch painter, but will keep looking at that one.
No, I think my original decision was correct. Will give it away, ten short but out of ideas. I looked through hundreds of Dutch painters earlier, looking for four-letter ones, can’t be bothered going back.
Ray: thanks for 7D… was wondering how the first two words of the clue worked until I noticed it was 1,2,3,5.
Rupert/Ian: as for 12A, I think I got it, but still not sure how does the clue translate to the cryptic device? (I thought such clues meant duplicating the first letter of a synonym)…
Barry: yes, 8A gave it away for me too :-)
Arthur: the Dutch painter shares his name with some commonly used trade names/proper nouns, so it’s not an obscure one (I was desperate and skimmed the Wikipedia list at first – it was insanely long).
Maybe I’m doing this wrong, but I can’t seem to get 17A.
My 5D does match Barry’s clue [ June 7, 2013 at 11:14 am ];
my 6D corresponds to the last word of the clue as definition…
I’m suspecting wrong crossing letters?
I think 17 A is one of the 12 – last letter of one of the clue words plus two different 3-letter trees
Arthur, re 10A, Edward Lear wrote a book of the answer.
Also Arthur, the Dutch painter does not have four letters but the answer sounds like a Dutch painter.
Sorry to hear DA has defeated you this week, Arthur. I found your statement on 1D a bit confusing – the beauty spot is mostly to do with hair and nails.
Marc, what Hils said re 17A is correct. The answer wasn’t that familiar to me; I’m more familiar with the porcine version than the ocular one.
12A: marc, as far as I know there’s no rule as to what x-x-x means (and if there were, DA would be sure to break it, anyway). This probably seemed to him a bit more original than “Very loud fortune outside”.
Thanks, Barry, I did eventually put that answer in, but not progressed much further. Time for arvo tea, pool, footy tonight, so leaving it there.
Afternoon everybody!
Penny just dropped on the theme for me
when I got 22a 2d almost straight away!
Another case of reread the head note!
Blank moment. 23 ac. Any help?
23A: B2 (as in vitamin) is the definition. The wordplay is an anagram with some letters deleted.
Great! Got it! Thanks. All done.
Only 8 left.
15, 23, 24, 26 A; 13, 16, 18, 22 D.
I have a variety of words for 13D that conceptually fit, bit I have never heard any of them for the theme.
Got 22, 18, 23. Last 5.
6b is a DA gem! It gave me the pip for a while, I missed the obvious and then got the answer through the cross letters, but there’s a a classic double edge to it that goes right to the core!
Not happy with the use of “so” in 26 A. Just 15 and 13 left.
Wipe that 6b and make it 6d!
Indy, 13D is very humourous, if a bit risque. The first four letters are a verb; the latter six a noun which is a slang term for what a male streaker might display. The whole word fits the theme.
Indy, re 26A, I assume you have the bone and the steak. The last four letters are a word that means “so” – as in I’m so tired. Take “five” from that word and you have the last three letters.
Indy: 16D is an anagram of ‘fears’ with a word for ‘mate’ backwards, the definition being the first three words.
15A had hints given quite early today
The others you want are all variations on the theme. I looked up synonyms for one of the themed words, after I eventually realised from earlier comments what the theme was.
Indy, re 15A, cannot do better than Rupert | June 7, 2013 at 8:18 am. Two three-letter words for rotation (One sporting, one car-related) reversed around another letter indicated in the clue as “one”. Whole word fits the theme.
Barry, I get how it was used, I just didn’t like it!
I’d already clicked for all but the last one, which is 13D. Even with knowledge of risqueness, still stumped on the euphemism for the last part. Clearly I’m too clean cut!
Aha! Complete at last. Had to go way back to early childhood for 13D!
Indy, 13D. Let’s see if I can help. First four letters is the same upside-down mate as in 16D. The last six letters may may do with a pen and paper whilst waiting to talk to a human being on a call with Telstra! The whole word was used by Huck Finn…
Rupert, re the last 6 letters of 13D, I first came across this usage some decades ago as part of the name of one of the creatures sung about in the bawdy song “We’re off to see the Wild West Show.”
On the site where I googled the lyrics just now, the creature in question has had its name varied to “the oomie-goolies bird”, but if you’re familiar with the song you’ll get the gist!
This discussion of 13 down
reminds me of the old joke about the legless Ohma****** bird
and what it cries as it lands …
“Oh-ma-******”
… Just looked up those wild west show lyrics
hah, F Troop’s Hekawi Tribe were a cleaned up
version of one of the wild west show’s denizens!
Re that 10A painter, Michael Connelly wrote a series of detective yarns having his hero named the same as that painter. I still had difficulty with it, as I plugged in the wrong city for 1D. For some reason, “Katerini” satisfies the wordplay, if you agree that “Erin” is a beautiful place.
got one answer before coming here for help. An hour later I have five plus a couple of bits. No idea what the theme might be, closer to following Arthur’s original suggestion.
Hi Jack (don’t say that on an aeroplane!)
I just love Michael Connelly novels but didn’t like to reference his hero in case it was too obvious … and also because I didn’t know if the genteel people who solve cryptics are fans of murder mysteries. Of course, Morse was a fan of cryptics … and the prequel (horrible word) is starting soon. Shame it’s on a commercial channel: I’ll have to buy the DVD when it comes out as I hate the ads that interrupt dramas. Try Morse (9)
nn, don’t give up! The note from DA gives away the theme. Easiest clues to help with the theme (in my opinion) are 8A and 22A/2D.
gave up and went to crossword club for the answers. nice idea but spoilt for me by too many phrases I’d never heard of and I wasn’t getting anywhere with the wordplay on most of the straight clues either. i find the theme ones a bit too hard when you don’t know which clues belong to the theme. Just too hard to get a reasonable start. maybe I’ll be a bit more awake next week
thanks anyway Barry. I didn’t have answers to either of those so wasn’t getting anywhere. as it happened i had one of the themed answers from the world play but it didn’t make any sense as I’d never heard of the word. the other bits I had didn’t make up any word I’d ever heard of either. having looked at the answers I’m glad I stopped. if i’d persisted I think i would have spent half the night on Google. too tired.
Hmmm, quite interesting viewpoint: both nn (today) and Arthur (several time previously) have indicated that they don’t like related clues. I’m the opposite. I think that when several clues are related, once one has solved one (and related it to the theme), then the rest of the crossword becomes much easier. I agree with nn’s point that it’s not always easy to work out which clues follow the theme but, at least, David usually gives us the numer of clues that are involved.
It’s hard to conclude with anything better than Rupert’s first post : “What a load of rubbish” – but what great fun.
Despite
@Barry on the contrary i have done some very enjoyable themed ones in the past and i thought this one was a good idea i just had a lot of trouble with it as I hadn’t heard of a lot of the answers and I wasn’t getting very far with his straight clues either. not knowing which were which didn’t help, and this is the part I dont like about themed one’s (not knowing which are which when the clues have no definition in them) I’d just spent too long on it without any progress.
Sorry, nn, if I lumped you in with the “hate-themes brigade” But I know that Arthur’s not a fan. I had “classical English education (amo, amas, amat)” so was very familiar with almost all of the expressions involved in today’s outing. So without any more palaver, I’ll piffle off to bed!
Barry, if you think “prequel” is a horrible word then you’ll positively abhor the word used in Indian English to describe the situation where changed circumstances entail the bringing forward of a scheduled event – “prepone”!
Thanks Geoff, you have given me a reason to shuffle off this mortal coil happily before our language gets even more debased. Your latest offering is double-plus-ungood!
I’ve just received an email from DA about a new TV show about a young Inspector Morse that will soon be shown on Australian TV. It reminds me of a classic Times crossword clue “Try Morse (9)”.
DA’s email to me was “I’m endeavouring to recall the answer.”
We all try to be as good as …
Towards the end, Morse grew a little tiresome and the show Lewis was a good refresher. Looking forward to James Cook’s ship. I also doubt that Morse’s cryptic crosswords were as difficult as DA’s if the few examples sometimes presented in the series were a true example.
Please excuse a non-related post. Sunday (two days away) from 1pm to 5pm at the Burvale Hotel Cnr Springvale Rd & Burwood Hwy, Nunawading,
There is an open mike for singers/guitarists/drummers. Amps, drums, mikes are all provided. Come along and meet a DA solver with his guitar and velvet voice. (Ask for Barry),
Sing what you wanna sing, just bring along the words and chords.
A great afternoon of rock and roll
Jack, I do the crosswords that Morse did (The Times) and find most of them easier than DA’s . In the Age, DH causes me some problems as his answers are usually words that I don’t know, but his clues give away the answer, even if I don’t know the word.
Really enjoyed this one – did a few at breakfast then out for the day. back home at 4, finished by 6.
Victor, I agree totally. This was a very enjoyable DA crossword.
Barry, I have not done the Times crosswords since the 70s. I recall them as being reasonably difficult, but a lot easier on Sundays. As a Sydneysider, I don’t get the Age, so I can’t comment on it.
Thoroughly enjoyable crossword though I didn’t get it all out. Is it my imagination or does DA make the non- themed clues easier in this scenario?
Is anyone still there? Needed a few kick starts today especially with the themed clues so thanks to all (yes Gil, helps to read the headnote!). Still don’t get 15a, 7d, 18d despite above. Hints welcome.
sb – 15A – Rupert explained well. It is one of the 12 themed. The last 2 words “un rotation” means turn all this around. So “Rotation” gives 3 letters – say 1,2,3. “plus one more” gives a 1 letter word – say letter 4 – and then another 3 letter word for rotation – say letters 5,6,7. Then as said, reverse the whole lot 7,6,5,4,3,2,1 to give a word that fits the theme.
7D – as above – 7D – “Macabre fan” = letters 1,2,3,5. “nursing” = container. “cold” = letter 4. “heart, essentially” = letter 6. Defn = last 2 words. So think the first bit – 4 letter word for a person who is a fan of the macabre. Think dark / black clothes / make up etc.
18D – defn = first 2 words. “braces” gives a 10 letter word (as in belts and braces). “Minus top brace” removes top two letters to give the 8 letter answer.
I hope this helps.
I don’t follow the wordplay for 18d. I see we take the synonym of braces and remove two letters, but can’t see how those two letters relate to “minus top brace”…?
Jordan – brace = pair = couple as synomyn. See below:
Synonym Study
1. Pair, brace, couple, span, yoke are terms for groups of two.
whew – thanks Ray (and Rupert) – all done now – after a delightful(ly) Vivid Sydney evening on the harbour
7 D was the last one in for us, and it certainly WAS!. We would never have got it without Rays hint from Yesterday.
Had a real belly-laugh with 13D. Altogether quite enjoyable this week.
What a load of rubbish!
Agree Rupert. Have the 12. Cannot get 10A or 12A. Any help appreciated.
You’re right, Rupert – a whole lot of folderol (almost).
Not worth pursuing, was my first reaction. Found the two easy ones, an anagram and a lift-out. Why can’t DA stick to ‘ordinary’ cryptics? Does he feel hurt if people solvethem, so he makes things harder? Will check back later for possible clues, but think my initial reaction was correct.
10A: Not the Dutch painter you first think of, but an earlier one. I have his homophone as one of the 12.
12A: Another one of the 12, this one has the two extra letters at the beginning inside a four letter word for a large amount of money.
I’m stuck on 7D, 21D and 15A. I’m not sure of the wordplay in 20A.
And thanks to Arthur (!) I have 21D.
And that (and Victor’s hint) gave me 20A. Just 7A and 15A to go.
Rupert – 20A – one of the 12. “A redback” = letters 7,6,5,4. “in” = container. “decline” = letters 1,2,3,8.
7D – “Macabre fan” = letters 1,2,3,5. “nursing” = container. “cold” = letter 4. “heast, essentially” = letter 6. Defn = last 2 words.
15A – me too (that’s what I meant above when I wrote 12A by error).
15a: The two Fs go inside a word for fortune
15A: One of the 12. Three letter word for rotation, plus A, plus another three letter word for rotation; the whole is rotated (i.e. reversed).
I think Ian’s clue above refers to 12A.
Rupert – very good. Thanks.
11A? If the answer is as it appears, margins of two clue words, is that a fair synonym for understanding? If I have the right answer, that now gives me three, the snails are catching up to me.
i keep old /weekend papers at work just for friday’s like these.
“drag out the emergency crossword!”
Have four (or maybe five) of the themed items, only eight in total. Baffled by 19D, tried promoting Zellweger (or was that only elee?) but can’t make a word given the last letter for 20A, which I am sure I have correct? Clue needed, please.
Arthur C – 19D you are on right track. Your bit from “Zellweger” gives letters 1,2,3,7. “tucked in” = container, such that a 3 letter word for “butt” gives letters 4,5,6.
Defn = “Promote”.
Loved it! One to go… 13d. Any tips?
I thought this was going to be full of none-words and started out putting the Spoonerism in 4D. Then 8A gave the theme away and I really enjoyed this puzzle.
13D: It’s one of the 12, and it’s pretty much what it says on the surface. I’ve not previously heard the last 6 letters of 13D used as a synonym for the object typifying indecent exposure, but it wouldn’t surprise me that it had.
Haha… Thanks Rupert. Never heard the expression, but have definitely heard of the object!
I only have the word play for letters 2-5 in 5D, can someone explain the rest?
Indy, re 5D. Def is pill-seller. Offering speed is around a word for damage.
Ta Ray, have 16D now.
Dutch painter? Have four names that fit, given I have 2D. Does he sound like an American tennis player from way back? Greek city? I have one that starts with weekend, but can’t make sense of remainder, so maybe some other city. Otherwise, I don’t have a painter at all.
Thanks, Barry, but I still don’t get the “offer speed” part. Feels like it should end with E, but if so the final product is spelled wrong.
I’ve got about half, 5 of the dozen (and I think I know 24D as a 6th). Stumped beyond that.
Arthur, the Dutch painter has five letters; under discussion means “sounds like”. This is one of the themed answers.
1D def is Greek City. “One weeked at a” is last three letters. First five is a place where ladies go to improve their pulchritude.
Indy if a car can travel fast, it can be described as the four-letter word around 5D.
Indy, 24D is NOT one of the themed answers. It’s a simple double definition.
1D: Second largest city in Greece, but known to me (and presumably others of a certain age, when ancient Greece was the real Greece and you could ignore the opinions of the foreigners who merely lived there) by a longer name.
Barry, I had 12A wrong, if I have the city correct, I think pulchritude relates to ‘vital statistics’ rather than facial features. Greek city, if I now have it correct, relates to two of Paul’s letters in the New Testament. Still really lost on the Dutch painter, but will keep looking at that one.
No, I think my original decision was correct. Will give it away, ten short but out of ideas. I looked through hundreds of Dutch painters earlier, looking for four-letter ones, can’t be bothered going back.
Ray: thanks for 7D… was wondering how the first two words of the clue worked until I noticed it was 1,2,3,5.
Rupert/Ian: as for 12A, I think I got it, but still not sure how does the clue translate to the cryptic device? (I thought such clues meant duplicating the first letter of a synonym)…
Barry: yes, 8A gave it away for me too :-)
Arthur: the Dutch painter shares his name with some commonly used trade names/proper nouns, so it’s not an obscure one (I was desperate and skimmed the Wikipedia list at first – it was insanely long).
Maybe I’m doing this wrong, but I can’t seem to get 17A.
My 5D does match Barry’s clue [ June 7, 2013 at 11:14 am ];
my 6D corresponds to the last word of the clue as definition…
I’m suspecting wrong crossing letters?
I think 17 A is one of the 12 – last letter of one of the clue words plus two different 3-letter trees
Arthur, re 10A, Edward Lear wrote a book of the answer.
Also Arthur, the Dutch painter does not have four letters but the answer sounds like a Dutch painter.
Sorry to hear DA has defeated you this week, Arthur. I found your statement on 1D a bit confusing – the beauty spot is mostly to do with hair and nails.
Marc, what Hils said re 17A is correct. The answer wasn’t that familiar to me; I’m more familiar with the porcine version than the ocular one.
12A: marc, as far as I know there’s no rule as to what x-x-x means (and if there were, DA would be sure to break it, anyway). This probably seemed to him a bit more original than “Very loud fortune outside”.
Thanks, Barry, I did eventually put that answer in, but not progressed much further. Time for arvo tea, pool, footy tonight, so leaving it there.
Afternoon everybody!
Penny just dropped on the theme for me
when I got 22a 2d almost straight away!
Another case of reread the head note!
Blank moment. 23 ac. Any help?
23A: B2 (as in vitamin) is the definition. The wordplay is an anagram with some letters deleted.
Great! Got it! Thanks. All done.
Only 8 left.
15, 23, 24, 26 A; 13, 16, 18, 22 D.
I have a variety of words for 13D that conceptually fit, bit I have never heard any of them for the theme.
Got 22, 18, 23. Last 5.
6b is a DA gem! It gave me the pip for a while, I missed the obvious and then got the answer through the cross letters, but there’s a a classic double edge to it that goes right to the core!
Not happy with the use of “so” in 26 A. Just 15 and 13 left.
Wipe that 6b and make it 6d!
Indy, 13D is very humourous, if a bit risque. The first four letters are a verb; the latter six a noun which is a slang term for what a male streaker might display. The whole word fits the theme.
Indy, re 26A, I assume you have the bone and the steak. The last four letters are a word that means “so” – as in I’m so tired. Take “five” from that word and you have the last three letters.
Indy: 16D is an anagram of ‘fears’ with a word for ‘mate’ backwards, the definition being the first three words.
15A had hints given quite early today
The others you want are all variations on the theme. I looked up synonyms for one of the themed words, after I eventually realised from earlier comments what the theme was.
Indy, re 15A, cannot do better than Rupert | June 7, 2013 at 8:18 am. Two three-letter words for rotation (One sporting, one car-related) reversed around another letter indicated in the clue as “one”. Whole word fits the theme.
Barry, I get how it was used, I just didn’t like it!
I’d already clicked for all but the last one, which is 13D. Even with knowledge of risqueness, still stumped on the euphemism for the last part. Clearly I’m too clean cut!
Aha! Complete at last. Had to go way back to early childhood for 13D!
Indy, 13D. Let’s see if I can help. First four letters is the same upside-down mate as in 16D. The last six letters may may do with a pen and paper whilst waiting to talk to a human being on a call with Telstra! The whole word was used by Huck Finn…
Rupert, re the last 6 letters of 13D, I first came across this usage some decades ago as part of the name of one of the creatures sung about in the bawdy song “We’re off to see the Wild West Show.”
On the site where I googled the lyrics just now, the creature in question has had its name varied to “the oomie-goolies bird”, but if you’re familiar with the song you’ll get the gist!
This discussion of 13 down
reminds me of the old joke about the legless Ohma****** bird
and what it cries as it lands …
“Oh-ma-******”
… Just looked up those wild west show lyrics
hah, F Troop’s Hekawi Tribe were a cleaned up
version of one of the wild west show’s denizens!
Re that 10A painter, Michael Connelly wrote a series of detective yarns having his hero named the same as that painter. I still had difficulty with it, as I plugged in the wrong city for 1D. For some reason, “Katerini” satisfies the wordplay, if you agree that “Erin” is a beautiful place.
got one answer before coming here for help. An hour later I have five plus a couple of bits. No idea what the theme might be, closer to following Arthur’s original suggestion.
Hi Jack (don’t say that on an aeroplane!)
I just love Michael Connelly novels but didn’t like to reference his hero in case it was too obvious … and also because I didn’t know if the genteel people who solve cryptics are fans of murder mysteries. Of course, Morse was a fan of cryptics … and the prequel (horrible word) is starting soon. Shame it’s on a commercial channel: I’ll have to buy the DVD when it comes out as I hate the ads that interrupt dramas. Try Morse (9)
nn, don’t give up! The note from DA gives away the theme. Easiest clues to help with the theme (in my opinion) are 8A and 22A/2D.
gave up and went to crossword club for the answers. nice idea but spoilt for me by too many phrases I’d never heard of and I wasn’t getting anywhere with the wordplay on most of the straight clues either. i find the theme ones a bit too hard when you don’t know which clues belong to the theme. Just too hard to get a reasonable start. maybe I’ll be a bit more awake next week
thanks anyway Barry. I didn’t have answers to either of those so wasn’t getting anywhere. as it happened i had one of the themed answers from the world play but it didn’t make any sense as I’d never heard of the word. the other bits I had didn’t make up any word I’d ever heard of either. having looked at the answers I’m glad I stopped. if i’d persisted I think i would have spent half the night on Google. too tired.
Hmmm, quite interesting viewpoint: both nn (today) and Arthur (several time previously) have indicated that they don’t like related clues. I’m the opposite. I think that when several clues are related, once one has solved one (and related it to the theme), then the rest of the crossword becomes much easier. I agree with nn’s point that it’s not always easy to work out which clues follow the theme but, at least, David usually gives us the numer of clues that are involved.
It’s hard to conclude with anything better than Rupert’s first post : “What a load of rubbish” – but what great fun.
Despite
@Barry on the contrary i have done some very enjoyable themed ones in the past and i thought this one was a good idea i just had a lot of trouble with it as I hadn’t heard of a lot of the answers and I wasn’t getting very far with his straight clues either. not knowing which were which didn’t help, and this is the part I dont like about themed one’s (not knowing which are which when the clues have no definition in them) I’d just spent too long on it without any progress.
Sorry, nn, if I lumped you in with the “hate-themes brigade” But I know that Arthur’s not a fan. I had “classical English education (amo, amas, amat)” so was very familiar with almost all of the expressions involved in today’s outing. So without any more palaver, I’ll piffle off to bed!
Barry, if you think “prequel” is a horrible word then you’ll positively abhor the word used in Indian English to describe the situation where changed circumstances entail the bringing forward of a scheduled event – “prepone”!
Thanks Geoff, you have given me a reason to shuffle off this mortal coil happily before our language gets even more debased. Your latest offering is double-plus-ungood!
I’ve just received an email from DA about a new TV show about a young Inspector Morse that will soon be shown on Australian TV. It reminds me of a classic Times crossword clue “Try Morse (9)”.
DA’s email to me was “I’m endeavouring to recall the answer.”
We all try to be as good as …
Towards the end, Morse grew a little tiresome and the show Lewis was a good refresher. Looking forward to James Cook’s ship. I also doubt that Morse’s cryptic crosswords were as difficult as DA’s if the few examples sometimes presented in the series were a true example.
Please excuse a non-related post. Sunday (two days away) from 1pm to 5pm at the Burvale Hotel Cnr Springvale Rd & Burwood Hwy, Nunawading,
There is an open mike for singers/guitarists/drummers. Amps, drums, mikes are all provided. Come along and meet a DA solver with his guitar and velvet voice. (Ask for Barry),
Sing what you wanna sing, just bring along the words and chords.
A great afternoon of rock and roll
Jack, I do the crosswords that Morse did (The Times) and find most of them easier than DA’s . In the Age, DH causes me some problems as his answers are usually words that I don’t know, but his clues give away the answer, even if I don’t know the word.
Really enjoyed this one – did a few at breakfast then out for the day. back home at 4, finished by 6.
Victor, I agree totally. This was a very enjoyable DA crossword.
Barry, I have not done the Times crosswords since the 70s. I recall them as being reasonably difficult, but a lot easier on Sundays. As a Sydneysider, I don’t get the Age, so I can’t comment on it.
Thoroughly enjoyable crossword though I didn’t get it all out. Is it my imagination or does DA make the non- themed clues easier in this scenario?
Is anyone still there? Needed a few kick starts today especially with the themed clues so thanks to all (yes Gil, helps to read the headnote!). Still don’t get 15a, 7d, 18d despite above. Hints welcome.
sb – 15A – Rupert explained well. It is one of the 12 themed. The last 2 words “un rotation” means turn all this around. So “Rotation” gives 3 letters – say 1,2,3. “plus one more” gives a 1 letter word – say letter 4 – and then another 3 letter word for rotation – say letters 5,6,7. Then as said, reverse the whole lot 7,6,5,4,3,2,1 to give a word that fits the theme.
7D – as above – 7D – “Macabre fan” = letters 1,2,3,5. “nursing” = container. “cold” = letter 4. “heart, essentially” = letter 6. Defn = last 2 words. So think the first bit – 4 letter word for a person who is a fan of the macabre. Think dark / black clothes / make up etc.
18D – defn = first 2 words. “braces” gives a 10 letter word (as in belts and braces). “Minus top brace” removes top two letters to give the 8 letter answer.
I hope this helps.
I don’t follow the wordplay for 18d. I see we take the synonym of braces and remove two letters, but can’t see how those two letters relate to “minus top brace”…?
Jordan – brace = pair = couple as synomyn. See below:
Synonym Study
1. Pair, brace, couple, span, yoke are terms for groups of two.
whew – thanks Ray (and Rupert) – all done now – after a delightful(ly) Vivid Sydney evening on the harbour
7 D was the last one in for us, and it certainly WAS!. We would never have got it without Rays hint from Yesterday.
Had a real belly-laugh with 13D. Altogether quite enjoyable this week.