Have your confusions sorted out for this week’s DA.
42 thoughts on “DA Confusion for the 22nd of July, 2022”
Quite enjoyed this week’s DA.
FOI 26A.
LOI 14A.
My pick for best is 16D.
Also liked 27A and 17D.
21D an &lit?!
Do not understand 9D.
9D anything to do with Teatro?
Robyn – 9D – thanks, but I do not think so – as have now figured out the clue.
Thanks again.
Thanks DAJ
FOI 21d, 22 d , 26a, 9a
No idea of theme as yet…
The topic of DA’s column tomorrow seems to have gone to his head in today’s crossie …
The theme came pretty quickly for me, 25d in particular I thought was clued very cleverly!
FOI 1D, 12A. LOI 17D, 16D. Other good starters might be 30A, 6A, 28A, 24D, 18A, 23A.
Enjoyable, interesting theme. I found these relatively easy: 15a, 20a, 26a, 30a, 21d. Clearly a very different list to yours, AndrewT. We would obviously complement each other and make a good team.
Got off to a bad start by entering (in pencil) HARDSTONE for 2d, and thinking “Aha!, Today’s theme is something to do with precious gems!” (Rest assured this isn’t a spoiler.)
My favourite clue was 1a, masterfully misdirected DA style. It came periously close to a chuckle. I spent some time trying to find a 3d, 5d, 25d in Australia, but then made the literary connection. 8d & 14a took a bit of research. The wordplay for 7d/11a looks awfully convoluted and I decided I couldn’t be bothered. Maybe I’ll have another look later. The only other one I haven’t parsed is 9d.
And despite our discourse in recent weeks, DA seems determined to sanction the non-use of an uppercase letter where some may say it’s necessary.
Took a bit of effort today. Had to look up 7, 8 & 17D, and 14A. Loved today’s theme.
Age is showing, as I was able to enter 8D on sight.
I always laugh when I think of Bond and 24D.
Jack, lesser known Bond.
First run 15a,27a,9d,21d,22d. Got the theme fairly early. NW corner stalled me for a while. Last one in 29a.
About the same number of question marks (indicating dodgy) against clues as usual today.
Yes, 21d is &lit DAJ ?!
Favourite is 1a for the definition.
Took a while to get theme, then it all started to flow. FOI 30A, 26A, 22D, 21D …
Like others, favourite is 1A.
Stuck 6A, 14A, 29A and 1D
… 3 of those must be themed
No, just two.
Oh. Thanks Graham
just 6A to go, though I don’t understand wordplay for 1D
Total reversal SB for 6a. Read the answer backwards.
Sorry, 1d not 6a
Started late only have foi 9d and 27a
9d think Italian numbers
I still have no idea how 7d/11a works.
Tortuous doesn’t start to describe it Graham. Ignore the redundant $ sign for a start.
I figured it out, Tim. Good grief. My brain hurts.
As I may have said before, I LOVE themed puzzles. Always a bit disappointed when there’s no ‘NB’!
Guess I’m going to need to wait until y’all can be more overt to explain 5D, 25D wordplay. Ditto 29A (I presume it’s a certain northern coliseum?!) 4D (how is 1,2,3 ‘fun time’, homophonically or otherwise?!) and 7D, 11A (ignored ‘$’ or otherwise)
Johnno, the second word of 5d/25d is power (1) boat (2,3,4). For the first word, think Pole rather than pole.
29a, “reviews” is a reversal indicator. A five-letter word meaning “cancel” loses its “n” (fan base). It’s a themed clue, and there’s one in both Sydney & Melbourne.
Graham M , if you’re still up would you please give me a clue for 1d
Thank you
Melanie, in 1D ‘about’ means to turn it upside down.
I have the same question as johnno2 regarding 4D.
In 4d, the 1st 3 letters sound like a 4 letter slang word for laugh. The 4 letter word is a shortened form of a 6 letter vulgar term for laugh. It’s also a sound geese make.
Have I said too much?
Thanks, melanie. I did not expect it to be so vulgar.
Apparently this use of “cack” is uniquely Australian. Nice to see we don’t copy everything crom Am3rica.
Thanks Graham M
You are proving indispensable to my DA mornings 💕
Once again DA being lazy
Firstly, an oblique attempt at misdirection with lower case ‘pole’ , which is a distinct word from ‘Pole’. Ah, maybe that would be too easy, well then try harder.
Once you get that, then the 12 related answers can be found from Google or plain obvious.
Then the use of ‘Itami’ which again is distinct from the ‘nationality’ of Iranian
Zinzan is too kind this week with his score, 2/10
Sorry, iPhone typo
Irani… see even iPhone agrees;-)
I just couldn’t get into this. Maybe Cokes has articulated a) why I’m finding it a bit of a fog, and b) what I can do about it if I want to.
Thanks Graham.
Fuller response follows when I can get back to the paper.
I agree with Cokes that zinzan is too generous re this DA. Good theme(s) but some very contrived clues. I admit that I got bored and cheated on a few, although they were fair enough in retrospect. I got 7/11 quickly but it is tortured and messy. The $ is wrong/unfair and must be omitted. “Invoice” is ugly – it gives 2 letters to wrap around 50; the remainder is an anagram of a + 6d +at +a +3 letter verb for project (good misdirection to use “project” in this way). “Outset” appears to be redundant- “rebuilding” already gives the instruction.
To be fair to DA, I believe that ‘rebuilding’ refers to letters 4-8, whereas ‘outset’ refers to letters 10-14. The dollar sign is unfortunate; he must have put it there to improve the surface.
Thanks for ‘7/11’, Richard, which Graham missed in his parsehelps for me. I do agree with Jack; ‘outset’ sets 10 and 14 outside rebuilt 11-13. Elsewhere on 7/11, though, I’m not comfortable that the anagrist is split by the anagrind; I’d thought it should be fully before or after?
As to the $, this seems acceptable convention; after all, couldn’t one say, ‘Can you lend me a fifty’.
I agree with Cokes on P/pole but have a further beef: how does ‘Pole’ sensibly acceptably clue 1-8? Every person on Earth (except maybe Tom Hanks in that film!) is a 1-8! Even ‘e.g. Pole’ would be dodgy.
Finishing on a cack-definition-1 note, may I record that my school days were of the cack-definition-2 era!
p.s. If small ‘p’ IS okay in 5D, DA missed the opportunity to much more directly clue it with ‘truss’.
But I’m not going down THAT rabbit hole…
I didn’t get to DA till Sunday, which often happens. Liked the theme, agreed with those above who couldn’t be bothered parsing the 7D-11A mess.
Loved 1A’s ‘press releases’ – that’s the kind of word play that keeps me coming back to DA.
Just 14A to go. Absolutely stumped. Why the capital in Deer?
Hi Carol. Yes, 1a was my favourite too. This should assist you with your query …
Gah! I thought of him but didn’t think to check he’d written anything with that in the title. Only know his first one.
Thank you Graham for getting that monkey off my back. Now I can face the new week…
Quite enjoyed this week’s DA.
FOI 26A.
LOI 14A.
My pick for best is 16D.
Also liked 27A and 17D.
21D an &lit?!
Do not understand 9D.
9D anything to do with Teatro?
Robyn – 9D – thanks, but I do not think so – as have now figured out the clue.
Thanks again.
Thanks DAJ
FOI 21d, 22 d , 26a, 9a
No idea of theme as yet…
The topic of DA’s column tomorrow seems to have gone to his head in today’s crossie …
The theme came pretty quickly for me, 25d in particular I thought was clued very cleverly!
FOI 1D, 12A. LOI 17D, 16D. Other good starters might be 30A, 6A, 28A, 24D, 18A, 23A.
Enjoyable, interesting theme. I found these relatively easy: 15a, 20a, 26a, 30a, 21d. Clearly a very different list to yours, AndrewT. We would obviously complement each other and make a good team.
Got off to a bad start by entering (in pencil) HARDSTONE for 2d, and thinking “Aha!, Today’s theme is something to do with precious gems!” (Rest assured this isn’t a spoiler.)
My favourite clue was 1a, masterfully misdirected DA style. It came periously close to a chuckle. I spent some time trying to find a 3d, 5d, 25d in Australia, but then made the literary connection. 8d & 14a took a bit of research. The wordplay for 7d/11a looks awfully convoluted and I decided I couldn’t be bothered. Maybe I’ll have another look later. The only other one I haven’t parsed is 9d.
And despite our discourse in recent weeks, DA seems determined to sanction the non-use of an uppercase letter where some may say it’s necessary.
Took a bit of effort today. Had to look up 7, 8 & 17D, and 14A. Loved today’s theme.
Age is showing, as I was able to enter 8D on sight.
I always laugh when I think of Bond and 24D.
Jack, lesser known Bond.
First run 15a,27a,9d,21d,22d. Got the theme fairly early. NW corner stalled me for a while. Last one in 29a.
About the same number of question marks (indicating dodgy) against clues as usual today.
Yes, 21d is &lit DAJ ?!
Favourite is 1a for the definition.
Took a while to get theme, then it all started to flow. FOI 30A, 26A, 22D, 21D …
Like others, favourite is 1A.
Stuck 6A, 14A, 29A and 1D
… 3 of those must be themed
No, just two.
Oh. Thanks Graham
just 6A to go, though I don’t understand wordplay for 1D
Total reversal SB for 6a. Read the answer backwards.
Sorry, 1d not 6a
Started late only have foi 9d and 27a
9d think Italian numbers
I still have no idea how 7d/11a works.
Tortuous doesn’t start to describe it Graham. Ignore the redundant $ sign for a start.
I figured it out, Tim. Good grief. My brain hurts.
As I may have said before, I LOVE themed puzzles. Always a bit disappointed when there’s no ‘NB’!
Guess I’m going to need to wait until y’all can be more overt to explain 5D, 25D wordplay. Ditto 29A (I presume it’s a certain northern coliseum?!) 4D (how is 1,2,3 ‘fun time’, homophonically or otherwise?!) and 7D, 11A (ignored ‘$’ or otherwise)
Johnno, the second word of 5d/25d is power (1) boat (2,3,4). For the first word, think Pole rather than pole.
29a, “reviews” is a reversal indicator. A five-letter word meaning “cancel” loses its “n” (fan base). It’s a themed clue, and there’s one in both Sydney & Melbourne.
Graham M , if you’re still up would you please give me a clue for 1d
Thank you
Melanie, in 1D ‘about’ means to turn it upside down.
I have the same question as johnno2 regarding 4D.
In 4d, the 1st 3 letters sound like a 4 letter slang word for laugh. The 4 letter word is a shortened form of a 6 letter vulgar term for laugh. It’s also a sound geese make.
Have I said too much?
Thanks, melanie. I did not expect it to be so vulgar.
Apparently this use of “cack” is uniquely Australian. Nice to see we don’t copy everything crom Am3rica.
https://www.macquariedictionary.com.au/resources/aus/word/map/search/word/cack/Brisbane%20Region/
https://www.yourdictionary.com/cack
Thanks Graham M
You are proving indispensable to my DA mornings 💕
Once again DA being lazy
Firstly, an oblique attempt at misdirection with lower case ‘pole’ , which is a distinct word from ‘Pole’. Ah, maybe that would be too easy, well then try harder.
Once you get that, then the 12 related answers can be found from Google or plain obvious.
Then the use of ‘Itami’ which again is distinct from the ‘nationality’ of Iranian
Zinzan is too kind this week with his score, 2/10
Sorry, iPhone typo
Irani… see even iPhone agrees;-)
I just couldn’t get into this. Maybe Cokes has articulated a) why I’m finding it a bit of a fog, and b) what I can do about it if I want to.
Thanks Graham.
Fuller response follows when I can get back to the paper.
I agree with Cokes that zinzan is too generous re this DA. Good theme(s) but some very contrived clues. I admit that I got bored and cheated on a few, although they were fair enough in retrospect. I got 7/11 quickly but it is tortured and messy. The $ is wrong/unfair and must be omitted. “Invoice” is ugly – it gives 2 letters to wrap around 50; the remainder is an anagram of a + 6d +at +a +3 letter verb for project (good misdirection to use “project” in this way). “Outset” appears to be redundant- “rebuilding” already gives the instruction.
To be fair to DA, I believe that ‘rebuilding’ refers to letters 4-8, whereas ‘outset’ refers to letters 10-14. The dollar sign is unfortunate; he must have put it there to improve the surface.
Thanks for ‘7/11’, Richard, which Graham missed in his parsehelps for me. I do agree with Jack; ‘outset’ sets 10 and 14 outside rebuilt 11-13. Elsewhere on 7/11, though, I’m not comfortable that the anagrist is split by the anagrind; I’d thought it should be fully before or after?
As to the $, this seems acceptable convention; after all, couldn’t one say, ‘Can you lend me a fifty’.
I agree with Cokes on P/pole but have a further beef: how does ‘Pole’ sensibly acceptably clue 1-8? Every person on Earth (except maybe Tom Hanks in that film!) is a 1-8! Even ‘e.g. Pole’ would be dodgy.
Finishing on a cack-definition-1 note, may I record that my school days were of the cack-definition-2 era!
p.s. If small ‘p’ IS okay in 5D, DA missed the opportunity to much more directly clue it with ‘truss’.
But I’m not going down THAT rabbit hole…
I didn’t get to DA till Sunday, which often happens. Liked the theme, agreed with those above who couldn’t be bothered parsing the 7D-11A mess.
Loved 1A’s ‘press releases’ – that’s the kind of word play that keeps me coming back to DA.
Just 14A to go. Absolutely stumped. Why the capital in Deer?
Hi Carol. Yes, 1a was my favourite too. This should assist you with your query …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Deer_Park
Gah! I thought of him but didn’t think to check he’d written anything with that in the title. Only know his first one.
Thank you Graham for getting that monkey off my back. Now I can face the new week…
Thank you Graham M.
I’d written in the correct answer based solely on the definition word, but I’ve spent two days pondering on this very dead deadend https://sportingfineart.com.au/products/deer-park-fc-2019-premiership-poster, and thinking: no that’s too Melbourne-specific for DA, surely?
Hate to be pedantic, but the correct spelling of 7d,11a is (5-4,5) and not (5,4-5).