Once again, Dac is responsible for the Wednesday cruciverbal challenge this week.
I found this an easier-than-average Dac solve, and made steady progress through the puzzle from start to finish. 2, 3 and 25 were new words for me, but eminently gettable from the wordplay. That said, I overlooked the word “endlessly” in 25 at first, and spent time trying to solve a false anagram of word a didn’t know anyway.
It is never easy to single out a favourite from a crop of Dac clues of a consistently high standard, but if pressed, I would plump for the & lit. at 7, closely followed by 6 for its smooth surface and 4 for its original construction.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in double-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | CUBITS | Reductions in spending involving mostly substantial measures
BI<g> (=substantial; “mostly” means last letter dropped) in CUTS (=reductions in spending) |
| 04 | CONCEDED | There are two types of Conservative, Balls and Miliband admitted
CON + C (=two types of Conservative, i.e. two abbreviations) + ED (=Balls, i.e. Labour politician) + ED (=Miliband, i.e. Labour leader) |
| 09 | RESIN | Sticky stuff on back of walls at home
RE (=on, i.e. regarding) + <wall>S (“back of” means last letter only) + IN (=at home) |
| 10 | CLEANNESS | Innocence of English family touring loch
[E (=English) in CLAN (=family)] + NESS (=loch) |
| 11 | HEINOUS | Hateful fellow inside house, demolishing its walls
HE (=fellow) + IN (=inside) + <h>OUS<e> (“demolishing its walls” means first and last letters are dropped) |
| 12 | DERANGE | Upset and possibly angered (or enraged)
*(ANGERED) or *(ENRAGED); “possibly” is anagram indicator |
| 13 | GO TO THE WALL | Fail to visit great Chinese landmark
GO TO (=visit) + THE WALL (=great Chinese landmark) |
| 17 | PROTAGONIST | Champion racing driver going round track on island
[TAG (=track) + ON + I (=island)] in PROST (=racing driver, i.e. French driver Alain Prost); loosely, a protagonist can be a champion or advocate (in Chambers) |
| 20 | COURAGE | Daring of us to enter place of confinement
OUR (=of us) in CAGE (=place of confinement) |
| 21 | INDRAWN | Shy child with guardian getting round in pub
DRAW (WARD=child with guardian; “round” indicates reversal) in INN (=pub) |
| 23 | EMPHASISE | Stress English politician suffers, having pay increase initially declined
E (=English) + MP (=politician) + HAS (=suffers, e.g. a disease) + <r>ISE (=pay increase; “initially declined” means first letter dropped) |
| 24 | TITCH | Little one starts to tremble if teacher chastises him
T<remble> I<f> T<eacher> C<hastises> H<im>; “starts to” means initial letters only |
| 25 | MARIACHI | Chairman endlessly distracted by one type of music
*(CHAIRMA<n>) + I (=one); “endlessly” means last letter dropped; mariachi is Mexican dance music played traditionally by strolling musicians |
| 26 | CHERYL | Woman becoming involved in debauchery lately
Hidden (“involved”) in “debauCHERY Lately” |
| Down | ||
| 01 | CARTHAGE | Transport old woman to European city of old
CART (=transport) + HAG (=old woman) + E (=European) |
| 02 | BASSISTS | Leader of band gives help to musicians
B<and> (“leader of” means first letter only) + ASSISTS (=help); bassists are players of the double bass or bass guitar |
| 03 | TONDO | Aspirin finally taken during commotion, bringing relief
<aspiri>N in TO-DO (=commotion); a tondo is a circular painting or carving in relief |
| 05 | OVERDRAMATISE | Ham served to Maria well-cooked
*(SERVED TO MARIA); “well-cooked” is anagram indicator |
| 06 | CONTRALTO | Actor not perturbed about beginning to lose voice
L<ose> (“beginning to” means first letter only) in *(ACTOR NOT); “perturbed” is anagram indicator |
| 07 | DUENNA | Woman expected to take girl about?
DUE (=expected) + NNA (ANN=girl; “about” indicates reversal); & lit. |
| 08 | DASHED | After start of demolition, a building is completely destroyed
D<emolition> (“start of” means first letter only) + A + SHED (=building) |
| 10 | CASSEROLE DISH | Chases soldier around in part of China
*(CHASES SOLDIER); “around” is anagram indicator; china is to be understood as crockery |
| 14 | TOP BANANA | Boss has little time at work: out to lunch for the most part
T (=time) + OP (=work) + BANANA<s> (=out to lunch, i.e. mad; “for the most part” means last letter dropped) |
| 15 | PILASTER | Column, one with protective clothing all around
I (=one) in PLASTER (=protective coating, e.g. to cover a cut) |
| 16 | STENDHAL | Writer from East End, half-forgotten
Hidden (“from”) in EaST END HALf-”; the reference is to French writer Stendhal (1783-1842) |
| 18 | SCREAM | Shout // “Riot”
Double definition: a scream is a riot as in a hoot, laugh |
| 19 | JUMPER | Top // athlete?
Double definition: top is a jumper, sweater |
| 22 | DUTCH | Wife’s responsibility, mostly to children
DUT<y> (=responsibility; “mostly” means last letter dropped) + CH (=children) |
Thanks RR re 25a I got held up looking at Chairman MA(o)& something, thought STENDHAL was nicely hidden.
I found this to be the usual enjoyable Wednesday fare from Dac. Count me as another who was considering the MA(o) route at 25ac until the penny dropped. I had the most trouble in the NW and HEINOUS was my LOI after CARTHAGE.
Thanks to Dac and blogger. Reasonably gentle but enjoyable. I liked misleading the world play in 17a, “out to lunch” in 14d and it was good to see 7d, an old cryptic stand-by, making another appearance.
Woops, sorry about that Chief! “misleading the world play…”, well you know what I mean. A Spooneroid slip or something like that.
Another entertaining puzzle from Dac. I loved CONCEDED and on a similar parliamentary theme, wondered whether EMPHASISE was a reverse take on the news in the last couple of days that our elected representatives have been offered an 11% pay rise. To be fair, many of them have said that they’ll refuse it.
Thanks to Dac and RR.
Thanks Dac for an enjoyable crossword and RR for the blog.
12ac: I really liked the way that ambiguity was removed from this clue, given that any of the three anagrams could be defined as “upset”.
7dn: In my classification, this is a partial “& lit” as the wordplay does not use the first word, but the definition really needs the whole clue. The much more important thing is that it is an enjoyable clue.
18dn: Not so keen on this one. To me, the two meanings were not sufficiently different for the clue to be completely satisfactory. At the very worst, I regard this as a small blemish in an excellent puzzle, and, as always, I have no quarrel with anyone whose views on this sort of thing differ from mine.
19dn: This is my preferred type of double definition, where the two meanings come from different origins and have converged in spelling.
2 different meanings, bothr of them are in the Chambers Doctionary synonyms, should be okay.
7 agree is noyt &lit. Extenbded definitoin!
PB at #6, re 18D, I think the two meanings are pretty much distinct. The first could also be a noun or verb, whereas the second one is very much a noun, I’d say.
It’sh difficult to know what Pelham expectsh ush shetters to do with ddsh. We can only use what the shynonym dictionariesh give ush, and ash long as we choose from dishtinct meaning-groupsh (if you shee what I mean) that should shurely be shuffishient.
As for Spoonerisms, I really don’t know whether it’s incipient depression or a limited intelligence problem, but each time I consider one I get that thinking ceiling.
Further to earlier comments on 18dn:
The issue is how different do the two meanings have to be for a clue of this type to be completely satisfactory. I think there is room for legitimate differences of opinion here, and for me this particular clue was just the wrong side of where I would prefer the line to be drawn. Others clearly feel differently, and I have already said that I have no quarrel with them.
What I expect setters to do is to follow their own preferences as agreed with their editors.
Paul B @10
Please post sensibly or not at all. Your mangled text is not amusing, nor acceptable.
I think it abundantly clear what I’m saying. Don’t get all literal on me again, Gaufrid.
You cannoy say Pelham you have no quarrel and then quarrelwhenm someone dffers!! The synonyms are what they are, you can’t say setters are wrong to use themn, as lomg as the menaings are under the differnt HEADWORDS..
Rowland @14: I am sorry if my comment @11 came across as quarrelling – it was not intended to do so. I was intending to say that I respect differences of views on this matter. To my mind there is a very substantial difference between saying I do not like something and saying that setters are wrong to use it.
Okay, well I am to India for meditation as of tomorrow, so I will not care anyway!. I would agree that some ‘double definitions’ are better than some others, but it is out of bounsd to criticise setters for using the tools they are given1. Very rarely are words not at all etymologically related in ddsa.
Peace
Rowly.