Have your confusions sorted out for the shortest month of the year.
55 thoughts on “DA Confusion for the 1st of February, 2019”
Not too hard today.
FOI 18D, 24A, followed by 22D/2D.
I liked 17A, 3D and 4D.
All understood, I think.
Good luck.
Also liked 11D a lot.
70 minutes
First in 10A, 14A, 23A …
Last in … 9A, 5D, 4D
Faves 4D, 18D, 19A, 26A
Puzzled by 5D “shot”??? Checking synonyms now …
But, happy solving!
Celia,
‘shot’ as in ‘went very fast’.
Ny fastest ever completion of a DA, I think. About same time as Celia, perhaps a little less.So, free to watch cricket later.!
Thanks, Neanderthal, but I still find it a bit 3D anagrind.
Go Arthur you’re on song too. I’m smiling too, ready for coffee
In what seems to be my pattern these days I struggle for the first 5-10 minutes, only a handful in. Then I hit the wavelength and the dominoes start to fall. FOI 10A, LOI 8D.
11d & 15d were my favourites this morning.
Have you acquired a stopwatch, Celia?
Geoff M 6:55 finish – 5:46 start = 69 minutes. Rounded it up!
Andrew T … adding 8D to my faves, brilliant cluing!
All done. A few I didn’t know so had to build them from the rest of the clue.
I think I have the answer to 22/2D but having trouble linking first word to wordplay. Do both words of answer start with the same letter?
All done. Took me a while to get the word play in 8D, but enjoyed it when I did.
Yes, Geoff. What do you buy at the bar?
GeoffD re 22D/2D
Yes. First word is clued by “bar visit”.
FOI 3D. LOI 8D (struggled with the wordplay for a bit). Favourite 19A, for the cockney comedian. :)
Need a hint please….stuck on 13a and 8d..
Croydon MAL, the 13A detention centre has been in the news a bit, first boy 1-3, 2nd 4-7 (I do know a woman with this name though and another was linked with Roy Rogers)
8D is tricky but “years” are 3-5, and their surrounds 1,2,6-8 ensure they are “lastingly inscribed”.
I enjoyed this puzzle. One quibble though with 12A: our air is only about 20% oxygen, so the two words are not synonyms.
Jack,
while oxygen is a component and not scientifically equal to ‘air’, I think they are synonymous in a broad sense. It is a quibble but I can understand it both ways.
Pretty easy today I thought, though a few I guessed from crosses and had to work out the wordplay afterwards.
FOI and favourite was 8D, 16D LOI.
Don’t understand wordplay for 1A or 19A.
Stuck on 6A
Mr Indigo, 1A def is first word. 19A first 2 words clue 1,5-7
Also, not sure of wordplay for 23A (last 2 letters), and 7D (horseshoe?)
SB – I have solved 1A, but don’t know how the rest of the wordplay works.
I’ve not heard of with the Cockney comedian in 1, 5-7 for 19A, and can’t seem to find anything on Google, but I can see how 2-4 works with the clue.
In 23A, remove the flaw from “dinghy” (i.e. patched over).
In 7D, horseshoe refers to letter 8.
Thanks Mr Indigo
So, 1A is partly anagram
A well-known Australian comedian, starred in well-known oz film, and well-known tourism ads, nickname in cockney
6A: def is last word in clue. Take a 5 letter telco name and remove one letter that represents a type of junction.
23A: take the last word of clue. When you patch up a surfboard, you remove a **** from it. Do that to dinghy and that gives you those two letters.
7D: horseshoe is a clue to letter 8 – think of the shape of the letter.
PS 1D ran = 1, 8-10
1A: ‘Ran’ gives letters 1, 8-10 as SB says . ‘Ground’ is anagrind for ‘cheers’ for letters 2-7.
Thanks AndrewT. OMG and duh! for 6A – no wonder nobody else had problems with it! All good now till next week.
No one has had any probs with 4d? I have. Any hints?
Also, I don’t understand the ‘linked to cracked’ part of the wordplay for 16d.
As always I twigged just after posting. Old cousin indeed!
Would still like some help understanding 16d though.
SandyM,
16d – acrook, remove fine – last 4 letters = cracked. Last word answer.
Celia and Dave, thanks for your help earlier in the day. Tried to post a reply at the time but my computer wouldn’t let me.
Thanks Margaret, I had the answer. I understood how the wordplay worked. But I don’t know the last four letters as a word for cracked. It’s either some creatures or sports equipment. To be cracked it would need to replace the last letter with ‘ty’.
Except that I just looked up a dictionary. I have never heard of it used that way.
I tend to learn something every week, this time it was the Irish port. I do agree the more coomon way is with the ty.
I was with Mr Indigo re 1A. Did anyone else try an anagram ‘ground’ of LX (sixty) RAN AX (across)?
Could someone explain to me how the last four letters of 14A are derived?
Thanks
Gayle,
The one I got hung up on was 13a where I saw vexed and then tried boys names where the “v” had been removed.
Thanks Celia for response @11:33am, appreciated.
Hey that was good Margaret. We were both ‘overthinking’ DA …… this time.
GeoffD
Lion is a synonym of celebrity.
Found 15d with a bit of help having all the crossies but can’t figure the word play. Anagram of these guitar pluckers with an L?
starsign, re15D, removing “has initially” from your answer gives you the surnames of the two guitarists! One of them from Cold Chisel, the other a well-known American!
I think it’s an anagram of the guitarist s sirnames with “has initially” thrown in
It’s a new word for me
?
Thanks Celia
I think your answer is more entertaining than mine!
Thanks for all the help everyone
Thanks heaps Celia n Melanie!
By the way, if anyone is still out there
There is a times x word clue that I can’t get the word play for….
“Take it regularly from essay and take it out of take-off”
The cross letters are s-t-t- so it is SATIRE
But how do you derive the last 4 letters from the clue?
Sorry it’s saturday smh x word
My son is stuck on it
Sorry it’s saturday smh crossword
My son is stuck on it
That’s 21D from yesterday’s SMH, Melanie, would be quite a coincidence if also in Times! Presume”essay” 1-2 but rest baffles me too!
Perhaps when something causes you to tire it “takes it out of you”?
I was a little perplexed too.
I think that’s it, Geoff M. I like to do the DS puzzle every week and his clues are not always very clear. I’m pretty sure that here he has “take it out of” meaning “tire”.
DS’s 18D this week is another one. Wordplay anyone?
RobinH re Saturday DS …
From memory …
Answer is SP[ART]A
ART for the paintings.
SPA for the abbreviation of the Italian term for a public company (you’ll need to google it!)
Oh thanks. Celia. I just couldn’t see why the Italian company gave us SPA. All good now.
Not too hard today.
FOI 18D, 24A, followed by 22D/2D.
I liked 17A, 3D and 4D.
All understood, I think.
Good luck.
Also liked 11D a lot.
70 minutes
First in 10A, 14A, 23A …
Last in … 9A, 5D, 4D
Faves 4D, 18D, 19A, 26A
Puzzled by 5D “shot”??? Checking synonyms now …
But, happy solving!
Celia,
‘shot’ as in ‘went very fast’.
Ny fastest ever completion of a DA, I think. About same time as Celia, perhaps a little less.So, free to watch cricket later.!
Thanks, Neanderthal, but I still find it a bit 3D anagrind.
Go Arthur you’re on song too. I’m smiling too, ready for coffee
In what seems to be my pattern these days I struggle for the first 5-10 minutes, only a handful in. Then I hit the wavelength and the dominoes start to fall. FOI 10A, LOI 8D.
11d & 15d were my favourites this morning.
Have you acquired a stopwatch, Celia?
Geoff M 6:55 finish – 5:46 start = 69 minutes. Rounded it up!
Andrew T … adding 8D to my faves, brilliant cluing!
All done. A few I didn’t know so had to build them from the rest of the clue.
I think I have the answer to 22/2D but having trouble linking first word to wordplay. Do both words of answer start with the same letter?
All done. Took me a while to get the word play in 8D, but enjoyed it when I did.
Yes, Geoff. What do you buy at the bar?
GeoffD re 22D/2D
Yes. First word is clued by “bar visit”.
FOI 3D. LOI 8D (struggled with the wordplay for a bit). Favourite 19A, for the cockney comedian. :)
Need a hint please….stuck on 13a and 8d..
Croydon MAL, the 13A detention centre has been in the news a bit, first boy 1-3, 2nd 4-7 (I do know a woman with this name though and another was linked with Roy Rogers)
8D is tricky but “years” are 3-5, and their surrounds 1,2,6-8 ensure they are “lastingly inscribed”.
I enjoyed this puzzle. One quibble though with 12A: our air is only about 20% oxygen, so the two words are not synonyms.
Jack,
while oxygen is a component and not scientifically equal to ‘air’, I think they are synonymous in a broad sense. It is a quibble but I can understand it both ways.
Pretty easy today I thought, though a few I guessed from crosses and had to work out the wordplay afterwards.
FOI and favourite was 8D, 16D LOI.
Don’t understand wordplay for 1A or 19A.
Stuck on 6A
Mr Indigo, 1A def is first word. 19A first 2 words clue 1,5-7
Also, not sure of wordplay for 23A (last 2 letters), and 7D (horseshoe?)
SB – I have solved 1A, but don’t know how the rest of the wordplay works.
I’ve not heard of with the Cockney comedian in 1, 5-7 for 19A, and can’t seem to find anything on Google, but I can see how 2-4 works with the clue.
In 23A, remove the flaw from “dinghy” (i.e. patched over).
In 7D, horseshoe refers to letter 8.
Thanks Mr Indigo
So, 1A is partly anagram
A well-known Australian comedian, starred in well-known oz film, and well-known tourism ads, nickname in cockney
6A: def is last word in clue. Take a 5 letter telco name and remove one letter that represents a type of junction.
23A: take the last word of clue. When you patch up a surfboard, you remove a **** from it. Do that to dinghy and that gives you those two letters.
7D: horseshoe is a clue to letter 8 – think of the shape of the letter.
PS 1D ran = 1, 8-10
1A: ‘Ran’ gives letters 1, 8-10 as SB says . ‘Ground’ is anagrind for ‘cheers’ for letters 2-7.
Thanks AndrewT. OMG and duh! for 6A – no wonder nobody else had problems with it! All good now till next week.
No one has had any probs with 4d? I have. Any hints?
Also, I don’t understand the ‘linked to cracked’ part of the wordplay for 16d.
As always I twigged just after posting. Old cousin indeed!
Would still like some help understanding 16d though.
SandyM,
16d – acrook, remove fine – last 4 letters = cracked. Last word answer.
Celia and Dave, thanks for your help earlier in the day. Tried to post a reply at the time but my computer wouldn’t let me.
Thanks Margaret, I had the answer. I understood how the wordplay worked. But I don’t know the last four letters as a word for cracked. It’s either some creatures or sports equipment. To be cracked it would need to replace the last letter with ‘ty’.
Except that I just looked up a dictionary. I have never heard of it used that way.
I tend to learn something every week, this time it was the Irish port. I do agree the more coomon way is with the ty.
I was with Mr Indigo re 1A. Did anyone else try an anagram ‘ground’ of LX (sixty) RAN AX (across)?
Could someone explain to me how the last four letters of 14A are derived?
Thanks
Gayle,
The one I got hung up on was 13a where I saw vexed and then tried boys names where the “v” had been removed.
Thanks Celia for response @11:33am, appreciated.
Hey that was good Margaret. We were both ‘overthinking’ DA …… this time.
GeoffD
Lion is a synonym of celebrity.
Found 15d with a bit of help having all the crossies but can’t figure the word play. Anagram of these guitar pluckers with an L?
starsign, re15D, removing “has initially” from your answer gives you the surnames of the two guitarists! One of them from Cold Chisel, the other a well-known American!
I think it’s an anagram of the guitarist s sirnames with “has initially” thrown in
It’s a new word for me
?
Thanks Celia
I think your answer is more entertaining than mine!
Thanks for all the help everyone
Thanks heaps Celia n Melanie!
By the way, if anyone is still out there
There is a times x word clue that I can’t get the word play for….
“Take it regularly from essay and take it out of take-off”
The cross letters are s-t-t- so it is SATIRE
But how do you derive the last 4 letters from the clue?
Sorry it’s saturday smh x word
My son is stuck on it
Sorry it’s saturday smh crossword
My son is stuck on it
That’s 21D from yesterday’s SMH, Melanie, would be quite a coincidence if also in Times! Presume”essay” 1-2 but rest baffles me too!
Perhaps when something causes you to tire it “takes it out of you”?
I was a little perplexed too.
I think that’s it, Geoff M. I like to do the DS puzzle every week and his clues are not always very clear. I’m pretty sure that here he has “take it out of” meaning “tire”.
DS’s 18D this week is another one. Wordplay anyone?
RobinH re Saturday DS …
From memory …
Answer is SP[ART]A
ART for the paintings.
SPA for the abbreviation of the Italian term for a public company (you’ll need to google it!)
Oh thanks. Celia. I just couldn’t see why the Italian company gave us SPA. All good now.