DA Confusion for the 3rd of February, 2023

Posted on by AS

Have your confusions sorted out for this week’s DA. And thankfully there’s a dedicated thread for this week’s DA (unlike last week).

45 thoughts on “DA Confusion for the 3rd of February, 2023”

  1. All out and understood.
    Not too bad.
    Didn’t find anything special about today.
    FOI 1A.
    LOI 19D.
    5A maybe my pick.
    4D good also I think.
    Maybe 9D/3D and 15D a bit tricky.
    Some clues (like 25D) probably going to draw some flak. OK by me.

  2. Lately I’m feeling as though DA’s gone back to his old ways of cluing largely nonsensical or clunky surfaces. It’s probably just personal preference. For me there’s a balance between tricky wordplay and misdirections and an entertaining surface.

    9/3 sort of gave itself away. 15D and 25D okay by me. Took a bit to figure out one of the definitions in 28/29, well I think I have. Fell into a trap of overthinking 18A. 7D last to parse, and came with a chuckle.

    26A and 2D my picks, but fortunately I knew the answer for 2D and back-parsed.

  3. A typical DA today, not particularly easy nor hard, with smiles outnumbering groans. The easiest one for anyone starting out is probably 14a. 1a is pretty easy too.

    There are a few I haven’t fully parsed yet, but they’ll probably hit me next time I look at them. They usually do. I thought 15d was a bit of a tautology, in the same vein as the oft-heard “foot pedal”. Never heard of 8d. A couple of American terms, including one I’d not heard of in 12a. I couldn’t see any potentially controversial clues, DAJ.

  4. Got through this in close to record time, not sure why as I didn’t get enough sleep last night!

    FOI 1A, 2A. LOI 20A, 18A.

    12A you might know a relative of, relating to certain atmospheric phenomena above the arctic circle.

  5. AndrewT, was that meant as a help for me? Thank you, but I had no trouble with 12a, just pointing out that the use of “funk” is American — at least according to Collins.

  6. First pass 1a,11a,14a,8d,21d,22d. I found the SW corner the hardest (and 23a wasn’t in the version I’ve played). LOI 2d. Pretty standard this week I thought.

  7. I agree with everyone else so far that there wasn’t anything too tricky today, at least solving-wise. Took me about as long to fully parse 13/20a, 2d, and 15d as it did to complete the grid, but I got there in the end. 25d was probably my favourite clue, and it certainly brought the best chuckle, though I also enjoyed 9/3d.

  8. Gayle “9/3 sort of gave itself away”. Not to me it didn’t p. Is there some common expression I am missing?
    I got going quickly across the top, but have stalled as I have worked down. Is 23a a corruption of the Monopoly purchase?

  9. Sandy, the capitalised words in 9d/3d are a rebus, the rest a (loose) definition.

  10. Thanks Graham. I had an idea it was capitalized for some reason but hadn’t seen why.

  11. I’m still stuck in the SE corner. Any hints for 17d, 25d, 27a or 28/29a would be appreciated.

  12. Always the way. After posting i twigged to 17d and 27a. Still working on 25d and 28/29a though.

  13. I was led astray by the irrelevant ellipses; having 16A as my FOI, it then took an eternity to get18A because of those ellipses.

    English Monopoly does not contain 23A; however, the original Monopoly was American, so perhaps 23A was in that (I have not played the American version).

    Overall, I think this is a good puzzle with the exception of 15D

  14. Sandy, from the bottom up, 25d is something thaf a waiter would dislike (2,3) — definitely in America, not in Japan.

  15. Stuck on SW – hints welcome – 18A, 26A, 28/29A, 15D and 19D
    Thanks Graham M for 25D btw

  16. Thanks Graham, that gave me a word I had never heard of for 25d and a final crosser that helped me with 28/29a.
    SB 28/29d is a double def, but I hadn’t heard of either def.

  17. SB 18a also DD; 26a Picked up is homophone indicator; 19d cheers is swallowing poison.

  18. Thanks Sandy. All out – never heard of 28/29. Some of the wordplays still unclear to me but that’ll do for this week. My pick for the week is probably 7D

  19. Came to Trippers with 8 to solve in SE & SW sectors. Have a few solved where I need to think about wordplay, Had wrong definition for 2D but came up with solution with different letter in 4th square googled answer and found definition was last not first word in clue.
    Thanks GrahamM for 9/3D which is one of the clues I need to parse. Like the 13/24A expression. Gayle I can appreciate your view of DA but I find DA’s quirkiness that sets his cryptics apart from the rest of the week and led me to Trippers some years ago and all the comments that help me with new insights. I never fail to learn a new word every week. Cheers all

  21. IanS for 13/24a think Def first 2 words. Then letters 4,5,6,7,8. Then 9,10. Then 11,12,13,14. Then 1,2,3.

  22. Thanks HandM I looked up my copy of DA’s puzzled which has chapters on the various cryptic clues and covers rebuses I got a smile from your explanation
    Likewise for 12/24a
    Cheers

  23. SW corner resisting all my assaults. Could I have a gentle hint for 18a?

  25. Thanks Tim C, I did wonder if it might be something like that but nothing came to me. I’ll try again.

  28. Ustralian … just a double definition- a blemish on your record and a firm belief.

  29. Ah yep, that’ll do. Was looking at record as a homophone indicator, or blemish as a (bad) anagram

  30. The only thing I can think of for 25d Carol is that the surface seems a bit nonsensical. The definition and wordplay seem fine to me.

  31. Re 25D, other than the surface being weird, I read “up” as doing double duty – and that’s something I do not mind – but is often draws criticism on this site.

  32. I just took the definition as “Everest helper” so didn’t see the ‘up’ as doing double duty DAJ.

  33. Tim C – 25D – I must be missing something.
    Agree “Everest helper” = PITON.
    I would NOT agree that “Waiter blow” = “NO TIP” –
    but I would agree that “Waiter blow up” = “NO TIP”.
    But “up” also has to indicate the reverse – NOTIP to PITON.
    So is “up” doing double duty?
    What am I missing?

  34. Actually – I can see how “Waiter’s blow” could give NO TIP. Apologise.

  35. Yes, the apostrophe ‘s’ makes all the difference DAJ. Easy to miss. I’m often guilty of not reading clues carefully enough. :)

  36. DA Confusion for the 10th of February, 2023:
    .
    Once again – let’s start here – AS has not yet set up this week’s pages.
    .
    Quickest DA solve for me in a long time.
    FOI 1D.
    LOI 18D.
    Effectively just worked around the board from NW to NE to SE to SW.
    Did like 23D/22D and 27A.
    Also liked 13D and 5A/24A.
    And 25A clever.
    Enjoy all.

  38. BrianB – 8D – agree. Did DA make a mistake and assume a meaning rather than check?

  39. Yes he did. 8d would be correct if it started “he classifies” rather than “he stuffs”.

  40. First pass 17a,26a,7d,8d (despite the error in the definition),20d and 23d/22d. LOI 19a. Favourite 23d/22d and 27a.

    No 5a for the lack of 23d/221d by the crossword (non)editor this week.

  42. Yep, if only Fairfax had a crossword editor. Might reject a lot of midweek tripe too.
    Interestingly, LR replies that he’ll get it changed online. Is he in charge of the puzzle operations?

  43. Was out and about today doing DA from the dead tree version, without electronic aids or communication. 8D! Left side of the brain’s saying one thing, and the right’s saying another. How could DA, or a test solver or an Editor (if there were any) make such an error?!
    Quite enjoyed (the rest of) today’s crossie but got bogged down in NW, despite getting 9A and 4D early.

    Online version has now been changed but without any comment. With the British Guardian crosswords at least they let you know that. Whatever LR’s influence, it’s really poor of Nine/ Fairfax (that was). But then does anyone care about cryptocruciverbalists and their buying power?

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